Slashdot Mirror
NASA Summoned To Fix Prius Problems
coondoggie writes "If you want to solve a major engineering mystery, why not bring in some of the world's best engineers? The US Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration today said it was doing just that by bringing in NASA engineers with expertise in areas such as computer controlled electronic systems, electromagnetic interference, and software integrity to help tackle the issue of unintended vehicle acceleration in Toyotas. The NHTSA review of the electronic throttle control systems in Toyotas is to be completed by late summer." We're really in trouble when NASA has no choice but to call Bruce Willis.
So, this is an admission that sticking pedals and faulty floormats had nothing to do with the problem, and that the recalls to fix pedal and floormat "problems" were simply a smokescreen to hide the actual cause of the problem (albeit, unknown cause)?
No, this is an admission that the United States government wants the US automotive companies they purchased to increase in value at the expense of the competition.
Headline-grabbing 'investigations' are the best way to scare the public and drive people to purchase more GM cars.
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. --Will
"Given NASA's experience with writing software that's just gotta work or else, I'd be very hard-pressed to think of no better team of programmers for the job."
You're right! I can't think of a better group of programmers to work on car acceleration issues than the guys who've lost 3 probes to software errors (mariner 1, mars climate orbitor and mars polar lander)!
NASA is not the organization it once was, and implying that their programmers get everything right is not only dangerous, but silly. Everyone makes mistakes, NASA is no exception, and calling them in is more of a PR boost than anything else.
There are two kinds of fool One says 'This is old therefore good' Another says 'This is new therefore better'- Dean Ing