Toyota Pedal Issue Highlights Move To Electronics

cyclocommuter writes with an excerpt from a brief WSJ story on increasing electronic control of car components: "The gas pedal system used Toyota Motor Co.'s recall crisis was born from a movement in the auto industry to rely more on electronics to carry out a vehicle's most critical functions. The intricacy of such systems, which replace hoses and hydraulic fluid with computer chips and electrical sensors, has been a focus as Toyota struggled to find the cause for sudden acceleration of vehicles that led the company to halt sales of eight models this week."

Comments

Re:Safety Critical

[pydev]

At least in one case, the brakes failed, the accelerator stuck, and the person didn't know how to turn the car off because it was a rental and used a push-button ignition

Accelerators frequently get stuck no matter what the technology and you need to know what to do in that case before you get behind the wheel. If you don't know how to turn off the car, you are responsible for the consequences, not the car company.

Also, they couldn't put it into neutral because it had a push-button shifter as well.

So? Why couldn't they put it in neutral with a push-button shifter?

but this is a monumental fuck-up on the part of Toyota. I think that we can do the push-button stuff CORRECTLY, but this isn't the way to do it.

No, it's not. You are responsible for the car you choose, not Toyota. That guy chose a 250hp car with a complicated user interface and he killed himself and other people. He was the guilty party, not Toyota.

When I bought a car, I looked for one with traditional mechanical controls because I find them easier to use. But I don't want a world in which every single design decision is prescribed by the government or case law.

Conflict of interest.

[nten]

I find it disturbing that the U.S. government is forcing Toyota to cease production, when they are also the owner of GM, Toyota's competitor. Yes the design has killed people, but a great many engineering mistakes kill people. Maybe the response is justified, but the national ownership raises interesting questions.