U.S. Senator Believes “Tin Whiskers” Were Cause of Toyota Sudden Acceleration

Motor Trend ^ | 13 July 2012 | Karla Sanchez

[smokingfrog]

The Toyota sudden acceleration debacle may be a thing of the past, but one U.S. Senator thinks the government investigation is worth another look. Sen. Charles E. Grassley claims the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, along with NASA, may have let what he calls a “serious issue” fall through the cracks.

In a letter sent to NHSTA administrator David Strickland, Grassley raised questions about the investigation, asking whether vehicles were tested for a very serious defect called “tin whiskers,” reports the Los Angeles Times. Tin whiskers, as described in a NASA report, are “electronically conductive, crystalline structures of tin that sometimes grow from surfaces where tin is used as a final finish.” According to Grassley, who reportedly received tips from informants, a NASA report found evidence of the whiskers in one Toyota pedal assembly, causing a short circuit. A short like that, Grassley wrote, could cause the electronic system to become vulnerable to another fault that could “theoretically lead” to unintended acceleration.

[Talisker]

We got to play with Gilbert chemistry sets too. If we had possession of some of those chemicals today, we'd probably be on the terrorist watch list.

I had one of those, too, when I was about 11. The "experiments" in the book were boring, So I mixed everything together to see what would happen. All I got was a brown-grey mess that didn't do a thing - until I lit it on fire. Then it burned like hell and gave off an incredible stench.

I was happy.