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Segway Recalling 23,000 Scooters
DocJohn writes, "For the second time in 3 years, Segway has announced a recall of all Segway Personal Transporters. The problem described is that the Segway 'can unexpectedly apply reverse torque to the wheels, which can cause a rider to fall. This can occur when the device is tilted back by the Speed Limiter and the rider comes off and then back onto the device within a short period of time.' A software update is needed to fix the problem." This AP story mentions President Bush's 2003 stumble on a Segway without speculating on whether the cause was the software glitch behind the current recall.
This AP story mentions President Bush's 2003 stumble on a Segway without speculating on whether the cause was the software glitch behind the current recall.
More likely he just didn't know how to ride particularly well yet. They do take some practice.
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When I lived in Boise, Idaho, there were 2 people that used to tool around downtown on a fairly regular basis on those things. If 2 people in Boise, Idaho own them, I can believe they've sold 23,500 of them. Surely there are at least that many people in this country with far more money than sense.
Why, there are plenty of valid reasons for getting/using them. It's not just an "I have too much money on my hands" kind of thing.
Ex, I've got bad vision and can't drive a street operated motor vehicle. A segway could actually be useful for me in this case, especially in a city with less than sufficient mass transit.
Now, Yes, I could ride a bike, but so could everyone who drives their own car.
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In the event that was a serious post, cars are already like this. Cars get recalled all the time because of software glitches. There was a Prius recall because there was a glitch in the software where the engine could just shut off suddenly while driving. This tech is already here and there are already glitches and recalls aren't extremely uncommon.
This is where some of our DHS money went. Granted, supposedly it has really paid off for patrolling cops in reducing vandalism, though I don't know what benefit they have over bicycles that offset the steep cost difference.
Personally, I think they should be congratulated, for two reasons. Firstly, as has already been mentioned, this is a pro-active recall. Secondly, two recalls in 3 years for something as complex and innovative as this is pretty good going. Why is it that a Segway recall makes front page news, whereas the thousands of other recalls that happen in most industries on a daily basis go unnoticed. I recently had to have a software upgrade on my car (BMW) and doing some research of my own suggests that BMW provide software updates on average every couple of months. This software upgrade wasn't to improve something as mundane as the radio or sat-nav, it was to fix a fault with the automatic gearbox. It happens, and I would say Segway have a better record than most.
Not to be over-argumentative, but typically I see the opposite problem- developers spending 80% of our budget hours to gracefully handle 8 .01% chance cases, leaving not enough hours to do a really nice job with the two cases that are happening 99.9% of the time. I understand that all use cases need to be accounted for- this makes sense- but the some developers closing all the holes more important than doing an nice job with the important cases. There must be a balance.
Heh- I just almost signed this with my WoW handle, whoops.
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