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Software Glitches Stall Toyota Prius
t35t0r writes "CNN/Money/Tech reports that 2004 and early 2005 Toyota Prius models have software bugs that cause them to stall while traveling at highway speeds. While no accidents were reported to have been caused by the software glitch, could we be heading into an era where our automobiles will require software updates and fixes to keep them from literally 'crashing'?"
Sounds very Familiar
More to the point. How does everyone feel giving up full control of thier car? What about the Mercedes digital brakes? There is no physical link between the pedal and the wheels.
We were promised self driving cars, and we're on the way to it.
--sig fault--
The 2001/2002 Ford Escapes have to have the EEPROM flashed as part of a transmission recall. The days of software fixes for cars have been with us for a while.
Actually in this case Ford is paying Toyota royalties to use their Synergy Drive System (the gas/electric hybrid technology at the core of the Escape Hybrid)
BD Phone Home!
Shameless plug. Like you weren't expecting it.
That's not "Ford's" problem so much as any number of cars that have experienced accelerator sticks.
BTW - if you're still on speaking terms with your ex, you should let her know that if that happens in the future she should have
BD Phone Home!
Shameless plug. Like you weren't expecting it.
>> I have a 1999 Volvo S80 [...]
>> The steering is even drive by wire.
I think this is only partially correct. That car, like all other cars to date, has a direct mechanical connection between the steering wheel and the angle of the front wheels. That connection is the primary means of changing the car's direction. You should be able to observe this by turning the ignition to the unlocked (but off) position and observing that the front wheels still budge when you turn the wheel.
Volvo does have drive by wire for their outboard motors and for their line of forklifts, but the technology is not in cars yet; probably for legal reasons it has to be 100% reliable before they'll risk it.
There is one other sense in which you are correct: when the stability management thing intervenes, it is capable of steering the car to some degree, however it does so by activating the brakes individually or changing the throttle position not by turning the wheel. It's also possible that the power steering unit has electronically controlled boost under control of the stability management thing and tones down the boost when you're already oversteering. But these systems (braking and boost reduction) would not come into play in normal driving.
Mod parent down as disinformative..
The Prius does not use any belt or cone system. That is the older CVT used in other cars many years ago.
The Prius uses a planetary gear set to transfer power around between its various inputs/outputs.
See this article for more details:
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/hybrid-car16.htm
That's actually a pretty common problem on modern military fighters. Most of them have a negative stability. This is the reason the F-16 can manuver so well; however, if the computers on the F-16 were to go out completely, it would tumble out of control. It's much like throwing a dart backwards, it will naturally flip over, it's just worse when thrust is being constantly applied.
Necessity is the mother of invention.
Laziness is the father.
Mostly these technologies have to do with the transmission and, I believe, some of the control mechanisms and algorithms. But, despite what you have read in most media outlets, Ford is not buying parts or designs from Toyota (at this time).
"There are a dozen opinions on a matter until you know the truth. Then there is only one." - CS Lewis (paraprhase)
The F-secure anti-virus team tested a Prius for bluetooth virus susceptability. It wasn't interested.
Power for PS(Power Steering) is provited by the rotation of the engine components. The power is moved to the PS pump via a belt (usualy, some are electric these days.) When you kill the ignition but the car is still in gear, the engine will still be rotating, as it wull still be conected to the drive train. Thus, PS will not fail until the speed of engine rotation is greatly diminished.
Power for PB(Power Brakes)is USUALY provited by vacum assist. This is created by the "sucking" power of an engine as it pulls air in the intake and pushes it out the exhaust. The engine is an air pump. As long as the engine turns you will get some vac. The effectiveness of PB will dimish at a migh faster rate than PB. BUT, there will be more than enough power in the PB system even after the engine stops rotating to fully depress the brakes to the floor. Basicly, as long as you don't need to come to a full and complete stop more than once after you shut off the engine the PB system will work just fien for you after the ignition switch is set to the OFF position.
Therefore, the best way to stop a vehicle with a run-away throttle is to 1) Kill the throttle, 2) Apply brakes 3) Shift transmission into lowest available gear(to use the fiction of the internal engine components to maximum effect in the effort to bring your vehicle to a stop.) 4) find something to "rub" your car against to use in an effort to bleed off knetic energy (your fenders are now your brake pads.)
Under most circumstances you will never need to use more than steps 1 and 2. In a downhill situation where gravity is adding knetic energy to your vehicle and simply stoping your car RIGHT NOW won't do (fast lane of a multi-lane highway) then you can use step 3 to conserve power in your PB system for when you are going to bring the vehicle to a complete stop. Step 4 is for when your brakes fail (and this get interesting*)
*interesting is defined by having thoughts along the lines of "Oh my God, we're all gonna die!"
There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.
The Prius transmission is fundamentally different in principle from a Ravigneaux gear set. In the Prius, everything is in constant mesh and there's only one torque ratio (single sun gear, single planet set). The brilliance of the Prius drivetrain is that you can get variable power split out of a fixed torque split by using the sun gear speed to vary the speed ratio.
While there are only a limited number of economical solutions, it's noteworthy that Honda shipped a completely different CVT design for the Civic hybrid.