From Fox News...



Automotive website Edmunds.com will soon be offering a $1 million prize to researchers who can answer the question the recent Congressional hearings did not: "what is the cause of unintended acceleration?"
Citing the vast number of runaway cars in nearly all brands of automobiles, the company is hoping the cash will inspire the "best thinkers in the world" to focus on the problem and find a solution.
In a press release announcing the award, Edmunds CEO Jeremy Anwyl wrote "'open source' created a forum for great programmers to contribute in building great software. Let's see if this kind of 'crowd sourcing' can work in the pressing area of automotive safety."
Rules for the competition are still being drafted, but Edmunds expects to publish them soon. In the meantime, the company is encouraging people to contribute ideas to its online forum called "Unintended Acceleration - Find the Cause."

 

The leading cause of unintended acceleration is driver error. I have wittnessed this first hand as a very old lady took her 1962 Galaxy through the window and the wall of a laundry mat. I was a kid but I watched as the nylon tires burned through three (3) layers of Linoleum floor tiles.

The smoke and screanming stopped when a teen aged guy reached in and turned the car off.

When I walked up she was still shaking with her foot firmly on the gas floored.

She insisted she was on the brake. I know what I saw.

 

Prove it on the late model Toyota's and you'll be a millionaire.

I can almost smell the inside of that laundromat, just by your description. Yuck.

 

I'm pretty sure there are multiple causes for UA, with driver error #1 .
#2 IMO would be floor mats and foreign objects on the floor. I heard stories of beer bottle rolling under the break pedal and interfering with breaks long time ago.
#3 shoes. It happened to me: I was at the red light, wearing heavy winter shoes with my foot pressing breaks on the right side. Because of the position of my foot and total lack of feeling I never realized bottom of my shoe was pressing accelerator at the same time. So imagine my surprise when the engine started revving faster the more I pressed the breaks. First I thought my car went crazy and is trying to kill me , it took few seconds before I realized that I was the cause of the problem and repositioned my foot. No, didn't have accident, apparently breaks are stronger than engine and car didn't move more than few feet, but I can imagine something like that could freak anybody and could cause real issue.
#4 there is always a chance of mechanical/electrical/electronic failure (depending on the model). From broken spring, worn out resistor to computer malfunction even caused by cosmic rays changing a state of computer chip.
Maybe it should start with better driver training, that anything in a car can fail and for example in case of throttle/ breaks failure switch into neutral, use handbreak etc. etc.

 

How odd that all those drivers making errors are in the same group of cars! What a phenomenal coincidence that the majority of those errors are only occuring in a select group of cars, in a select group of years.

Give me a break. Stop drinking the water in which you are being fed.

How many UA deaths were reported in 1989 Camrys (example)? You know, the ones with an accelerator CABLE.

Take away the direct mechanical link between the driver's foot and the actual throttle plate and you better be very very careful about safety, in any automobile, by any manufacturer.

 

Same group of cars? Hmmm.. Have a look at this:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=124276771

As an example, the top three models with UA complaints in 2009:

VW - 11.5 complaints per 100,000 vehicles
Toyota - 7.5 complaints per 100,000 vehicles
BMW - 5.8 complaints per 100,000 vehicles

You can select other years by clicking on the graph.

 

A $1 million prize might not be sufficient to fund the needed engineering investigation, considering the risk of not being the winner even assuming technical success.

I would imagine that Toyota has spent a lot more than this amount, and they still have not come up with the definitive answer.

 

Are you really implying that you believe there are only 7.5 actual complaints per 100,000 vehicles?

btw, this is not about bashing the Toyota. My vehicle is drive by wire with much Toyota technology and parts (contrary to popular belief).


But please don't play these problems off as driver error.


In the end, this will be electronically related in some way... not floormats, shoes or drivers causing this many incidents (the number is WAY more than 7.5 complaints per 100,000 vehicles.)

 

No! I am not implying that I believe that there are 7.5 complaints per 100,000 2009 Toyota vehicles. My point is to show that it is much more widespread than just a specific group of vehicles, as you stated. I rarely believe much of the data that the press is publishing regarding this current issue. And I don't expect anyone to believe the numbers I posted, from the NPR chart. I just posted that in response to your comment: "How odd that all those drivers making errors are in the same group of cars!"

Nor do I believe your comment that it will end up being electronic in some way. I suspect that there are many causes at hand here. As others here have experienced, the floor mat is a real issue, that's NOT electronic. I personaly believe that there are some cases of mistaken pedal application. The unfortunate folks (fortunate, if they survived their UA incident) that experince this, probably to this day, fully believe that they were pressing the brake pedal. Unless they are able to look down, realize that they are pressing on the wrong pedal, and switch pedals. The brain will not let them accept responsibility for making that mistake.

Let's face it, Toyota is getting raked over the coals over this. They do have the biggest market share, or at least did! My point is that I believe that it is much more an industry/driver awarness problem than just a Toyota problem.

 

It is being reported that even cars that went through the floormat/gas pedal repair are still displaying the same problem.

My point was that if there were a driver error problem, it would be happening with all makes and models to the same extent, not a majority of the same car(s).

We can agree to disagree on the cause, and time will eventually tell.

Right now there is a real problem with these particular Toyotas in question and people are dying. There are no other deaths of this magnitude being reported right now.
Toyota is being raked over the coals perhaps, but this is not a conspiracy.
If there were other cars crashing from the same problem as frequently, you can bet your bottom dollar that the media would be all over it.