A Toyota spokesperson said on Thursday that Prius models sold before the end of January have this brake system design problem, but that the problem has been corrected on models sold since then, according to the Associated Press. The announcement follows Japanese and U.S. officials ordering the company yesterday to investigate around 180 claims of braking problems in the 2010 Prius.
The Japanese automaker’s explanation for what causes the braking issue seems right in line with the possible explanation we posited yesterday. Long story short, the Prius has both a regenerative and friction braking system, and can apparently experience a short, temporary loss of braking during the transition between the two on slick or bumpy surfaces. Toyota calls it a “slight unresponsiveness” and it usually lasts under a second.
Read the entire article at:
http://www.autoblog.com/2010/02/04/toyota-prius-brake-problem-was-known/
Toyota admits there’s a problem and, oh Lord, it’s a software issue. There’s a “disconnect” in the ABS and it’ll lag one second before it starts braking. Fortunately, Toyota changed the software in January so new Prius hybrids don’t have the problem. But what about the old ones? Normally, the software update would probably be made at the dealer when the car comes in for routine service without a recall. This time? It’s possible they may have to recall the cars.
And Woz? We’ve been on top of this story all week and, while Wozniak has a cruise control issue (and it may just be his misunderstanding of how it works, we don’t know), he keeps popping up in stories this morning about the Prius blaming the “software” on the other issue as an expert on car software. He is not.
Read the entire article at:
http://jalopnik.com/5464094/toyota-admits-prius-brake-software-problem-not-because-of-the-woz
The electronic throttle system uses sensors, microprocessors and electric motors, rather than a traditional link such as a steel cable, to connect the driver’s foot to the engine.
In recent interviews, two former NHTSA administrators, Ricardo Martinez and Joan Claybrook, have said they believe that some kind of electronic glitch may be causing the Toyota problems. Similar conclusions are being drawn by independent automotive safety experts, forensic mechanics and automotive electronics researchers, as well as many consumers.
In its review, The Times examined NHTSA data for all reports from Toyota drivers of gas pedals sticking since 1999, excluding those reports that blamed floor mats for trapping the pedal. That yielded 116 complaints about the gas pedals. Overall, there were 2,152 complaints categorized as vehicle speed control, which includes sudden acceleration.
Read the entire article at:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-toyota-pedal30-2010jan30,0,4401302.story?page=2
I have a very busy schedule and I’m usually free at midnight to deal with things like this. The NHTSA online reporting form doesn’t fit my case. It asks things like the date of an accident. On the phone they refer me to a second number. At that number they need my VIN and mileage before they’ll listen. The person on the phone sounds like a typical very low paid clerk who can ask specific questions to type things into a database, and have no interest in the urgency and connection of my problem to the crashes/deaths/recalls/halted sales. In fact, they make it clear that they are just taking data and not doing anything themselves to remedy a safety issue. That’s the government.
Toyota is difficult too, but after some phone calls I managed to express some of my situation. Unfortunately my iPhone dropped the calls twice and I never got a reference number but they may have some sort of ticket open.
It’s been 2 months trying to have all the data and freedom, trying to get to someone high enough up to give this some attention. You can’t easily find phone numbers to companies online. I’d give anything to have had the phone number of Toyota’s legal department. They’ll see that I stated my discovery in writing 2 months ago but a local dealer couldn’t understand the significance of it and sort of thought my wife was nuts. I was out of town, as usual, at that time. It’s not easy to be heard on something like this. But today I addressed an education group (Sausalito Discovery Museum) and somehow a brief form of this story came out and I believe that someone there contacted CNET.
Read the entire article at:
http://jalopnik.com/5462217/steve-wozniak-expands-on-cruise-control-accelerator-issue-cant-get-toyota-response
