House panel wants more Toyota acceleration details

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By KEN THOMAS

WASHINGTON (AP) - A House committee on Friday questioned how rigorously Toyota has tested its vehicles for sudden acceleration, and asked the Japanese automaker for more records on the safety issues.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee told Toyota executive Jim Lentz in a letter that there is "an absence of documents" to show whether the company thoroughly investigated the possibility of unintended acceleration. The committee demanded to know who is involved with the testing and receive quarterly reports detailing allegations of the unwanted acceleration.

"We do not understand the basis for Toyota's repeated assertions that it is 'confident' there are no electronic defects contributing to incidents of sudden unintended acceleration," wrote Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich.

Toyota has recalled more than 8 million vehicles worldwide to address gas pedals that can become sticky or trapped under floor mats, prompting scrutiny from Congress. The world's No. 1 automaker has said it is investigating reports of sudden acceleration but remains confident there are no problems with Toyota's electronic throttle control systems.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20100305/D9E8JGC80.html

[HopeHoops]

1. Why is there a question. I'm sure Toyota IS confident that it isn't an electronic defect.

That's almost certainly the cause of the problem, but Toyota is "confident" that an electronic defect would cost a SHITLOAD more to correct than putting a silly little placebo shim in the pedal.

[Gin]

2. this whole mess is so sad...Toyota had a great reputation

for a long time...when did it all change? Was it when the grandson-US educated- took over and money ruled the day over safety? Is that what we teach in higher education? God is money?

I had a Chevy years ago with a computer command system and it took only hi-test gas and ran after the car was turned off.

[madrchsod]

4. toyota became to big to manage

it worked well in japan for many years but once they went global they lost their ability to control a complex corporate structure

[Mopar151]

5. Toyota has engaged in "perception management"

For a long time. Mr. Toyoda walked into the middle of the shark jump - which started, IMHO, when Toyota smelled blood in the water and went after the #1 in the world market share. But - they have gotten a pass from the media since the '70s on corrosion issues, and have a long history of evading recalls.
Which Chevy are you referring to? Gm has built some classics, and some real POS.

[madrchsod]

3. the problem is.....

if it is hardware it`s impossible to correct. if it`s software...why was`t it corrected earlier?

[HopeHoops]

6. The "software" is a combination of firmware and hardware.

The firmware part can be upgraded on most cars through an uplink port. A lot of the "software" is really circuitry for efficiency reasons. Generally these are in a "module" (the word that has replaced "do-hickey" for the $400 thing the mechanic needs to replace) and they're encased in epoxy within that module so competitors can't easily take one apart to reverse-engineer the code. That's what makes it an expensive fix, and that's ASSUMING they have a fucking clue what they did wrong. The part that can be easily updated is more for fine tuning and other "options". Core systems like the throttle are almost certainly contained in the circuitry. On top of it, the code and circuitry was probably outsourced.

A little piece of metal is much cheaper.