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Toyota Acceleration and Embedded System Bugs

Posted by Soulskill on from the bugs-that-lead-to-crashes dept.

An anonymous reader writes "David Cummings, a programmer who worked on the Mars Pathfinder project, has written an interesting editorial in the L.A. Times encouraging Toyota to drop claims of software infallibility in their recent acceleration problems. He argues that embedded systems developers must program more defensively, and that companies should stop relying on software for safety. Quoting: 'If Toyota has indeed tested its software as thoroughly as it says without finding any bugs, my response is simple: Keep trying. Find new ways to instrument the software, and come up with more creative tests. The odds are that there are still bugs in the code, which may or may not be related to unintended acceleration. Until these bugs are identified, how can you be certain they are not related to sudden acceleration?'"

7 of 499 comments (clear)

  1. Toyota: by dushkin · · Score: 5, Funny

    Always going forward.

    --
    o hai
    1. Re:Toyota: by Afforess · · Score: 2, Funny

      "The race for quality has no finish line- so technically, it's more like a death march."

      Not my quote, so I'll give them props: http://www.despair.com/quality.html

      --
      If our elected representatives no longer represent us, do we still live in a Democracy?
    2. Re:Toyota: by flappinbooger · · Score: 3, Funny

      Maybe they need to deploy g-locked memory, it's in a car after all. Too many jolts and bumps and it gets the bits all jostled up! Think of the children!

      --
      Flappinbooger isn't my real name
  2. Re:Another interesting statistic by WrongSizeGlass · · Score: 3, Funny

    Now, come on. We can't blame age for this. I plan to be that old one day ... as long as I don't buy a Toyota, that is.

  3. Re:I agree on non-software fail-safes by WrongSizeGlass · · Score: 3, Funny

    They should just implement a huge red panic button to shut everything off :)

    They could even buy them at Staples. Need to stop your out of control Toyota? That's easy.

  4. Star Trekking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Always going forward.

    ... because we can't find reverse.

  5. Re:Impossible to test by RAMMS+EIN · · Score: 3, Funny

    ``In exceptional conditions I would certainly include what the driver is wearing.''

    I can see it now. Recall those drivers who called 911 when their vehicle accelerated out of control?

    Driver: Help! My car is accelerating out of control!
    911-person: What are you wearing?

    --
    Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.