<VV> : Toyota - a tiny bit of Corvair, and NOT just a theory

[Tony Underwood]

At 05:06 AM 8/16/2010, Gary Swiatowy wrote:

>Not really a dumb question, but watch the following video for instructions
>on how to stop a Prius. WARNING! But if you are offended by foul language,
>please disregard this.
>
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ4PtafRB9c




This is all fine and good...



Let's see what might have happened to Mr Effbom when the electronics 
in his Prius (which might NOT have gotten uprated during the recall) 
jam the transmission in gear, opens the throttle wide, and locks the 
shut-down circuitry in GLITCH mode so that, like in so many OTHER 
Toyota products that ran away and couldn't be controlled, couldn't be 
shut off, and couldn't be stopped with the crippled anti-lock brakes, 
the driver is simply along for the ride with not a Helluva lot to do 
except point the car in a safe direction unless you're unlucky as all 
Hell like that cop who got the wrong end of the stick and got himself 
killed along with half his family because he "didn't know how to 
effing drive".

Mr Effbom needs a wakeup call...

I'm not impressed.   The guy is an ass-hole.




...OR, maybe his implication is that it's just that the people who 
happened to drive Toyotas don't know how to drive since nobody 
building any other marque had a flock of THEIR cars take off and run 
away resulting in massive recalls during which the manufacturer was 
quietly replacing the electronics they'd earlier insisted were fine.



It doesn't matter to me; I don't own one and never will.   But 
there's a bunch out there who are going to insist that all the people 
who had issues with a Toyota are all full of crap and it's all their 
own fault.    At least the domestic manufacturers have traditionally 
admitted there was a problem when they got tagged instead of blaming 
it on carpets, gas pedals, and "idiots" who can't tell a brake pedal 
from a gas pedal.

Everything I drive (read: Corvairs) has the skinny pedal connected 
directly to the throttle.   It's like that because *I* know how to 
operate a throttle and do NOT require an effing computer to interpret 
my intent into throttle openings for me.   Likewise the transmission 
which is NOT electronically controlled because I know how to shift it 
and don't require a friggin microprocessor to do it for me.


And I have a 'Vair with a SWITCH with a KEY that I KNOW will shut the 
ignition OFF, instead of relying on yet ANOTHER processor to shut the 
engine off when I tell it that I want it to stop... and hope it's not 
gonna glitch up and hang in the last state it was in before it 
glitched... unless of course it has the uprated 
electronics.   ;)  You know, the ones that Toyota insisted were just 
fine...





Now:

Does ANYBODY remember that stupid-ass joke that was circulating 
around during Windows-95's first introduction to the masses... and 
how a car would function if it was built by Microsoft?


Now we know.





tony..