70% of the world is covered by water. The rest is covered by Bob Sanders
say "hi" to lumbergh for me
I'm always a little skeptical about 'sudden acceleration' - that almost killed Audi about 20 years ago when some lady ran over her kid. She claimed sudden acceleration, and despite a bunch of engineers who proved it couldn't have been anything other than her stepping on the gas instead of the brakes, she still got a big settlement.
I'm not sure if the Prius' accelerator is electical or mechanical - guess it's not out of the question if everything is computer controlled.
the prius is def accel by wire.
70% of the world is covered by water. The rest is covered by Bob Sanders
i vaguely remember that. is that the one where she claimed it was in park, and that it somehow went into gear on its own?Originally Posted by Jeffbx
update: yes, i know how to use google...
linky
Last edited by mojo; 04-27-2009 at 01:52 PM.
say "hi" to lumbergh for me
Whoa! That is some crazy stuff! Anyone here own a Prius?
heh. cbs got away with it? i guess nbc tried that with the exploding truck but they got hit up with a lawsuit.
Thanks Cheapie - that kind of makes up my mind on this.
The funny thing about these issues is that depsite the mechanical impossibility of this happening, it's somehow difficult to look someone in the eye and say, 'yes, it was your fault. You stepped on the gas instead of the brake'.
Re-read the article - in these Prius incidents (just like the Audi incidents), a lot of them involve people that are new to driving the car & it's entirely possible that they just screwed up. I'm sure they THOUGHT they were hitting the brake - that's why they stopmed it to the floor & suddenly found themselves going 80, 90MPH.
Until someone tears the car apart & finds a mechanical defect that can cause this, I'm gonna remain somewhat skepical that it's anything but user error.
the one that makes me wonder is the dude that was on the test drive and took both feet off the pedals and watched it zoom up in speed. the car salesperson was with him and witnessed it as well.
70% of the world is covered by water. The rest is covered by Bob Sanders
If that car salesman played it smart. He's retired in Hawaii right now after signing a gag order with Toyota...
I've had a Prius since 2004 that I've put almost 100,000 miles on and it's never displayed any strange behavior (at least none that wasn't intentional).
One thing I noticed is that a number of those stories reported the acceration problem when driving in snow, gravel, slippery traction areas. If there really is a problem, I wonder if it could be tied into a problem with the computer/traction control system sending bad information to electronic accelerator?
How does this make up your mind for you to be skeptical?
There are not going to be mechanical defects to find - both the brakes and the throttle can be controlled by the computer. There is no mechanical cable connecting the accelerator and the throttle - it is drive-by-wire which means it is electronically controlled.
I was thinking the same thing. The traction control can apply or unapply the brakes where/when needed and the fact that it is drive-by-wire the computer can also increase/decrease the throttle too.
I've been looking at a potential hybrid to replace the horrific saturn I'm stuck with right now, but I've steered clear of the prius due to the smug factor. I really have been looking at an Altima or Camry hybrid, though I'm a little hesitant due to all the new models coming out for the 2010 model year.
As for the Prius acceleration issue, since it's computer controlled I'm going to blame it on Skynet. Instead of trying to nuke everything it's just trying to kill you one at a time.
I think over again
My small adventures, my fears.
The small ones that seemed so big,
For all the vital things I had to get and to reach.
And yet there is only one great thing, the only thing:
To live to see the great day that dawns,
And the light that fills the world.
-old Inuit song
Lol my bad - I thought he meant a mechanical wire connection!How does this make up your mind for you to be skeptical?
There are not going to be mechanical defects to find - both the brakes and the throttle can be controlled by the computer. There is no mechanical cable connecting the accelerator and the throttle - it is drive-by-wire which means it is electronically controlled.
If they're all computer controlled, then there are any number of software bugs/issues that could cause this, and Toyota should be all over it... hopefully they won't wait until they're forced to act.
I still think there's a good chance that many of those incidents are 'pedal confusion', but if even half of them are truly the car's fault, that's a big issue for Toyota.
I need to get this intelligence back to John ASAP....
Np.
I have a Prius and I'm not smug. Maybe pompous, but definately not smug.
If you need a full sized car then yes, those are good options especially the Camry. I'm really into the 1st and 2nd gen Insight. Niche smug is way better than trendy smug.
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.
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