USA-Adam

http://www.wired.com/news/autotech/0,2554,63846,00.html



But seriously .. it better never do that to anybody! :nono:

Southside 3er

Toyota is playing around A LOT with electronic throttle control. VSC is a very dangerous one. If one tire spins, it will automatically reduce power until the computer sees everything is OK. Think about pulling out in traffic on a wet road! You try to punch it a little and you get the shaft, and maybe a t-bone. It's on all 01-up 4Runners and possibly Tundra, Sequoia, and Lexus models. It's definitely something to stay away from esp. with the supercharger. There is no ON/OFF switch either. :notnice:

BillP

Beware of reacting too quickly to news about unintended acceleration.

In the early 80's, if I recall correctly, 60 Minutes did a piece about unintended acceleration and Audi. The effect on Audi sales was immediate and forceful, and they were literally run out of the US, and exited the US market for a number of years.

Turns out (as covered by Car and Driver at the time) that new pedal placement, designed to make heel-and-toe easier, wasn't a good thing for a market with drivers used to pathetic vehicles. In tests of panic breaking, a high percentage of non-enthusiast drivers would hit the gas instead of the brake, and in post-test interviews, they all thought the car was surging forward, despite their foot being pressed to the floor on the brake.

The fact is that ~ANY~ modern car has brakes that are powerful enough to stop its engine. If anyone claims that they had the brakes to the floor and the car kept going.... yeah, uh huh, right...

kevinb120

dumb article from nobodys. The dummy just stepped on the gas. Just about every unintended acceleration case ends up being clumsy feet.

RaGsHoCkEy88

i think the guys just a moron

USA-Adam

He's not the only person who has had this happen. There were lots of complaints about the Toyota / Lexus drive-by-wire systems and the government has done an investigation on it.

You have to remember, this is entirely electronically driven. Are you telling me that the guy had his foot to the floor at the same time that he was hitting the brakes? He would have known. Remember, he never even hit the accelerator according to his story. Even if he was using both feet to drive, he would have been able to stop the car mate. And of course brakes can hold the car's engine. People have been power-braking cars since the 1950s (I've done it with our 64 Galaxie 500 before).

The below is true ..

However, Audi also intervened and did the first shift-locking tranmissions where you must depress the brake pedal in order to shift. Now it is a feature on all cars.

http://www.autosafety.org/article.php?scid=125&did=887

Read that article. I don't think the government would investigate over one clumsy driver.

40anniv6-banger

Good point about the Audi thing..I remember that show, and how poor mommas were blowing thru their garage doors from the outside, after supposedly having the vehicle in park, because of the "runaway problem". It's funny how i-Drive keeps getting complaints just about every time you read about it..I would think BMW would get rid of it just to stop the awful word-of-mouth.

kevinb120

Good point about the Audi thing..I remember that show, and how poor mommas were blowing thru their garage doors from the outside, after supposedly having the vehicle in park, because of the "runaway problem". It's funny how i-Drive keeps getting complaints just about every time you read about it..I would think BMW would get rid of it just to stop the awful word-of-mouth. [/b][/quote]
Its still not as bad ad NBC using pyrotechnics to 'help' gm pickup trucks 'catch fire' in side impact demonstrations. (they basically blew them up on purpose with dry-motor model rocket engines with the gas cap off) I've taken every single word from NBC's "news" with the same skepticisim now since that whole fiasco.

kevinb120

Once a law firm begins this 'story' it spreads like a virus as an excuse. What was the governments findings?? Its a simple matter of plugging in the crash computer and seeing what pedal was pressed when the impact happened. News stations dont even bother to get out of their desks anymore and use the internet as 'sources'. There would be a recall if it was a problem, this is just a flavor of the month lawsuit fiasco. Its as dumb as the Firestone 'issues'. The story has some momentum, so lawyers take off with the idea as long as they can.

USA-Adam

kevinb120: I see your point .. I agree that the media likes attacking the auto makers because it boosts their ratings. The bottom line is, I think there are some questions to be answered before we can draw a conclusion, but this isn't an isolated incident and I know that Camrys aren't set up for heel toe.


Yeah, in that same article some big shot actually was locked in his car by I-Drive and had to have a bystander break his window open to escape

BillP

What you are saying is IRRELEVANT (pardon the caps, i'm not trying to yell, I'm being forceful LOL)

With the Audi events (remember, unintended acceleration was purely BAD DRIVING in that case), all the people who ran through their garage, over their kids or their dogs, etc., claimed that they never hit the gas. The fact is that they were STANDING on the gas the whole time. When you make a mistake, and the adrenaline starts flowing, you don't know what you are hitting.

My wife's 2001 Sable has very close and level gas and brake pedals. I have fumbled it and hit the gas with only part brake at least 3 different times, and basically driven backwards (it was usually in reverse), and I could SWEAR that I was on the brake. But I knew enough to stop and think about what I had done, and it was my fat feet.

I'm not saying there isn't merit. What I am saying is that consumer claims aren't always true. Big Business isn't always bad.

And, in the end, if the car was taking off "out of control", why couldn't they brake to a stop? I assume they just drove the "rouge ghost car" through their unintended target/victim? Brain dead at the wheel?

MR325iT

That would require that BMW actually listen to their customers. BMW periodically goes through these phases where they think they can do no wrong (iDrive, Chris Bangle's designs, DBW throttles, light steering, etc).

snakeeyes

There is nothing wrong with "drive by wire" I have been driving by wire for 10 odd years now. The technology works fine.

USA-Adam

Sorry, I don't mean to sound like a lurker / idiot / jerk .. I just thought I would post this news because I thought some of you may be interested. I even hope this won't deter you from buying the 05 Mustang, but it is something to watch out for nonetheless.

Treadhead

I'll believe it when I see some definitive proof and not some person who is probably unwilling to believe that he could possibly be at fault. I deal with people like that all the time. I had a lady in her upper 30's tell me she didn't run into another car because it didn't explode like they do on tv,LMAO to this day. So I need more than it did it cuz I say so. My 0.02 cents.

kevinb120

Nah, its much more reliable then a cable is.

BillP

No apologies necessary.

News is good to have, and discuss. We're just playing devils advocate!

icemant180

Sometimes its not just lawyers looking to make some big $$. Remember the Pinto? I was a proud owner of one until this guy in a Plymouth Fury flattened it like a beer can. I was lucky he missed the tank.

USA-Adam

My dad owned one too. His was the wagon version though. He also said it's one of the best cars he ever owned. He put 130,000 miles on it. (Bought it new)