Posted on 02/03/2010 6:23:27 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Apple's Wozniak: Toyota may have software trouble
Tue Feb 2, 10:22 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak suggested Tuesday in media interviews that Toyota's troubles with a defective accelerator pedal may have to do with software, after his Prius sped up while in cruise-control.
"Since my foot never touches the pedal," Wozniak told ABC News, the problem "cannot be a sticky accelerator pedal.... There might be some bad software in there."
He said the problem in his Prius might be related to the random acceleration issue that has forced Toyota into a massive recall of eight million vehicles worldwide and a halt to US sales and production of eight affected models.
The Prius, a best-selling hybrid, is not one of the vehicles under recall.
Wozniak, who founded Apple Computer -- now Apple Inc -- with Steve Jobs in the 1970s, said he tried unsuccessfully to get Toyota's and US authorities' attention after his 2010 Prius acceleration problems cropped up while he was in cruise control months ago.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Last i saw one of those it was on a 1966 Plymouth Valiant (i had an on the column stick shift on my 64 Valiant).
That slant six was a great engine.
Don’t you mean bring back the Model A with the “Gas Feed” on the steering column...
Woz invented the KIM-1? The man did well, but he wasn’t the first with either an SBC or a BIOS.
Have already seen the beginnings of the class action lawsuits down here.
Bunch of no-driving idiots. OK, that said, I did have an old LTD that drove off in reverse, by itself, one night.
The cure: turn it off when you get out, problem solved.
And you’re still driving a Ford after that experience?
It's a valuable case study for software engineering. But I would have phrased your sentence differently.
The change from hardware to software safety interlocks didn't directly CAUSE the disasters, but removed the controls that would have PREVENTED the disasters.
The actual software bugs that caused the injuries and deaths were present in the hardware-interlocked machine too.
I just saw a lawyer commercial five minutes ago addressing this.
It “T” boned a car stopped at a redlight, didn’t put me in danger. :)
The lady was miffed until she realized no one was driving, then she thought it was hysterical. Her husband, not so much, especially when she told the cop “you can’t give him a ticket, he didn’t do anything!”
The sharks are beginning to circle...
“Some Toyotas have a laser controlled device in their cruise control that will automatically decelerate if overtaking a slower moving vehicle, then automatically accelerate when you change to a clear lane. I have such a vehicle and the first time it happened to me I was startled.”
The laser light assembly probably could be rendered inoperable or erratic by driving through a mud puddle, don’t you suppose?
I just read a story on Drudge about a 2009 Lexis accelerating to 120 MPH killing the driver and 3 members of his family. He was a CHP and it was recorded on a cell call.
“The laser light assembly probably could be rendered inoperable or erratic by driving through a mud puddle, don’t you suppose?”
Exactly, and for that reason my cruise control will not operate in rain. That is another safety design in the Toyota that I own, an Avalon Limited. When the sensors detect rain it will not allow the cruise control to be operated.
I’ve heard it gets all the way to 44 MPH.
What don’t these people understand about putting the transmission in neutral or turning the engine off?
The fact the driver was a CHP officer does raise flags that he couldn’t do something but some these new keyless systems are weird...
Meters per hour
Reminds me of a job that I had many years ago, driving a woefully underpowered Iveco truck. I was cautioned not to get a speeding ticket- I replied that the only way I could get that POS to exceed 55 MPH was if I were to drive it off a cliff.
My dad hated that car.....LOL
When I first moved to OK....I got into a bad situation on a two-lane HWY..a patch of ice/snow, and my cruise control. Right when it started happening...I knew what it was, but I was fighting to stay on the pavement, and didn't want to hit the brakes. Finally got to a point where I could "tap" the brakes and stop the cruise control.
Talk about scary...
Learned my lesson though........
My thoughts too.
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