Sudden Acceleration Verdict Is in - its not a electronic issue

I'll tell you right now, if the NAS study doesn't even test a vehicle with Hybrid Synergy Drive I'll consider the results meaningless to the Prius. Additionally, if they only test 6 vehicles from a specific model I won't consider it blanket proof for the entire line of Toyota vehicles.

NASA could have just as easily studied the Camry brakes and concluded that all Toyota's have no brake problems. Would that have cleared them of responsibility to fix the Prius problems over bumpy surfaces? Would you have been satisfied with thier test results?

 

i can't answer the question without asking a nasa rep why they did it that way. since no autority is questioning it, i accept it. but, that's probably cause i don't have a dog in the fight. if someone experienced u/a for themselves and was absolutely sure it wasn't a stuck accelerator pedal or driver error, i could understand them not accepting it. but they probably wouldn't accept it if every scientific entity on earth took their car apart down to the last piece and couldn't find anything wrong. they would probably say it's a glitch that only happens under random non reproduceable circumstances.

 

All these items appear to be well isolated from meaningful discussion of UA.

All these Audi solutions address possible driver error at the human interface.

Sounds like you are trying to avoid reading the relevant portions of the report.

 

"There is one step that could be taken that would stop most cases of unintended acceleration, Champion said.
"The one thing we could do would be to ban automatic transmissions altogether and sell only manuals," joked Champion."

There is more truth to this than first appearances suggest.

 

O........k.......

Also the number of UFO sightings go up when a big sighting hits the news. This must mean...yes...I've been wrong all this time...Welcome to Earth Little Fellers!

 

Are you agreeing or disagreeing? Or was that just another lame attempt at humor to avoid giving an intelligent response?

 

What prevents drivers from pressing the gas instead of the brake on a manual transmission? If all cases of UA are driver error, it shouldn't matter what kind of transmission the car has.

 

i think with an automatic, too many people drive with both feet. so it's not that they are stepping on the gas with their right foot, thinking it's the brake. they are stepping on the gas with their right foot thinking they are stepping on the brake with their left foot. with a standard, this mistake would simply be pushing in the clutch.

 

Sounds like you don't have too much experience driving a stick shift. The car would be in neutral (out of gear) so if you mistake the gas pedal for the brake, the engine would just rev rather than accelerate forward as in the case of automatic transmission. This is especially true while parking.

 

yes, that too.

 

What is it called when badmouthing or bashing a company causes that company and owners to suffer loss in value or income? What would constitute badmouthing or bashing; reporting false claims, posting on a public open forum, having the police chase you while reporting that you cant stop your car?

I feel that anyone crying unintended acceleration should now be held liable for my prius resale value decline, especially those complaining who don't own a prius.
I think $5,000. should cover it. Can this be presented in small claims court?

 

maybe you can countersue the civil lawsuit lawyers!

 

Almost Live presents Our Favorite Bits fro Monty Python

 

If you park your car with it in neutral then I'd say it's you who doesn't have much experience driving a stick.

Adding a third pedal to the car forces the driver to use both feet to operate the car, effectively doubling the chances of pedal missapplication.

And, large limb motor skills would most likely be less coordinated on the left leg, furthering the chances of the driver making a mistake.

If pedal misapplication really accounts for 100% of the Unintended Acceleration problems, you'd have people hitting the brake instead of the clutch, the clutch instead the brake, the gas instead of the brake, the brake instead of the gas, the floor instead of the clutch, and the center tunnel instead of the gas.

All hell would break loose. Feet would be flying everywhere.

 

sigh

 

Nothing. The difference is in what usually happens next.

Most manual transmission drivers will, as I did, hit the clutch. That both terminates the runaway problem, and usually leads to some very blatant clues that the ghost was in one's left foot, not in the car's throttle control. How many drivers are going to file a NHTSA report that they hit the wrong pedal? I certainly wouldn't.

Besides our legal system, this seems likely a major factor in the lack of UA incidents in rest of the world. They have a much lower fraction of automatic tranmissions.

Who said that all cases are? Well, some other PC posters may have, but NHTSA has not, and neither have I. I even posted a short laundry list of verified mechanical causes in your closed thread.

But driver error is so common that it swamps the rest, making them more difficult to identify and troubleshoot.

Why so?

The wide manual vs. automatic UA disparity was noted long before drive-by-wire throttle controls became commonplace. I believe that the throttle systems on manuals and autos then were either identical, or at most had very few components not shared. The shared components should not have been at fault.

The major differences were the transmission itself, the human interface to the transmission, and the manner in which the driver operates the transmission.

Do you see where this is going?

 

Does the car that replaced your Prius have these features?

And if your ex-Prius had these features, would your view of its safety be any different than it is now?

I have a very strong suspicion that the answer to the later question is "no".

 

I drove a 96 Cadillac Sedan Deville back in 2001 that did the exact same thing when i went over the bump at the top of the parking ramp then went from the uphill to the downhill.

I always figured it was the traction control engaging as i went over the bump. Never had that happen at any other location, nor with any other vehicle.

 

Damn are we still looking for the Ghost in the machine? Hell, let's call Whoopi. She has loads of experience talking to Ghosts. The root problem of UA is the A**^%$hole in the driverseat. Period!

 

There is no big money in suing the driver, so that CAN'T be the answer for lawyers. They NEED for it to be Toyota's fault to get paid big.