A tin whisker is unlikely to withstand a direct hit by a falling iPad.
Alberto case story: Genesee_county_judge_orders_Toyota to turn over tin whiskers docs.html
"The role tin whiskers may have played in Toyota's unintended acceleration complaints have been a hot button issue nationally. Some have argued that the small formations that can grow on electroplated tin may have occurred in a sensor in the vehicle's acceleration system and caused a short circuit that led to the acceleration.Attorneys for Alberto's estate said there was such a formation in an acceleration sensor in Alberto's 2005 Toyota Camry. The sensor was destroyed when it was being evaluated by a potential witness for Toyota. Toyota's attorneys claim the sensor was accidentally destroyed when an iPad was dropped on it during the evaluation.Alberto's car careened down West Copeman Boulevard in Flint April 19, 2008, at 80 mph, weaving in and out of traffic before hitting a tree, sending her car airborne. The car eventually smashed into another tree, hitting it 8 feet off the ground, killing her instantly."
The tin whisker story is not new. Let me repeat it, though. In 2010-11, during the NASA study, Dr. Henning Leidecker found tin whiskers in a pedal of an "undrivable" Toyota, among others. Much later, in around 2012, he found whisker-like electrically conductive dust inside the sensor of a pedal that had been removed from a Florida car that had experienced unintended acceleration.
One interesting aspect that the public may have forgotten is that Dr. Leidecker's findings and Dr. David Gilbert's findings, each obtained independently and with obviously different methods, are in very close correlation with one another. I hope that the public will soon notice that they are right.
Question: When will Toyota admit the truth about tin whiskers in its potentiometer pedal sensors?