This Company Sucks..

[UserOfPure]

who in a family car lets it accelerate that high?

What are the car's stats? Maybe it goes from 0 to 240 in 10 seconds?

[DarkDragon]

who in a family car lets it accelerate that high?

What are the car's stats? Maybe it goes from 0 to 240 in 10 seconds?

Thats enough, lets set a speedlimit for all cars until they drive on rails like in the future. Or maybe we should generate a popup warning after 150km/h - "Do you really want to drive faster than 150km/h?".

Code: Select all

MessageRequester("Question", "Do you really want to drive faster than 150km/h now?", #PB_MessageRequester_YesNo)

And after that we should ask a second time if the driver is sure.

[Michael Vogel]

Interesting thread, but nothing will change...

...nearly all companies are producing their goods at lowest (!) prices and we have to pay the prize.

Michael

PS I had already more than a dozen of cars of one manufacturer and with most of them i had never problems. But there was one with a lot of "innovative" electronic fun (you could press a button and a you have been called automatically, so you could ask for a restaurant nearby etc.) 6 or 7 years ago - this computer system made me crazy from time to time...

PSS My father had a .... car more than 10 years ago which also increased its speed automatically to 50km/h because of a computer error. This speed could already be dangerous on hills with narrow curves...

[Thorium]

...nearly all companies are producing their goods at lowest (!) prices and we have to pay the prize.

True but it's our own fault.
We just look for for the goods with the lowest prices and think we are smart if we bye cheap stuff. So of course companies have to produce their goods with cheap ressources to survive.

[DarkDragon]

...nearly all companies are producing their goods at lowest (!) prices and we have to pay the prize.

True but it's our own fault.
We just look for for the goods with the lowest prices and think we are smart if we bye cheap stuff. So of course companies have to produce their goods with cheap ressources to survive.

Mmh but .. its not really cheap. Give us more money so we can buy the expensive things. Or forbid trading.

[Thorium]

PSS My father had a .... car more than 10 years ago which also increased its speed automatically to 50km/h because of a computer error. This speed could already be dangerous on hills with narrow curves...

But going in neutral and use the breaks should stop is easiely.
I never had a automatic car but on manual controled cars you hit the coupler and the engine gets disconnected from the wheels, this is 100% mechanic, no electronics involved. The engine can accelerate until it explods it does'nt accelerate the car any more.

[Kuron]

I forgot you in the USA all have automatic cars

We still have plenty with manual transmissions.

[utopiomania]

Toyota is well aware about the 911 call video I posted to, and did nothing to protest it at least here, they have
recalled nine million cars so far.

Seems they have been aware of this problem for several years, but did nothing, because of 'Japanese business
culture'

What you need to know is that components that you think are mechanical aren't any more. Almost Everything is
fly-by-wire.

I was looking for a blown fuse in my Chevy's fusebox a month ago, and was a bit shocked about the number of
controllers they protected. Seems to be one for everything, the transmission, brakes, engine, doorlocks, alarms,
4Wd system. emissions, lights, steering etc.

Each of these controllers will stop a driver from doing stupid things to the component they control, and if they
don't interact properly to sort out conflicting behaviour, it could be dangerous.

And, buckled floormat?? The car I linked to went 120 mph when it chrashed. If there was a floormat stuck behind
the accellerator to be found, maybe it ended up there because of the 'sudden stop' when they all died.

[Kuron]

Toyota is well aware about the 911 call video I posted to, and did nothing to protest it at least here, they have
recalled nine million cars so far.

As you just said they did something about it. They recalled the cars. The accident in that video was caused by floor mats which Toyota recalled once again largely because of that accident.

And, buckled floormat?? The car I linked to went 120 mph when it chrashed. If there was a floormat stuck behind the accellerator to be found, maybe it ended up there because of the 'sudden stop' when they all died.

Luckily crash scene investigators have more knowledge and common sense than you. They are professionals at what they do.

In any tragedy people look for a boogey man. Unfortunately, many times the boogey man is the person staring back at you when you look in the mirror. User error is and remains the #1 cause of accidents.

[utopiomania]

Ohh, I see.. They recalled nine million cars after several years of problems, Mr Toyoda was looking sad
in some kind of congressional hearing in the US, and you blame their victims?

You must be associated with this company in some way.

[Trond]

User error is and remains the #1 cause of accidents.

No one disputes that. But saying that something is always true because it is most probable is a logical fallacy. "Number one" does not mean "only one". Believing that is definetely "user error".

Seems they have been aware of this problem for several years, but did nothing, because of 'Japanese business
culture'

Ford also had this problem with their models with cruise control (obviously it's the cruise control that's the problem with the Toyotas as well). I don't think it's "X business culture", I think it's just "business culture". The macro-capitalistic system penalizes quality.

There are accidents where witnesses who gain nothing by lying swear that they saw the car had the brake lights on.

Luckily crash scene investigators have more knowledge and common sense than you. They are professionals at what they do.

Just saying crash investigators are professionals who knows what they're doing doesn't mean anything, when the drivers are also professional and knows what they're doing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmqT7tZap38
Watch from 4.30 and on about professional drivers having problem with sudden accelleration with Fords. Includes an experienced US army driver (with witness looking from the back seat down at the pedals), several Secret Service agents and even a Ford Public Relations man. If these people don't know how to stop a car, then they have to start making them easier to stop!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtGa3syIIns
Watch the first minute. Brakes are not always sufficient to stop a car on full throttle.

[Kuron]

I was looking for a blown fuse in my Chevy's fusebox a month ago, and was a bit shocked about the number of
controllers they protected. Seems to be one for everything, the transmission, brakes, engine, doorlocks, alarms,
4Wd system. emissions, lights, steering etc.

Cars have had fuses for these things for 40+ years.

They recalled nine million cars after several years of problems

Toyota started recalling cars because of the floor mats several years ago. Toyota does not have the power to come to your house with guns and take your car from you. When there is a recall, Toyota depends on people to bring in their cars for repair.

In the accident in the video you linked to, the dealer who loaned the car out was found to have floor mats in the car that were not supposed to be in the car, because this particular model of all weather floor mats had been recalled in 2008.

you blame their victims?

The crash scene investigators who are professionals and do this all day every day, investigated the accident in that video and even went to greater lengths because it was a fellow officer. They found the cause of the accident to be the floor mat pressing on the gas pedal. This finding was after complete examination of the car in their shop, testing of crucial components of the car, reviewing the data from the black box, and many other things.

I am sorry I do not buy into your conspiracy theory that police forces in California are in cahoots with Toyota. These people are completely independent of Toyota and are not connected to Toyota in any way.

I am not sure how you can justify Toyota being responsible for the stupidity of people who drive their cars.

You must be associated with this company in some way.

Quite the opposite. I stand to make a lot of money if it is found Toyota is covering up their killer Stephen King cars. I would be a part of any class action suit that would arise for victims. I was almost killed a few years ago when a Toyota car ran a stoplight and hit a SUV and sent it flying through the air and it landed on top of the vehicle I was in. The cause of the accident was ruled to be the lady in the Toyota car had hit the gas pedal instead of the brake pedal. Given how elderly and out of touch with reality this lady was, and given my previous experience working for a major insurance carrier where reports like this came across my desk several times a day, I am more inclined to stick with the facts and truth.

Frankly, if your floor mat is pressing on the gas pedal of your car and you are not intelligent enough to move the mat with the heel of one of your feet, then who am I to complain about whatever cosmic force steps in and makes sure such an individual can't contribute to the gene pool of society any more. The only victims in the video you linked to were the passengers in the vehicle who were stuck in a car with a driver who not only knew better, he was trained better than the behavior he exhibited and the actions he took.

Luckily the people in the car that were hit by this out of control driver were not killed.

[Joakim Christiansen]

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/toyota-st ... d=10046912
This is new, there sure has to be a serious problem with the cars yes...

[DoctorLove]

i have a toyota, well, just another model. Its the Avensis station wagon.

Im very pleased with it. So its really ashame that toyota let this happen. They will loose there image with this.

[Trond]

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/toyota-st ... d=10046912
This is new, there sure has to be a serious problem with the cars yes...

It's clearly the cruise control.

This also shows that the handbrake isn't enough to stop the car. When using both the brakes and the handbrake the car didn't stop.