Runaway Prius Inspection #1a

Prius was removed from the River and inspected by a Toyota regional engineer and an independent engineer paid by Allstate.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• Runaway
• Prius
• Inspection
• Unintended
• acceleration
• Brake
• Failure

[raunchboy]

Think about it: how many times has your home computer crashed, locked up or frozen? Do you want that controlling how fast your car is going, when it stops, etc? We need to stop making cars that think they're smarter than the driver and get back to manual transmissions and brakes that don't try to do anything other than stop the car.

[countscronchula]

Is it true that driving a toyota is the new best excuse to get out of a speeding ticket?

"Im sorry officer, my accelerator just got stuck"

This message brought to you by toyota, moving foward

Wait, why are we still moving foward? it's speeding up, why is this happening? I think the pedal is stuck or something!! Oh god, hit the brakes! HIT THE BRAKES!!! we are heading straight for an intersection!!! (CRASH)...

Hilarious

[dgr8zod]

BTW, all the YouTube "tests" I have seen have NOT done this. Whether the pedal sticks is not the issue; it is in the electronics.

[dgr8zod]

@tedljames I have a suspicion I could figure out where the problem is, but I would need access to a Toyota that had experienced this. One that is behaving normally wouldn't prove a thing. The first thing I would look at would be the potentiometer in the pedal, with a multimeter. The next part would be the A/D converter that takes the resistance, and converts it to a binary word for the computer. Either could be the problem. If both checked out, it's a computer glitch at fault.

[mrfirewolf]

@raunchboy a 32 ford is smarter then most drivers i have seen on the roads... i do agree with you though... a computer in a car is stupid... have to have an engineers degree to even test the damn batteries now a days... personally ill stick to my points ignition..

[JBofBrisbane]

@tedljames - Hi tedljames, we all know that you ARE BEING PAID BY BIG DETROIT TO SH#TCAN TOYOTA! Stop wasting your time and ours, Toyota will be CLEARED and DETROIT WILL BE EXPOSED!

[a7i20ci7y]

Nice Ferrari.

[urbex2007]

It's very easy to blame driver defect on a vehicle! With the compensation culture we are now a part of, people sometimes do anything to get money. At least the data stored will show what happened. Most times it is sadly down to driver error, no matter how good the driver thinks they are or how many years they have been driving. Obviously people will say "it's not my fault" if they risk prosecution or no compensation! The car did it - honest !!!!VERY BORING - RATED ZERO.

.

[TheCarista]

you have got 4 alternatives how to stop a prius!!!

[dustination8]

LOL at the dude that thinks that the ECU stores information

[dimented24x7]

@christiankain

Its neither. Basically its a pair of motor/generators and a gas engine sharing a planetary set. Under power, the main traction motor/generator provides propulsive torque, while the engine provides part of the power thru the planitary, and the remainder thru the secondary motor/generator, which is driven in response to the engine torque. The inverter/controller controls how much power is delivered to the motor/generators.

[dimented24x7]

@Mlowery85

I can tell you from experience working with VCMs that the user inputs in late model cars are more and more just requests. The VCM will read in the position of the throttle from teh TPS sensor attached to the pedal, and then decide from there how much throttle opening to provide, or how much power to provide. In this case it was likely a software fault. The user would have NO control over this. Period. The only recourse would be to shut it down.