So which one is it, this time?
7 days in Dubai: Toyota-says-cruise-control-not-blame-runaway-cars-uae/
..."Car giant Toyota says it is “impossible” for a car’s cruise control to get stuck at high speed, despite a number of drivers in the UAE claiming a malfunction left them hurtling along the road.7DAYS has reported on at least three incidents where the drivers said they could not turn off the cruise control and the car’s brakes would not work, although the firm said that about a dozen such cases have been reported, mostly in the Northern Emirates.In the majority of them, the cars were either made by Toyota or its sister company Lexus.
Shuichi Hirata, general manager for the Middle East and Africa of Toyota’s overseas service division, said: “In the Middle East, we read many articles and information from the police about this, however there have been no cases in any other regions. Therefore, Toyota, the distributors and the police checked the vehicles.”
He added: “First of all we examined them physically to see if any problem had happened in the brake system or cruise control system.”
Hirata said they looked closely at the brake pads and discs in particular.
“If the brake is depressed firmly a mark will remain,” he said. “As a result, the driver’s behaviour can be imagined.”
The engineers also checked the onboard computer.
“The ICU records driving conditions, such as the acceleration or braking. We call it the event data recorder,” Hirata said. “We can read all the information and confirm if there is a problem.”
Questions for Mr. Hirata:
1. No cases in any other regions, huh. What about the U.S.? What about the Louden testing that showed cruise control could cause UA? What about the poor auto safety data collection systems in other countries?
2. You examined the brakes physically? You are looking very hard for evidence that the drivers are lying, right?
3. It seems you or the reporter are mixing up the ECU and the EDR. Barr found that the ECU is designed not to record software errors. The EDR records data for 5 seconds only when there is a crash that deploys the airbags. What could you be talking about? If the reporter mixed them up, could you not correct him?
4. What about the problem of a wide open throttle eliminating the brake assist vacuum and preventing a terrified driver from braking with sufficient force to cause a mark on the brake pads?
...lots of questions, Mr. Hirata.