Update 5/12/2014 - Statements from the Solara driver, made public today, are consistent with concerns about electronically-induced unintended acceleration. "... the Solars's brakes 'were not responding' and the car 'actually started to accelerate at a higher rate of speed.'" The Solara driver's statements are corroborated by witness accounts.
As information spreads about electronic issues associated with Toyota's unintended acceleration scandal, instances of runaway Toyotas are continuing. There have been two high profile cases in the past week in Florida, both pointing to the liklihood of electronically induced unintended acceleration. One happened Easter night when a Lexus barreled through the wall of a church. The other involved a Solara crashing through the wall of a day care, injuring many children, killing a four-year-old.
Florida Highway Patrol has now released a diagram of the KinderCare crash, which should resolve any notions - much ballyhooed by mainstream media - that the Solara was knocked through the wall when another vehicle hit it from behind. The diagram clearly shows that to be an impossibility. The Solara headed back at an angle in the opposite direction from where it was hit from behind, jumped a curb, went across a parking lot, and plowed through a wall.
There's more.
The driver of the Solara was turning a corner. Most unintended acceleration events are triggered at slow speeds, so the Solara's speed was typical. Furthermore, the driver probably had his foot on the brake. Embedded systems expert Michael Barr found that in such a situation (assuming the absence of a fail-safe), in order to get the brakes to work, a driver would have to immediately take their foot off the brake pedal and immediately reapply pressure.
It's ridiculous to expect someone to take their foot off the brake pedal when their car starts speeding out of control. No wonder the jury in Oklahoma - before whom Mr. Barr testified - not only found Toyota guilty, but also opined that the Recall King acted with reckless disregard for public safety. From the article "Toyota's killer firmware: Bad design and its consequences" here's what Mr. Barr found:
> Toyota's electronic throttle control system (ETCS) source code is of unreasonable quality.
> Toyota's source code is defective and contains bugs, including bugs that can cause unintended acceleration (UA)
> Code-quality metrics predict presence of additional bugs.
> Toyota's fail safes are defective and inadequate (referring to them as a 'house of cards' safety architecture).
> Misbehaviours of Toyota's ETCS are a cause of UA.
As the Solara case continues - the driver has not been charged with any wrongdoing - it's important to note that just because an unintended acceleration event doesn't show up on diagnostic equipment, that doesn't mean the event didn't happen. Dr. Antony Anderson recently completed a study - published in the prestigious IEEE Access - demonstrating how false speed signals can be accepted as authentic, thereby triggering unverifiable instances of unintended acceleration. Be cautious when a crook like Toyota - admittedly guilty of a federal criminal charge for misleading motorists - cites anything, including "black box" data.
Cases of unintended acceleration are continuing, and circumstances often point to defects in Toyota's electronic throttle control. Meanwhile, NASA physicist Henning Leidecker is warning of increased risk of electronically induced unintended acceleration in '02-'06 Camrys, comparing it to a game of Russian roulette. The public is being subjected to needless risk, and people are getting killed or seriously injured, apparently for no other reason than corporate greed.
How much longer is the government gonna allow a crook like Toyota to ignore compelling evidence of electronic defects in its throttle control?
Update 4/29/2014 - This just in: Today in Columbus, Ohio, a Lexus SUV crashed into seven cars, then a building, and the driver has made reference to a "stuck accelerator." Stay tuned.
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Mysterious Lexus crash. '02-'06 Camrys still not recalled.
Update 5/28/2014 - The Lexus driver has now been charged with careless driving after a "city mechanic" was used - to "save tax-payers' money" - to examine the vehicle.
We now know that NHTSA is a bald-faced government lie. Not only regarding a crook like Toyota, but also GM. It's outrageous that NHTSA would dare to use NASA as a pawn, then broadcast a big lie about the space agency's conclusions concerning electronics in Toyota's throttle control. Equally outrageous when the auto industry "regulator" is caught red-handed allowing a murderous thug like GM to avoid recalling vehicles the corporate-kissin' slobs knew were unsafe to drive. The very idea of NHTSA ignoring bloodcurdling complaints, accidents, and at least 13 deaths.
NHTSA has been exposed as a taxpayer-financed propaganda machine for big business. And that gives consumers good reason to be uneasy about most anything imaginable when it comes to the safety of motor vehicles.
Case in point is this week's Easter night crash of a 2006 Lexus into a church full of people, injuries galore. All the earmarks of an unintended acceleration event, and given NHTSA's outright lies regarding the issue, nobody can be blamed for wondering. It's especially noteworthy that the driver says she was applying the brake when the Lexus suddenly accelerated. Embedded systems expert Michael Barr addressed this all-too-frequent situation in court testimony regarding the defects he found in Toyota's electronic throttle control. Mr. Barr pointed out that the driver would actually have to take their foot off the brake pedal and immediately press the pedal again in order to stand a chance of stopping the vehicle. I won't belabor the obvious unlikelihood that anyone would ever do that in such a situation. Note the eerie similarity of the Easter Sunday crash to a complaint filed with NHTSA on 4/14/08 regarding a 2006 Lexus:
LEXUS LS 430 BRAKES FAILED MOVING INTO A PARKING SPACE. PRESSED ON THE BREAKS THE SURGED FORWARD WENT OVER A BUMP, CURB, HANDICAP SIGN AND INTO THE BUILDING. WAS PRESSING ON THE BRAKES AND THE CAR JUST TOOK OFF. *TR
Easter night's mysterious Lexus crash hasn't exactly made national headlines. One reason, "Lexus" is a buzzword. It's the same make that Mark Saylor was driving when he make the 911 call that brought national attention to the problem of unintended acceleration. Amidst government efforts to hush things up about uninintended acceleration, Easter night's crash sounds the alarm bell that such events are continuing. In the wake of recent , compelling evidence of electronic defects, it's imperative that a bonafide investigation be conducted into where Toyota now stands regarding the things Michael Barr found in the automaker's electronic throttle control. A government with the best interests of the motoring public at heart would have no problem with that. Sadly, this sold-out excuse for a government and its presstitute mainstream media stooges are instead intent on keeping things as quiet as possible when motor vehicles - especially a Lexus - mysteriously speed out of control.
Which brings up the ongoing '02-'06 Camry scam. It's one of the grandest performances NHTSA and its good friend and corporate crook Toyota have ever come up with. Evidence relevant to the Camry scam has been around for years. But while consumers are ripped off by settlements the "Toyota Way," and placed at risk for injury, death, and financial ruin, one brave NASA physicist has apparently had enough of the Recall King's shenanigans. Dr. Henning Leidecker is speaking out - much to the chagrin of those less honest - about evidence of tin whiskers posing an increased risk of unintended acceleration in '02-'06 Camrys.
It makes no sense - outside the context of greed - for a lying slob like Toyota to ignore - with the blessings of government - the tin whiskers issue in '02-'06 Camrys. Isn't it a cryin' shame when a country is ruled by two-bit punks? Deceitful, self-absorbed thugs whose only yardstick for morality is the almighty (for the moment, at least) dollar? How much would it cost Toyota - with an ill-gotten cash stash of $60 billion - to update the pedal sensors in '02-'06 Camrys?
Here's the problem.
Toyota and its good friends at NHTSA know that NASA's Dr. Leidecker is beyond reproach. And a cowardly smear campaign - like the one Toyota contemplated against Southern Illinois University's Professor David Gilbert - isn't to be dared against a NASA physicist. In fact, that would spread the truth even more about NHTSA's big lie regarding NASA's conclusion about the electronics issue. Worse yet, if the Recall King recalled '02-'06 Camrys, the electronics issue associated with unintended acceleration would break loose in worldwide, eye-catching headlines. Then the Recall King would have to address whether or not its electronic throttle control is still as defective as embedded systems expert Michael Barr found it to be.
As instances of unintended acceleration continue, the public has a right to know of Dr. Leidecker's concerns about '02-'06 Camrys, and whether or not Toyota has corrected the defects Mr. Barr found during his exhaustive, 18 month investigation of Toyota's much ballyhooed source code. Defects which produced a resounding guilty verdict in the landmark unintended acceleration case in Oklahoma last October. Take another look at what Mr. Barr found - prompting a jury to say Toyota exhibited "reckless disregard" for public safety - and ponder the government's highanded response. Trade journal EDN's article, "Toyota's killer firmware: Bad design and its consequences," gives an apt summary of the evidence:
***Updates 4/25/2014 -
> News coverage is now associating Easter Sunday's Lexus crash with consumer complaints - to the federal government - of "brake failure or uncontrollable acceleration" for the Lexus LS 430. Coverage also states that Toyota never issued a recall.
> Unrelated to the Easter Sunday Lexus crash, this 4/24/2014 article confirms that accident investigators are taking the electronics issue seriously. Also noteworthy is the attorney's statement that Toyota's $1.2 billion federal criminal settlement was for "misleading motorists about a faulty electronic-throttle system." This is the second attorney to make such a statement in recent weeks. The other attorney is Bob Hilliard, who represents unjustly imprisoned Toyota driver Koua Fong Lee. Mr. Hilliard addressed the issue in a CBS radio interview (segment 20:00-20:53) with John Williams.
> This 4/25/2014 article states that "Toyota was fined by the Department of Justice for misleading motorists about a 'faulty electronic-throttle system' in their cars after settling a lawsuit in July that claims the same make, model and year of the Toyota Solara involved in the day care crash lost resale value after sudden acceleration complanints."
> My 3/30/2014 post questioned what Toyota had admitted to as part of the federal criminal settlement. Has the Justice Department been lying to the public?
Update 4/24/2014 - When writing this post, I focused on news coverage in the Fort Meyers area. National coverage of Easter Sunday's Lexus crash - while not approaching the same level as the Saylor event - was better than I realized. Stay tuned.
We now know that NHTSA is a bald-faced government lie. Not only regarding a crook like Toyota, but also GM. It's outrageous that NHTSA would dare to use NASA as a pawn, then broadcast a big lie about the space agency's conclusions concerning electronics in Toyota's throttle control. Equally outrageous when the auto industry "regulator" is caught red-handed allowing a murderous thug like GM to avoid recalling vehicles the corporate-kissin' slobs knew were unsafe to drive. The very idea of NHTSA ignoring bloodcurdling complaints, accidents, and at least 13 deaths.
NHTSA has been exposed as a taxpayer-financed propaganda machine for big business. And that gives consumers good reason to be uneasy about most anything imaginable when it comes to the safety of motor vehicles.
Case in point is this week's Easter night crash of a 2006 Lexus into a church full of people, injuries galore. All the earmarks of an unintended acceleration event, and given NHTSA's outright lies regarding the issue, nobody can be blamed for wondering. It's especially noteworthy that the driver says she was applying the brake when the Lexus suddenly accelerated. Embedded systems expert Michael Barr addressed this all-too-frequent situation in court testimony regarding the defects he found in Toyota's electronic throttle control. Mr. Barr pointed out that the driver would actually have to take their foot off the brake pedal and immediately press the pedal again in order to stand a chance of stopping the vehicle. I won't belabor the obvious unlikelihood that anyone would ever do that in such a situation. Note the eerie similarity of the Easter Sunday crash to a complaint filed with NHTSA on 4/14/08 regarding a 2006 Lexus:
LEXUS LS 430 BRAKES FAILED MOVING INTO A PARKING SPACE. PRESSED ON THE BREAKS THE SURGED FORWARD WENT OVER A BUMP, CURB, HANDICAP SIGN AND INTO THE BUILDING. WAS PRESSING ON THE BRAKES AND THE CAR JUST TOOK OFF. *TR
Easter night's mysterious Lexus crash hasn't exactly made national headlines. One reason, "Lexus" is a buzzword. It's the same make that Mark Saylor was driving when he make the 911 call that brought national attention to the problem of unintended acceleration. Amidst government efforts to hush things up about uninintended acceleration, Easter night's crash sounds the alarm bell that such events are continuing. In the wake of recent , compelling evidence of electronic defects, it's imperative that a bonafide investigation be conducted into where Toyota now stands regarding the things Michael Barr found in the automaker's electronic throttle control. A government with the best interests of the motoring public at heart would have no problem with that. Sadly, this sold-out excuse for a government and its presstitute mainstream media stooges are instead intent on keeping things as quiet as possible when motor vehicles - especially a Lexus - mysteriously speed out of control.
Which brings up the ongoing '02-'06 Camry scam. It's one of the grandest performances NHTSA and its good friend and corporate crook Toyota have ever come up with. Evidence relevant to the Camry scam has been around for years. But while consumers are ripped off by settlements the "Toyota Way," and placed at risk for injury, death, and financial ruin, one brave NASA physicist has apparently had enough of the Recall King's shenanigans. Dr. Henning Leidecker is speaking out - much to the chagrin of those less honest - about evidence of tin whiskers posing an increased risk of unintended acceleration in '02-'06 Camrys.
It makes no sense - outside the context of greed - for a lying slob like Toyota to ignore - with the blessings of government - the tin whiskers issue in '02-'06 Camrys. Isn't it a cryin' shame when a country is ruled by two-bit punks? Deceitful, self-absorbed thugs whose only yardstick for morality is the almighty (for the moment, at least) dollar? How much would it cost Toyota - with an ill-gotten cash stash of $60 billion - to update the pedal sensors in '02-'06 Camrys?
Here's the problem.
Toyota and its good friends at NHTSA know that NASA's Dr. Leidecker is beyond reproach. And a cowardly smear campaign - like the one Toyota contemplated against Southern Illinois University's Professor David Gilbert - isn't to be dared against a NASA physicist. In fact, that would spread the truth even more about NHTSA's big lie regarding NASA's conclusion about the electronics issue. Worse yet, if the Recall King recalled '02-'06 Camrys, the electronics issue associated with unintended acceleration would break loose in worldwide, eye-catching headlines. Then the Recall King would have to address whether or not its electronic throttle control is still as defective as embedded systems expert Michael Barr found it to be.
As instances of unintended acceleration continue, the public has a right to know of Dr. Leidecker's concerns about '02-'06 Camrys, and whether or not Toyota has corrected the defects Mr. Barr found during his exhaustive, 18 month investigation of Toyota's much ballyhooed source code. Defects which produced a resounding guilty verdict in the landmark unintended acceleration case in Oklahoma last October. Take another look at what Mr. Barr found - prompting a jury to say Toyota exhibited "reckless disregard" for public safety - and ponder the government's highanded response. Trade journal EDN's article, "Toyota's killer firmware: Bad design and its consequences," gives an apt summary of the evidence:
- Toyota’s electronic throttle control system (ETCS) source code is of unreasonable quality.
- Toyota’s source code is defective and contains bugs, including bugs that can cause unintended acceleration (UA).
- Code-quality metrics predict presence of additional bugs.
- Toyota’s fail safes are defective and inadequate (referring to them as a “house of cards” safety architecture).
- Misbehaviors of Toyota’s ETCS are a cause of UA.
***Updates 4/25/2014 -
> News coverage is now associating Easter Sunday's Lexus crash with consumer complaints - to the federal government - of "brake failure or uncontrollable acceleration" for the Lexus LS 430. Coverage also states that Toyota never issued a recall.
> Unrelated to the Easter Sunday Lexus crash, this 4/24/2014 article confirms that accident investigators are taking the electronics issue seriously. Also noteworthy is the attorney's statement that Toyota's $1.2 billion federal criminal settlement was for "misleading motorists about a faulty electronic-throttle system." This is the second attorney to make such a statement in recent weeks. The other attorney is Bob Hilliard, who represents unjustly imprisoned Toyota driver Koua Fong Lee. Mr. Hilliard addressed the issue in a CBS radio interview (segment 20:00-20:53) with John Williams.
> This 4/25/2014 article states that "Toyota was fined by the Department of Justice for misleading motorists about a 'faulty electronic-throttle system' in their cars after settling a lawsuit in July that claims the same make, model and year of the Toyota Solara involved in the day care crash lost resale value after sudden acceleration complanints."
> My 3/30/2014 post questioned what Toyota had admitted to as part of the federal criminal settlement. Has the Justice Department been lying to the public?
Update 4/24/2014 - When writing this post, I focused on news coverage in the Fort Meyers area. National coverage of Easter Sunday's Lexus crash - while not approaching the same level as the Saylor event - was better than I realized. Stay tuned.
Monday, April 14, 2014
NASA physicist warns of unintended acceleration risk in '02-'06 Camrys
"A case of a Toyota with galloping acceleration — but not a fully open throttle — was attributed to tin whiskers. And Leidecker pointed out that Toyota redesigned its pedal sensor in 2007 and again in 2008, expressly to eliminate the risk of tin whiskers. Why would it do that if tin whiskers were never a problem? he asked. Toyota did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Leidecker said he believes the tin whisker risk remains for Toyotas in model years 2002-2006. While the risk is small, it increases with time. 'It’s a game of Russian roulette,' he said."
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 4/5/2014 article, "A Carbondale professor, runaway Toyotas, and the hunt for 'tin whiskers'"
So you'd think Toyota, NHTSA and the Department of Justice would be anxious to learn more. You'd think Toyota would be concerned enough to advise Camry owners accordingly, and issue a recall for those models to update the pedal sensors.
But you'd be wrong.
Instead, our tacky little corporate-controlled government and its good friend Toyota are trying to keep things quiet about any electronics involvement in the unintended acceleration scandal. So when the St. Louis Post-Dispatch repeatedly asked Toyota to comment on Dr. Leidecker's remarks, the Recall King - in typical, highhanded, "Toyota Way" fashion - smugly refused to respond. Reminds ya of the "Department of Justice" e-mailing a curt "No comment" when trade journal EE Times' freelance writer David Benjamin asked 'em if they'd ever heard of embedded systems expert Michael Barr finding bugs in Toyota's electronic throttle control. Congress has done no more than display some grand theatrics, and NHTSA (No Help To Solve Anything) had the unmitigated gall to bow out of the unintended acceleration issue by broadcasting the now-obvious lie that NASA had ruled out electronics.
"No comment" indeed. Not to mention lies.
People's lives are at stake. Compelling evidence of defects in Toyota's electronic throttle control has been produced. How dare this corporate-controlled slob of a government - Repukes and Demagogues alike - and its good friend Toyota remain aloof. Refuse to even acknowledge the issue, and have its mainstream-media stooges do likewise. In what sense do we have a free press when consumers have to depend on trade journals to reveal the facts? The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is to be commended for daring to take a step in the right direction.
The scam regarding '02-'06 Camrys is apparent in this interview with the owner of a 2005 model, justifiably unhappy with the chump change she got in Toyota's much-ballyhooed billion dollar, class-action economic loss settlement. Toyota (!) "never determined that sudden acceleration was the reason her vehicle crashed." Never mind, of course, that '02-'06 Camrys have an exceptionally high rate of unintended acceleration complaints.
Talk about a racket.
BIG BUCKS for attorneys. CHUMP CHANGE AND BALD-FACED LIES for consumers, who never shoulda had to file lawsuits in the first place. Worse yet, much of Toyota's "settlement" money is earmarked for "safety research" that blames drivers for unintended acceleration. Settlements the "Toyota Way" cleverly promote the myth of driver error, while creating a database of misleading information that the Recall King can blabber about in future cases of runaway Toyotas.
It's about time consumers demanded a bit of fundamental fairness outta dishonest corporate slobs like Toyota, GM, and their government mouthpieces.
Update 4/18/2014 - The '05 Camry case referenced below targeted "tin whiskers" and software. No wonder the Recall King reached a settlement :-)
Update 4/17/2014 -
> This just in: "Attorney: Family of dead motorist, Toyota reach settlement in Flint sudden acceleration suit." As word of Dr. Leidecker's concern leaks out, Toyota is probably in a BIG hurry to settle as many lawsuits as possible involving '02-'06 Camrys. NHTSA, where are ya?
> Found some background on the above case. One of the victim's children summed things up quite well: "The 2005 Camry should have been one of the first ones to be in the recall," said Lilia Alberto. "How many more deaths do they want to have before they have to put it in the recall?"
> This 2/8/10 article shows that Toyota's electronic throttle control was blamed from the get go. "Eric Synder, a lawyer for the family, told the Times, 'We think Toyota has a safety problem with the electronic throttle control system in Camrys and other Toyota models."'
> One more background article - from 6/1/12 - aptly titled "Toyota Owners Forced to Continue Driving Ticking Time Bombs"
Update 4/15/2014 - A German firm has published some interesting revelations about tin whiskers: http://www.dguv.de/ifa/Praxishilfen/Zinnwhisker-auf-Leiterplatten/index-2.jsp
Leidecker said he believes the tin whisker risk remains for Toyotas in model years 2002-2006. While the risk is small, it increases with time. 'It’s a game of Russian roulette,' he said."
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 4/5/2014 article, "A Carbondale professor, runaway Toyotas, and the hunt for 'tin whiskers'"
So you'd think Toyota, NHTSA and the Department of Justice would be anxious to learn more. You'd think Toyota would be concerned enough to advise Camry owners accordingly, and issue a recall for those models to update the pedal sensors.
But you'd be wrong.
Instead, our tacky little corporate-controlled government and its good friend Toyota are trying to keep things quiet about any electronics involvement in the unintended acceleration scandal. So when the St. Louis Post-Dispatch repeatedly asked Toyota to comment on Dr. Leidecker's remarks, the Recall King - in typical, highhanded, "Toyota Way" fashion - smugly refused to respond. Reminds ya of the "Department of Justice" e-mailing a curt "No comment" when trade journal EE Times' freelance writer David Benjamin asked 'em if they'd ever heard of embedded systems expert Michael Barr finding bugs in Toyota's electronic throttle control. Congress has done no more than display some grand theatrics, and NHTSA (No Help To Solve Anything) had the unmitigated gall to bow out of the unintended acceleration issue by broadcasting the now-obvious lie that NASA had ruled out electronics.
"No comment" indeed. Not to mention lies.
People's lives are at stake. Compelling evidence of defects in Toyota's electronic throttle control has been produced. How dare this corporate-controlled slob of a government - Repukes and Demagogues alike - and its good friend Toyota remain aloof. Refuse to even acknowledge the issue, and have its mainstream-media stooges do likewise. In what sense do we have a free press when consumers have to depend on trade journals to reveal the facts? The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is to be commended for daring to take a step in the right direction.
The scam regarding '02-'06 Camrys is apparent in this interview with the owner of a 2005 model, justifiably unhappy with the chump change she got in Toyota's much-ballyhooed billion dollar, class-action economic loss settlement. Toyota (!) "never determined that sudden acceleration was the reason her vehicle crashed." Never mind, of course, that '02-'06 Camrys have an exceptionally high rate of unintended acceleration complaints.
Talk about a racket.
BIG BUCKS for attorneys. CHUMP CHANGE AND BALD-FACED LIES for consumers, who never shoulda had to file lawsuits in the first place. Worse yet, much of Toyota's "settlement" money is earmarked for "safety research" that blames drivers for unintended acceleration. Settlements the "Toyota Way" cleverly promote the myth of driver error, while creating a database of misleading information that the Recall King can blabber about in future cases of runaway Toyotas.
It's about time consumers demanded a bit of fundamental fairness outta dishonest corporate slobs like Toyota, GM, and their government mouthpieces.
Update 4/18/2014 - The '05 Camry case referenced below targeted "tin whiskers" and software. No wonder the Recall King reached a settlement :-)
Update 4/17/2014 -
> This just in: "Attorney: Family of dead motorist, Toyota reach settlement in Flint sudden acceleration suit." As word of Dr. Leidecker's concern leaks out, Toyota is probably in a BIG hurry to settle as many lawsuits as possible involving '02-'06 Camrys. NHTSA, where are ya?
> Found some background on the above case. One of the victim's children summed things up quite well: "The 2005 Camry should have been one of the first ones to be in the recall," said Lilia Alberto. "How many more deaths do they want to have before they have to put it in the recall?"
> This 2/8/10 article shows that Toyota's electronic throttle control was blamed from the get go. "Eric Synder, a lawyer for the family, told the Times, 'We think Toyota has a safety problem with the electronic throttle control system in Camrys and other Toyota models."'
> One more background article - from 6/1/12 - aptly titled "Toyota Owners Forced to Continue Driving Ticking Time Bombs"
Update 4/15/2014 - A German firm has published some interesting revelations about tin whiskers: http://www.dguv.de/ifa/Praxishilfen/Zinnwhisker-auf-Leiterplatten/index-2.jsp
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
NASA physicist targets Toyota's electronic throttle control
"Leidecker said he believes the tin whisker risk remains for Toyotas in model years 2002-2006. While the risk is small, it increases with time. 'It’s a game of Russian roulette,' he said." - 4/5/2014 article, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "A Carbondale professor, runaway Toyotas and the hunt for 'tin whiskers"'
Toyota and its government friends refuse to talk about it, but there's evidence galore of electronic issues associated with sudden, unintended acceleration. After all, the Recall King did fork over some payola to end the federal criminal "investigation," shamfully (sic) limited to floor mats and sticky gas pedals. It's obvious that Congress, NHTSA, and the DOJ put on one whopper of a performance, intended all along to let a filthy-rich corporate slob - with a cash stash of 60 billion bucks - off the hook, nobody jailed. More of the same is underway with GM.
Never mind that renowned embedded systems expert Michael Barr found bugs in Toyota's electronic throttle control and gave the Recall King a whuppin' in an Oklahoma court. Never mind that Mr. Barr's findings put the Recall King in "settlement mode" for hundreds of remaining unintended acceleration cases. And never mind that tenured professor Dr. David Gilbert impressed NASA - yes, NASA, but don't tell NHTSA - with electronics-related findings now supported by NASA physicist Henning Leidecker who refers to Dr. Gilbert as a "hero" regarding the tin whiskers issue. Physicist Leidecker has concluded that the risk of unintended acceleration increases as tin whiskers grow, and points to Toyota's redesign of pedal sensors, expressly intended to address the tin whisker risk. "Why would (Toyota) do that if tin whiskers were never a problem?" he asks. Of course, the Recall King simply ignored repeated requests to comment about Dr. Leidecker's remarks.
Soon to be published in the prestigious online engineering journal IEEE Access is yet another electronics study - this time by Dr. Antony Anderson - offering a detailed look at the potential for false speed signals to be accepted as authentic, triggering unverifiable instances of unintended acceleration. Dr. Anderson butts heads with NHTSA, demonstrating that "absence of proof" isn't "proof of absence."
A decent government would have taken a serious look at the unintended acceleration issue instead of trying to snow the public by grandstanding with NASA and then broadcasting an outright lie, claiming NASA had ruled out electronic involvement. NASA did no such thing, never claimed it had, and physicist Leidecker's outspoken interest in tin whiskers confirms it.
Instances of sudden unintended acceleration continue. For thousands of customers, Toyota's oil sludge fiasco never got resolved. Engine failures in MR2 Spyders are ignored, and class action lawsuits lining barrister pockets make headlines as Toyota treats customers like dirt.
Does anyone believe Toyota, GM, or the auto industry has changed for the better?
Updates 4/9/2014 -
> Yesterday, Dr. Antony Anderson's comments below the St. Louis Post-Dispatch article were apparently removed, and Dr. Anderson says no explanation was given. Dr. Anderson addressed some technical issues, stated his support for Dr. David Gilbert, and criticized Toyota's response to Dr. Gilbert's findings. Hopefully, Dr. Anderson's remarks will reappear.
> Another massive Toyota recall, and government stooge Yahoo is immediately removing comments I post referring to Michael Barr's findings, and Dr. Leidecker's concerns about the increased risk of unintended acceleration in '02-'06 Camrys. Censorship the American way.
Updates 4/10/2014 -
> Dr. Anderson's comments (see yesterday's update) on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch article reappeared today. Right on!!! The public needs to know that Dr. Gilbert's findings have the support of other electrical engineers. Oops - mighta spoke too soon. Don't see the comments - I'm lookin' into the matter :-)
> The gist of my Yahoo comments (again, see yesterday's update) reappeared yesterday.
Updates 4/11/2014 -
> Dr. Anderson (see above updates) apparently encountered a log-in glitch. Hopefully, this will be cleared up today.
> Dr. Anderson's comments - with the sincere assistance of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch - are now posted. The problem turned out to be - wouldn't ya know it? - Facebook. Dr. Anderson was attempting to log in using his Facebook account, and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch webmaster discovered that Facebook had designated Dr. Anderson as a "user who is suspiciously new," thereby blocking his efforts to post comments. I won't belabor the obvious absurdity.
Toyota and its government friends refuse to talk about it, but there's evidence galore of electronic issues associated with sudden, unintended acceleration. After all, the Recall King did fork over some payola to end the federal criminal "investigation," shamfully (sic) limited to floor mats and sticky gas pedals. It's obvious that Congress, NHTSA, and the DOJ put on one whopper of a performance, intended all along to let a filthy-rich corporate slob - with a cash stash of 60 billion bucks - off the hook, nobody jailed. More of the same is underway with GM.
Never mind that renowned embedded systems expert Michael Barr found bugs in Toyota's electronic throttle control and gave the Recall King a whuppin' in an Oklahoma court. Never mind that Mr. Barr's findings put the Recall King in "settlement mode" for hundreds of remaining unintended acceleration cases. And never mind that tenured professor Dr. David Gilbert impressed NASA - yes, NASA, but don't tell NHTSA - with electronics-related findings now supported by NASA physicist Henning Leidecker who refers to Dr. Gilbert as a "hero" regarding the tin whiskers issue. Physicist Leidecker has concluded that the risk of unintended acceleration increases as tin whiskers grow, and points to Toyota's redesign of pedal sensors, expressly intended to address the tin whisker risk. "Why would (Toyota) do that if tin whiskers were never a problem?" he asks. Of course, the Recall King simply ignored repeated requests to comment about Dr. Leidecker's remarks.
Soon to be published in the prestigious online engineering journal IEEE Access is yet another electronics study - this time by Dr. Antony Anderson - offering a detailed look at the potential for false speed signals to be accepted as authentic, triggering unverifiable instances of unintended acceleration. Dr. Anderson butts heads with NHTSA, demonstrating that "absence of proof" isn't "proof of absence."
A decent government would have taken a serious look at the unintended acceleration issue instead of trying to snow the public by grandstanding with NASA and then broadcasting an outright lie, claiming NASA had ruled out electronic involvement. NASA did no such thing, never claimed it had, and physicist Leidecker's outspoken interest in tin whiskers confirms it.
Instances of sudden unintended acceleration continue. For thousands of customers, Toyota's oil sludge fiasco never got resolved. Engine failures in MR2 Spyders are ignored, and class action lawsuits lining barrister pockets make headlines as Toyota treats customers like dirt.
Does anyone believe Toyota, GM, or the auto industry has changed for the better?
Updates 4/9/2014 -
> Yesterday, Dr. Antony Anderson's comments below the St. Louis Post-Dispatch article were apparently removed, and Dr. Anderson says no explanation was given. Dr. Anderson addressed some technical issues, stated his support for Dr. David Gilbert, and criticized Toyota's response to Dr. Gilbert's findings. Hopefully, Dr. Anderson's remarks will reappear.
> Another massive Toyota recall, and government stooge Yahoo is immediately removing comments I post referring to Michael Barr's findings, and Dr. Leidecker's concerns about the increased risk of unintended acceleration in '02-'06 Camrys. Censorship the American way.
Updates 4/10/2014 -
> Dr. Anderson's comments (see yesterday's update) on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch article reappeared today. Right on!!! The public needs to know that Dr. Gilbert's findings have the support of other electrical engineers. Oops - mighta spoke too soon. Don't see the comments - I'm lookin' into the matter :-)
> The gist of my Yahoo comments (again, see yesterday's update) reappeared yesterday.
Updates 4/11/2014 -
> Dr. Anderson (see above updates) apparently encountered a log-in glitch. Hopefully, this will be cleared up today.
> Dr. Anderson's comments - with the sincere assistance of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch - are now posted. The problem turned out to be - wouldn't ya know it? - Facebook. Dr. Anderson was attempting to log in using his Facebook account, and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch webmaster discovered that Facebook had designated Dr. Anderson as a "user who is suspiciously new," thereby blocking his efforts to post comments. I won't belabor the obvious absurdity.
Thursday, April 3, 2014
March sales DOWN for Toyota brand cars
"Toyota brand cars, which make up nearly half of all company sales, saw a 2.9 percent drop to 103,888 units." (Not that mainstream media would bury this whoppin' one line disclosure, but to find it, ya gotta scroll down to about the 14th paragraph.)
I figured all was not well for the Recall King's March sales when I didn't see a barrage of blaring headlines about the numbers. Kinda embarrassin' - 'specially that 16 percent drop in Prius sales - for those who claimed the public wasn't payin' any attention to Toyota's recent guilty plea to a federal criminal charge, its admissions of wrongdoing, and the $1.2 billion payola to the feds lest things get even worse. If any model has made headlines regarding sudden unintended acceleration, it's the much ballyhooed Prius.
Despite mainstream media efforts to whitewash the Recall King, focus on floor mats, sticky gas pedals, and driver error - while ignoring electronic issues - the public may be catchin' on to the scam. As I emphasized in my immediately preceding post, word has leaked out about electronic issues. The Oklahoma case, where 150 feet of skid marks from the plaintiff's tires corroborated the findings of a world-renowned embedded systems expert and put the Recall King in settlement mode, has not been ignored. Michael Barr's peers continue to do a superb job of publishing his findings in trade journals, amidst support from bloggers and consumer advocates. The Internet can be a powerful tool for exposing facts. Mainstream media's news blackout didn't go as planned.
Not that everyone is now aware of Michael Barr's findings, but people are hearing about them, and government's mainstream media stooges - wary of egged faces - are nervously dropping inane hints about the involvement of electronics. Consumers may be starting to realize that Congress, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the Department of Justice are little more than mouthpieces for crooked corporations. Stay tuned as the gang faces further public scrutiny, not only about Toyota, but also GM.
As things now stand, informed consumers are more justified than ever before in not trusting Toyota and wondering if there's a problem in the Recall King's electronic throttle control. Nobody should be surprised that Toyota brand cars has suffered a decline in sales, especially since complaints of sudden unintended acceleration are continuing.
Frankly, I won't believe regulation of the auto industry has changed for the better until folks are reimbursed for all those engines that disintegrated in MR2 Spyders.
I figured all was not well for the Recall King's March sales when I didn't see a barrage of blaring headlines about the numbers. Kinda embarrassin' - 'specially that 16 percent drop in Prius sales - for those who claimed the public wasn't payin' any attention to Toyota's recent guilty plea to a federal criminal charge, its admissions of wrongdoing, and the $1.2 billion payola to the feds lest things get even worse. If any model has made headlines regarding sudden unintended acceleration, it's the much ballyhooed Prius.
Despite mainstream media efforts to whitewash the Recall King, focus on floor mats, sticky gas pedals, and driver error - while ignoring electronic issues - the public may be catchin' on to the scam. As I emphasized in my immediately preceding post, word has leaked out about electronic issues. The Oklahoma case, where 150 feet of skid marks from the plaintiff's tires corroborated the findings of a world-renowned embedded systems expert and put the Recall King in settlement mode, has not been ignored. Michael Barr's peers continue to do a superb job of publishing his findings in trade journals, amidst support from bloggers and consumer advocates. The Internet can be a powerful tool for exposing facts. Mainstream media's news blackout didn't go as planned.
Not that everyone is now aware of Michael Barr's findings, but people are hearing about them, and government's mainstream media stooges - wary of egged faces - are nervously dropping inane hints about the involvement of electronics. Consumers may be starting to realize that Congress, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the Department of Justice are little more than mouthpieces for crooked corporations. Stay tuned as the gang faces further public scrutiny, not only about Toyota, but also GM.
As things now stand, informed consumers are more justified than ever before in not trusting Toyota and wondering if there's a problem in the Recall King's electronic throttle control. Nobody should be surprised that Toyota brand cars has suffered a decline in sales, especially since complaints of sudden unintended acceleration are continuing.
Frankly, I won't believe regulation of the auto industry has changed for the better until folks are reimbursed for all those engines that disintegrated in MR2 Spyders.
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