Automobile buying guide Edmunds.com is putting good money to find the answer so many people want to know: What is wrong with the Toyotas? Edmunds will pay one million dollars to the first person who solves the mystery behind the auto giant’s sudden acceleration issue.
ABC Chief Investigative Correspondent Brian Ross broke the story late last year which prompted the initial wave of unprecedented recalls involving floor mats. But soon after, a driver was killed when her toyota accelerated and crashed. She had done what Toyota owners were advised to do, she removed her floor mats and placed them in the trunk.
After that, Toyota blamed the gas pedal. Thousands were replaced and still the cars took off on their own. Today it is clear Toyota has no idea what’s wrong with its cars.
Increasingly, it looks like Toyota rushed to computerize the functions of its autos ahead of quality control. With ignition, braking and acceleration all controlled electronically, a failure in the onboard computer is yielding catastrophic results. Even the fundamental act of turning off the car is impossible because the computers have control of the mechanics.
Good for Edmunds.com to add some financial incentive to solving the problem. Anyone intelligent enough to be able to fix this is probably employed and working full time for someone else, so the million dollar contest might inspire a curious genius to stay up late with formulas and equations.
Until there’s an answer, new stories of runaway Toyotas will surface; a police officer used his cruiser to slow a speeding prius, a felon claims his manslaughter conviction was due to his out of control Toyota. Toyota is losing billions of dollars in lost sales and declining stock value and there is no end in sight to the bleed.
Loading ...
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Good Afternoon Maureen,Wow! Most accidents were caused by DWI when there were no computers involved in driving. The police and common sense took care of that problem. The answer to this problem is get rid of the computer as a driving function and use it only for assessories. You know NO GAS or BRAKES on computers. I tested computers on aircraft in the 1970 and believe it or not the pilot controled the power and the brakes and the computer ( auto-pilot ) did the flying. 40 years later we are finding out a computer can not drive a car ,yet! Maybe you should tell the auto folks about your promtdog! Just share some of the million with me. OKAY?
Well, I have a lot of experience with machine control, and though I do not have the answer to what seems like an obvious software problem, I do know how to cure the runaway, unable to stop, unable to kill the engine with the ignition key problem.
Install a mechanical kill switch that actually breaks the current from the battery to the engine. Put that kill switch right next to the emergency brake and it would save lives.
The way it is now the ignition key only sends a digital signal into the computer and when the car runs away the key has no effect.
Tell Mr. Edmunds that I will take half of the prize money.
Hey Denny, good point. Computers can only do so much, can’t they? HA on the promptdog. I’ll remember ya for sure.
Rich you may be onto something, a kill-switch to override the computer which overrides the mechanics! I guess cutting the engine has some controversy however, as then we lose the steering. At least we’ll crash at a reduced speed. Thanks.
Horse
+
Buggy
=
_______
No Problems
If a fault occurs in the main control computer, an “error code” should be set in its memory and a “check engine” or “needs maintenance” warning light should go on. I don’t recall any reports of either having been noted or found. In one case, a driver supposedly reported that he put his transmission into neutral, but nothing happened … The computer compares the engine speed with the expected transmission speed and if it’s not what it should be, it shuts the engine down to idle. In one case, a driver claimed that she tried the brakes as hard and as long as she could, but upon inspection, no corresponding wear was found on either the drum or electronic brake parts. I’ve heard a report that turning the key off did not shut the engine down … The ignition key turns off power to the supposedly malfunctioning computer that is signaling the throttle system. That would be like unplugging my desktop computer and having the monitor continue to show operating programs, no?
Not to smack down all complaints and the word ‘supposedly’ could be attached to all of the anecdotes above, but the press coverage is all on one side of the controversy and ignores the possible effects of driver confusion or ineptitude and the now potentially powerful incentive for someone to ‘have an incident/accident’ and maybe profit thereby.
My humble opinion is that max effort should be made to investigate the situations reported and both the investigations and their results should be covered as prominently as the claims have been.
Toyota has done a poor job of investigating and/or giving full info to the public. I say do it right and let the factual chips fall where they will.
I like to look to the obvious first, not simply because that’s a logical approach, but because that’s all the computer expertise I have. If as Toyota claims, the on-board computer is not showing an error message, let’s assume that there wasn’t one, and the computer received a command to do what it did. Perhaps from the General …. Motors? I love conspiracy theories, don’t you?
Yes Paul, it’s quite a mystery, and I think you could write a novel about it.
I have (2) ideas to help in the features of a toyota. #1 in the middle of the steering column mount a gfi system with 2 buttons 1 button kicks on and sends a signal as to where you need help the other button is a 911 button. the system could be figured to reach any police in the area. #2 mount a camera on the front of the car to take pictures of head-on crashes and another on the rear of the car to capture rear-end crashes. Please get back with me if you receive these ideas for the million dollar give-away. Thank you My phone #is 317/736-9900
I want to elaborate on the cameras I gave as ideas. Once you get into the car you flip a switch which activates the cameras. After your trip if there were no accidents you turn the switches off and the cameras rewind and are ready for the next trip. Please add this tip to my prior ideas. Thank you.