Toyota To Assist Takata In Taking Steps To Repair Industry Reputation

As serious as this massive airbag issue is, I take exception to the article's statement "...[Mr. Toyoda] pointed out Toyota Motor Corp. had gone through a similar public-relations disaster over massive recalls that began in 2009, and expanded to some 14 million vehicles worldwide, for problems including faulty floor mats, defective brakes and sticky gas pedals."

This sentence implies that Toyoda admitted to "faulty floor mats, defective brakes and sticky gas pedals." Not so. The record stands showing that nobody -- not Police, CSIs (Crime Scene Investigators), multiple Federal government inquisitions, and even friggin' NASA rocket scientist brainiacs -- were able to find a fault in Toyota vehicles that caused the alleged unintended acceleration. And yet, like many myths, the story of an alleged Toyota defect persists. To repeat this myth and pass it off as fact, and to attribute it to someone who who has never made such a claim, is irresponsible and wreckless writing (I wouldn't dignify it by calling it "journalism").

Steve, please explain why it only happens to Toyota/Lexus.
Millions of cars but only their car sent a trained police officer and his family to their deaths. It wasn't a 90 year old that got the brake pedal confused with the accelerator.

tesla write "Steve, please explain why it only happens to Toyota/Lexus."

Actually, it also happened to Audi. Remember their alleged unintended acceleration debacle from years ago. Then, too, after extensive investigations by CSIs, police, and government inquiries, they determined the cause was "pedal misapplication." That's a technical term that, when translated into plain English, means: The driver *believed* they were standing on the brake pedal when they were actually mashing the accelerator.

According to most legal systems, the accused is innocent until proven guilty, and as we know, nobody, absolutely NOBODY, including NASA who inspected every line of computer code in the suspect cars' systems, did not find any fault that did, or *could* have, caused the alleged unintended acceleration.

So clinging to the belief that Toyota must be at fault, even though there isn't one shred of evidence to support that allegation (aside from some people's beliefs), is consistent with conspiracy theories. Well, that and witch hunts! History records that (1) there were reports of witches casting spells and performing sorcery, (2) inquisition tried and killed those accused, and (3) after some time, the reports of witches died out. I guess they finally killed the last of the witches. The trials and executions worked. How else do you explain it? ;-)

"unintended acceleration" has a long history and has been charged against many if not all makes. Causes are human error, component failure, and some are intentional. I just don't buy the runaway vehicle with ample time to take action, whether it be braking, turning the engine off, getting out of gear, or ditching the vehicle. Toyota may have suffered from having the deepest pockets.

We can argue about this until the cows come home. According to Steve, NASA scientists haven't been able to figure it out. What chance do we have?
I think it's a combination of a poorly designed pedal + human panic.

Instead of arguing about the cause I'll give you three simple reasons unintended acceleration will never happen to me in my Mercedes/BMW:
1. The accelerator pedal is anchored/hinged at the floor. This prevents any object or your carpet getting stuck under it.
2. Software will cut engine power if it detects heavy braking
3. Brakes on German cars are famous for being overkill. The brakes will not burn up under engine power like the Lexus case.

Those 3 look like better engineering or a case of you get what you pay for. It's sad that the officer and his family in the Lexus had to pay for it with their lives.

tesla, please become a CSI or join NASA. Those idiots obviously don't know their asses from a hole in the ground. I really hope you can educate those morons! Congrats for figuring out from your computer keyboard what hundreds of alleged "best minds" and so called "subject matter experts" sifting through physical evidence couldn't!

Yes, some people died. Some time ago, some people might attribute their death to a spell cast upon them by a witch. Today, we blame the car they drive. In both cases, the accuser steadfastly believes what they believe, and don't have one iota of evidence to prove it. Still, they believe. That's just human nature.

Why don't you do a search on BMW unintended acceleration.
-enjoy

I probably shouldn't have used the word never but very unlikely.
Please let me know when you find a case where a whole family died with a capable driver behind the wheel.
The pedal design in the Lexus is crap, the brakes are crap, and there was not safety software. My point was that they had no chance in the Lexus with those design flaws.
If you have a better engineered car you have a better chance of surviving the unexpected.

no safety

Steve,
You don't have to be CSI or Nasa to know that a gas pedal that is attached at the top leaves a gap on the bottom of the floor that opens up the possibility of something getting stuck under it.
I've pushed my carpet on older cars a million times but my gas pedal is hinged at the bottom so I've never had any issues.
Why do you think Toyota were installing carpet kits to prevent them from shifting?
Some people have ZERO common sense. AGAIN, I did not say this is 100% what caused it but it is very likely + the fact that most people panic in those situations.
A pedal that leaves an empty gap on the bottom is a terrible piece of engineering. You don't have to work for CSI or NASA to know that. I can almost guarantee you that Toyota/Lexus will start to change that stupid design.

tesla: The historic record documents that the Feds kept persecuting Toyota through multiple government inquisitions, even though nobody identified any fault. The Feds kept insisting that Toyota had a problem and they should fix it. Toyota kept saying we can't fix something unless we know what's broken, and nobody has found anything broken. Still, the Feds kept persecuting Toyota (think Witch Hunts, where the accuser and judge "know" the accused is guilty, just because they believe so).

History also tells us that the Feds and Toyota struck a deal: Toyota would make some changes, and in exchange, the Feds would call off the witch hunts. Toyota did some busy work, and eventually the alleged unintended acceleration incidents went away. Some people see this as proof that there actually was a Toyota fault, and Toyota's changes must have fixed it, causing the incidents of unintended acceleration to vanish. These people don't know the difference between correlation and causality. Remember, history also tells us that after a big bunch of people were killed for being witches, eventually the accusations of being a witch lessened and then vanished, so one could conclude that the witch hunts and executions were successful in identifying witches and killing them all.

If there is ever a conflict between eyewitness accounts and the physical evidence, any investigator worth their spit knows you always go with the physical evidence. In the case of unintended acceleration allegations against Toyota, the record shows there was no (none, zero, zilch) physical evidence, include software bugs, that pointed at a fault in a Toyota car as being the cause of the problem.

Just watch how the pedal design changes. They have been using the stupid design for years. Will that just be a coincidence in your book?

You haven't yet explained how a trained police officer couldn't save himself or his family. This wasn't a 90 year senile person that mistakenly pressed the accelerator instead of the brakes. They even had time to make a phone call but couldn't stop the car. Of course there is nothing wrong with the Lexus....everything is just fine and dandy. Maybe he just wanted to commit suicide with his family in a loaner car.