People may have forgotten this because it was in the news a few years back. But Toyotas randomly experienced "unintended acceleration" due to software bugs.
Many reported incidents were undoubtably due to the problem that people in a panic can step on the wrong pedal and will misremember what they did. Others were due to a floor mat that could jam the pedal. But some were Toyota's fault.
It is not merely coincidental that all unintended acceleration events occurred in automatic cars. Also, a widespread unintended acceleration problem has not been observed in Toyota cars outside the USA.
It's a shame that so many on HN are so swift to condemn Toyota
> It is not merely coincidental that all unintended acceleration events occurred in automatic cars. Also, a widespread unintended acceleration problem has not been observed in Toyota cars outside the USA.
If my car went nuts on acceleration the first thing I'd do would be to jump on the clutch pedal and apply brakes (and possibly set the stick to neutral) but that's because most cars here are manual thus that's what we learn to operate†. Pursuing on that line: once at a stop, cut the ignition and disaster is averted. Start again and you're probably fine due to the reboot. Then drive to nearest Toyota to complain, but since "nothing" (i.e no damage, no injury) really happened, you'll get a shrug and a reflash.
† In a country where people learn only on automatic cars, setting back to neutral is most probably not reflex (if mechanically possible at all)
I, too, am left wondering over the paradox of the brake supposedly being powerful enough to hold back any amount of torque the engine and transmission can apply - unless, in the name of anti-skid braking or traction control, the system has the ability to override the driver and release or limit the braking torque.
Furthermore, those explanations of the floor-mat recall that I have checked all say that the mats were suspected of having interfered with the accelerator, not the brake. Toyota subsequently performed a second recall, to correct problems with the accelerator pedal. These both imply that unintended acceleration was at least a significant causative factor in the accidents - unless Toyota and the NHTSA were simply acting in order to be seen doing something.
With regard to proof, the article covers the issue in some detail: after a far-from-exhastive series of investigations, there have already been found so many ways for the software to get into unintended states that only a vanishingly small number of the vast range of possible causes have been considered. Asking for proof of an error is the wrong question to ask: the burden of proof clearly rests with the manufacturer to show that their systems are safe - and Toyota cannot do that with this software.
That Toyota replaced floor-mats is certainly not evidence for the correctness of their software, and nor is the non-appearance of a software patch. The article quotes a concerned Toyota engineer whose statements indicate a culture of denial within the company.
People may have forgotten this because it was in the news a few years back. But Toyotas randomly experienced "unintended acceleration" due to software bugs.
Many reported incidents were undoubtably due to the problem that people in a panic can step on the wrong pedal and will misremember what they did. Others were due to a floor mat that could jam the pedal. But some were Toyota's fault.