Suspending Sales? Wow!

[Zathras]

...
So, how did they deal with the sudden acceleration issue? Toyota Document Cited Savings From Limited Recall - WSJ.com

See, this is why I find some arguments so funny (usually from both extremes of a position).
The link has more to do with how the finances were handled. It says nothing about how the company actually did or did not take care of its customers.
I bet you can find memos exactly like that from every large manufacturer that faces regulation.
And if the 'savings' are done it such a way to increase the risk to their customers, it would definately put me off buying another one of there products.

However, right now it looks like a witch hunt.
No one is able to say what has caused the unintended acceleration issue. I am sure Toyota would LOVE to because until they do, they are under a black cloud and it will hurt their sales.

It is kind of like saying I would never buy a Ford Explorer because of all the roll over accidents, or Audi because of their unintended acceleration issues, or.. or... or...

 

[Texas Proud]

No.

One sure way to shut some people up is to challenge them as if they were doing something wrong (legally or otherwise). It would not surprise me if some people do not report minor incidents for fear of being targeted. It can have a chilling effect on people.

I have no doubt there are a few opportunist out there that might try to exploit that situation. Likewise with people making mistakes. I am not sure if we will ever know what happened with that Prius.

My favorite [sarcasm] is when people who are doing arm chair criticism about how someone responded when the problem occurred. It ususally goes something like this: "Didn't that fool know to just shift it out of gear??".

People panic when faced with a crisis. [I am not targeting you with this statement.. it is a general statement] If that situation occurred to your Husband, Wife, significant other, daughter or son, grandson, granddaughter.... would the same analysis be put forward? It is not the owners fault if a problem occurs with the equipment and they (for whatever reason) were not able to respond effectively... it is not like it is a normal event. Somehow criticizing their ability to respond and recover from an event like that seems a little off the mark.

So, how did they deal with the sudden acceleration issue? Toyota Document Cited Savings From Limited Recall - WSJ.com

I am one that does state what you think is not fair... but to me THIS is different...

Now, if it just happened... like the police officer... and he was doing everything he knew to mitigate the problem... that is one thing...

This guy calls 911... is having a conversation with the lady... she tells him to put it in neutral.... a police cruiser comes by and also tells him to put it in neutral... the panic time should have been over.. twice (or maybe more) he was told to put the car in neutral...

So, in most circumstance I will agree with you... not this one...

 

[Westernskies]

IMO, this guy is a scam artist and the whole thing was either a publicity stunt and/or an attempt to get a new car out of Toyota. The timing and the whole sequence of events seems too contrived. Twenty years ago he was probably buying tainted Tylenol or finding a mouse in his chili.

But that's just me....

 

[TromboneAl]

I've dealt with enough intermittent software problems, from both sides, to know that "we tested the car, and it worked fine." is totally irrelevant. I had reports of problems with software I wrote which I didn't believe. But then I'd get some more reports, and I'd finally locate some special circumstance under which the problem would occur.

Let's say it turns out that this problem only occurs when the cigarette lighter is pushed in. If the test engineers didn't push it in, they're not going to see a problem, and they'll say "the guys a looney."

 

[M Paquette]

Meanwhile, on the crashed New York Prius...

The Associated Press: Feds: Brakes weren't applied on crashed NY Prius

On Thursday, NHTSA said information from the car's computer systems indicated there was no application of the brakes and the throttle was fully open. It did not elaborate.

The odds favor the driver stepping hard on the wrong pedal, unfortunately.

I'm starting to think that if there is a problem, it will be a software issue, representing an unexpected 'corner state' that doesn't log an error or trigger a shutdown, and is almost but not quite unreachable in normal operation. I've made sure that DW knows how to put the vehicle into neutral, just in case.

 

[Zathras]

I remember the unintended acceleration issues in the Audi.
The fix was to redesign the placement of the pedals so their was a little more distance between them. Once they did, the unusually high rate of 'unintended acceleration' went away.
Now, this could well be some electronic issue and I hope they have a whole bunch of engineers pushing in the cigarette lighters, radio stations, defroster and wipers and every other combination they can think of.
I really do hope they can find the issue, what-ever it is. It will help answer a lot of questions and calm a lot of fears.