Maybe it WAS the software

[Tunnelcat]

Fascinating long technical video for all the computer nerds here interested in the old unintended acceleration issue Toyota had back in 2010. Turns out a software glitch may have been the culprit since in several of the cases since it was discovered that floor mat/pedal entrapment could not have caused the accidents. The problem also cropped up in other manufacturer's cars during that time frame as well, but not enough to make headlines. Toyota just happened to hit the grand slam with several of their car models those years. NHTSA also backed off mandating brake/throttle override a couple of years after the investigation since automakers supposedly installed such software on their own after this whole debacle. What's everyone's opinion here after watching the video? As we get more and more dependent on software to control important functions, will more and more errors cause more and more problems or deaths? Smarter minds than mine can weigh in here.



https://www.futurecar.com/3205/U-S-Drop ... n-Vehicles

[Krom]

In my EV there is a physical linkage for the steering and from the brake pedal to the braking master cylinder, but for obvious reasons the accelerator is pure drive by wire. There have been a few cases where people have crashed a Tesla and claimed the vehicle accelerated on its own and every single time so far the event data recorder showed the accelerator pedal was pressed and the brake pedal was not. There isn't a production vehicle on the road where the engine is stronger than the brakes if someone pushes them (at least as long as the brakes are properly maintained). Pretty much every case of unintended acceleration in any make or model of vehicle is caused by driver error and the EDR (present in all vehicles manufactured in the last couple decades) will show it as such. That is the primary reason stories of unintended acceleration aren't making the news as much anymore.

[Tunnelcat]

Makes one wonder what happens when ALL functions of every vehicle is drive by wire and under full control of a computer and the very human created software running those chips in the ECU. I mean, cripes, even Microsoft can't even get an OS working 100% of the time and Toyota's software was sloppy as hell for years until people died. Right now, some cars, especially Teslas, have a self driving function, so the car's computer HAS to have some type of control over steering, braking and acceleration to accomplish that. Right now, it's a very messy work in progress that some stupid drivers are trusting, but sometimes ending with epic fails.