[Quietcars] Los Angles Times Article

[Robert Wilson]

Hi Michael,

Comments inserted ... mostly agree.

. . .
> 
> I beg to answer you with the counterclaim of the Audi and VW unintended
> acceleration claims for the 1980s and early 1990s. Many people found that
> Audi and VW unintended acceleration accidents were caused by driver error,
> as mistakenly, drivers hit the gas when they should have hit the brake.

I understand that after the Audi acceleration problem, the manufacturer modified their cars so application of the brake disabled the accelerator. This seems like a reasonable safety precaution. 

In the meanwhile, the Prius community is teaching drivers shift to "neutral" so any run-away engine can do no further harm. I visited every hybrid owner at my work and held a short, poorly attended, safety session on the subject. We strongly encourage drivers to practice going into "neutral" while driving since they can go back into gear without a problem. It is an unfamilar practice but practice makes perfect.

. . .
> In the case of the unintended acceleration of Toyotas is the floor mat the
> only cause for this? 

That and the possibility of hitting the accelerator instead of the brake. So far, I know of only one documented accelerator problem in the drive-by-wire Prius and it has to do with 'dirty contacts.' When this happens, the car detects the signals are no longer in lock-step and the control computer puts the car into 'safe mode' with barely the ability to creep off the road. The failure mode is to 'safe' the car.

There have been speculations about other mechanisms but so far, no one has documented them. The one and only time we had someone in a Prius forum discuss 'run away' acceleration it turned out he had an 'all weather' rubber floor mat yet he insisted it was not involved. We were working with him to try and reproduce the problem without success. Then he sold that car and replaced it with a new, 2010 Prius.

I've seen the NHTSA photos of the Lexus investigation and the rubber floor mat could easily catch and hold the accelerator. In the fatal accident, the accelerator pedal was melted into the rubber floor mat, which happens if they were in contact during the fire.

> . . . And, if it is so then shouldn't the driver be held
> responsible or accountable at least for the fact that the accident happened?

When I picked up my wife's 2010 Prius, I discovered the driver side floor mat was loose after I got home. A new car, I didn't know it was unsecured because it was ... a new car. I had to look it up at home where I had the manuals. The next day, I called the dealer and they thought the hooks were in the car, they weren't. I drove over and picked up the hooks and fastened the floor mat myself. 

I'm not impressed with the floor mat installation and distribution system. To have unsecured floor mats and the wrong types show up in more than one car (there have been other, similar reports) suggests the floor mat distribution system has a serious problem that needs to be corrected. But the more serious problem is what happened in the NHTSA?

There is a difference between one or two isolated reports and the reported '2,000 runaway' accidents with fatalities. What was the NHTSA doing during these years ... 

Bob Wilson
 		 	   		  
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