Toyota Pedal Issue Highlights Move To Electronics 913
Posted
by
timothy
from the drive-by-wire dept.
from the drive-by-wire dept.
cyclocommuter writes with an excerpt from a brief WSJ story on increasing electronic control of car components: "The gas pedal system used Toyota Motor Co.'s recall crisis was born from a movement in the auto industry to rely more on electronics to carry out a vehicle's most critical functions. The intricacy of such systems, which replace hoses and hydraulic fluid with computer chips and electrical sensors, has been a focus as Toyota struggled to find the cause for sudden acceleration of vehicles that led the company to halt sales of eight models this week."
Re:I design computer hardware and software... (Score:2, Funny)
That's because I already told them not to trust humans.
Re:Drive By Wire not really the problem (Score:2, Funny)
It was not an electrical gremlin by the way, it was the amc gremlin.
Re:Safety Critical (Score:5, Funny)
People would understand a set of "Ctrl-Alt-Delete" buttons on the dash..
--jeffk++
Re: Shifting, braking, and emergency shutoff (Score:5, Funny)
'kill -9 car' works just fine!
Everything else is for n00bs.
Re:Safety Critical (Score:2, Funny)
Press down 3 seconds to switch off? Are their cars powered by ATX computer power sources? :-)
Re:Safety Critical (Score:2, Funny)
Which opens up a task manager, where you can decide to kill the engine?
Re:Electronics have a proven track record (Score:2, Funny)
*nerdalert* So when the Throttle Position Sensor fails, does the manufacturer have to fill out a TPS report?
I sat in a Prius as a driver once. (Score:3, Funny)
Un-necessarily complex, I spent 5 to 10 minutes reading the manual and could NOT figure out how to make it move.
I'm not joking, this was a fleet car for work and I simply couldn't make it move, at all. I'm a geek but it just didn't make any sense to me, engine was going but it wouldn't move.
Turns out they use a 'pedal based' handbrake (Americans might call it park brake?) I've never encountered this in 30 years previously, long story short I ended up speaking to the fleet management people and ended up with a Ford stationwagon ( "It just works" ) for the morning, didn't find out about the pedal and how it works until I got back from the trip. (FWIW I really did want to try the Prius too)
Re:Safety Critical (Score:5, Funny)
Click the processes tab, rightclick on engine.car, then select kill process. Note that powersteering.car will be disabled as well, as it is dependant on engine.car to run.
Re:Drive By Wire not really the problem (Score:5, Funny)
Until you have actually driven a real horse drawn carriage, with no stupid mechanical parts isolating you, you haven't driven. Its a shame really. A new generation will never appreciate what its like to rumble down the road, windows down, with a roar from 6 mighty steads, and having to actually control powerful beasts of burden.
Fixed that for ya. Horses made way for internal combustion engines, and ICEs will make way for drive-by-wire electric cars. Thank goodness for progress.
Re: Shifting, braking, and emergency shutoff (Score:5, Funny)
Are you crazy!?!?
I tried that once and the skin on my arse has never been the same.
'kill -9 engine'
Re:Safety Critical (Score:3, Funny)
It has nothing to do with speed... /. does a port scan when u do a preview....
Re:Electronics have a proven track record (Score:3, Funny)
You don't need to write *nerdalert* at the start of a nerd joke. This is /. *nerdalert* is implicit for all posts.
On the other hand, if you're going to comment with a sporting analogy a *jockalert* at the start of the comment would be a good idea.
Re:Moving too fast (Score:4, Funny)
Where's the bad analogy? I feel cheated.
Re: Shifting, braking, and emergency shutoff (Score:1, Funny)
It's obvious you guys are new school... kill -HUP engine would have sufficed. Anything else is over dramatic.
I bet you reboot the car when your Xdashboard crashes too ;)
Re:My idea (Score:1, Funny)
Not a bad idea, but why not use a lever that rotates a half turn clockwise so that it can't be accidentally bumped but can be accessed easily in an emergency? For security reasons, the device could even be unique and removable which could make the car far more difficult to steal.