See the Great Seattle Windshield Pitting Epidemic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Windshield_Pitting_Epid...
The Toyota Witch Hunt
11–20 of 111 posts
Re: The Toyota Witch Hunt
#12I hold the conspiracy theory that these issues are being so aggressively sought out in an attempt to bring Toyota's image down to the level of American auto manufacturers.
I wholeheartedly agree. The sheer number of failures that have to occur, the low level of action on the drivers' parts required to overcome the problem (put it in neutral! Use your brakes! Use your parking brakes!), the speed and intensity of the government's response, and the fact that GM is so unpopular combine to make the entire debacle suspect.
Re: The Toyota Witch Hunt
#13This is definitely a witch hunt. The same thing happened in my ford truck when I misplaced the mat after cleaning it. I simply turned the car off put the clutch in and coasted to a stop at the edge of the highway and fixed the mat. From the reports this sounds like the exact situation for the Toyota cars. From my perspective nothing is wrong with the cars and the whole thing is way overblown.
Re: The Toyota Witch Hunt
#14I hold the conspiracy theory that these issues are being so aggressively sought out in an attempt to bring Toyota's image down to the level of American auto manufacturers.
I have to agree; I can sense the schadenfreude all over the place and it's getting annoying.
Re: The Toyota Witch Hunt
#15Wow. A wonderful article. The real question is, just how in-control is the computer. And how much has to go wrong such that uncontrollable acceleration happens and nothing can override that acceleration such that no matter what you do the computer makes the car go into "drive" and accelerate to the max, without responding to other parts of the system like the breaks and such.
short answer - the brake system has to suffer a mechanical failure. read the part where "brakes always win over engines".
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Re: The Toyota Witch Hunt
#16[deleted]
Re: The Toyota Witch Hunt
#17This is definitely a witch hunt. The same thing happened in my ford truck when I misplaced the mat after cleaning it. I simply turned the car off put the clutch in and coasted to a stop at the edge of the highway and fixed the mat. From the reports this sounds like the exact situation for the Toyota cars. From my perspective nothing is wrong with the cars and the whole thing is way overblown.
Many of the Toyota problems had nothing to do with the mats--they are drive by wire and the computer was slammed on the gas without the pedal being depressed. Depending on when this occurs it could be deadly even with an expert driver.
Re: The Toyota Witch Hunt
#18Wow. A wonderful article. The real question is, just how in-control is the computer. And how much has to go wrong such that uncontrollable acceleration happens and nothing can override that acceleration such that no matter what you do the computer makes the car go into "drive" and accelerate to the max, without responding to other parts of the system like the breaks and such.
The accelerator pedal would have to be immovable, frozen in place. The ignition switch would have to lock or otherwise malfunction The shift lever or clutch or automatic shift lever would have to malfunction The brakes would have to overheat (does not really happen much in a production car). It is not 100% true that brakes will always overpower the engine, but the cases in which they don't are the ones with massive 7…
> The accelerator pedal would have to be immovable, frozen in place.
In recent Toyota vehicles the pedal isn't connected to the throttle--it's drive by wire. In theory the computer could continue accelerating regardless of the gas pedal's position.
Re: The Toyota Witch Hunt
#19This is definitely a witch hunt. The same thing happened in my ford truck when I misplaced the mat after cleaning it. I simply turned the car off put the clutch in and coasted to a stop at the edge of the highway and fixed the mat. From the reports this sounds like the exact situation for the Toyota cars. From my perspective nothing is wrong with the cars and the whole thing is way overblown.
Many of the Toyota problems had nothing to do with the mats--they are drive by wire and the computer was slammed on the gas without the pedal being depressed. Depending on when this occurs it could be deadly even with an expert driver.
Please forward your proof of this to Toyota and the congressional committee to which Toyota swore this was not the case.
It's tempting to blame drive by wire, since electronics is black magic to most people. Keep in mind that most passenger jets in the sky are fly by wire, these days.
For you to point blank claim this to be true, when it's been flatly denied several times, seems a bit over the top, don't you think?
Re: The Toyota Witch Hunt
#20"Every man, woman, and child in the U.S. has approximately a one-in-8000 chance of perishing in a car accident every year. Over a decade, that's about one in 800. Given the millions of cars included in the Toyota recalls and the fewer than 20 alleged deaths over the past decade, the alleged fatality rate is about one death per 200,000 recalled Toyotas. Even if all the alleged deaths really are resultant from vehicle defects—highly unlikely—and even if all the worst things people are speculating about Toyotas are true, and you're driving one, and you aren't smart or calm enough to shift to neutral if the thing surges, you're still approximately 250 times likelier to die in one of these cars for reasons having nothing to do with unintended acceleration. So if you can muster the courage to get into a car and drive, the additional alleged risk of driving a Toyota is virtually negligible..."
The rest is in the C&D article referenced, I believe, by the author:
http://www.caranddriver.com/news/car/10q1/toyota_recall_scan...