Runaway NY Prius probably due to driver error
A favorite for bad drivers?Just caught Phil Lebeau on CNBC reporting that the NY case of a runway Toyota Prius, according to data captured and reviewed by Toyota and the NHTSA, appears to have been a case of driver error.
Labels: recalls, toyota prius
posted by Dahcredyns at
12:55 PM
8 Comments:
Isn't this like blaming the person instead of the gun. That's not the American way.
what's the scoop on the Toyota event data recorders?
I've heard two versions. One is that Toyota won't share the details of the ones actually involved in wrecks an the other one is that their data recorders are not capturing some info that other cars are.
thoughts? opinions? educate me.
Ouch!
larry,
i've read that Toyota's black boxes only capture data within several seconds of an air bag deployment. so, in a case like this, i would assume the black box might help as I'm again assuming the air bag was deployed.
in a lot of sudden acceleration cases, if they didn't result in an airbag-deploying crash, then the black boxes are apparently useless.
i don't really know how that compares to the rest of the industry, but it sounds like there are going to be new black box standards proposed in Congress.
how about the state trooper crash that killed him and his passengers?
i haven't read the details on that case, but i'd assume that some data was available from the black box.
still, there is a lot of data that many black boxes don't monitor, although that is to change.
in the ny case they can see, for instance, that the driver never touched the brake, contrary to the the reports from the driver that the brakes didn't work. based on the evidence and her own statements, it appears this driver was accidentally - hopefully - hitting the gas instead of the brakes.
the back boxes are Toyota's way out of this - provided they will play the game straight up and not get cute.
I also think that because of this that Toyota and other car makers will be much better off - and protected against nefarious motives from scruples-challenged individuals.
Of course it also means that if the car has a problem - that gets reported also.
so at the end of this process - what will stand out is that Toyota quality can't be denied and as long as Toyota hangs on and does do too many stupid things..they'll come out of this and continue to be a top notch competitor for top quality cars.
yeah, i'd guess the worst is probably over for toyota, especially when the two latest high profile cases seem to demonstrate that user error, even fraud, is playing a big part in this 'problem'.
ultimately, i think this will make toyota stronger as more safety technologies are now inevitable.
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