Rush hour. Texas. 26 miles. Brakes go out.
Apr 15, 2010 - Sugar Land, TX - Vehicle Speed Control
MY 1996 TOYOTA CAMRY EXPERIENCED UNINTENDED ACCELERATION AND BECAME DIFFICULT TO CONTROL ON APRIL 12, 2010. WHILE DRIVING HOME FROM WORK (A DISTANCE OF 26 MILES) I ENTERED THE FREEWAY AND GAVE MY CAR GAS TO MOVE INTO THE SECOND FROM THE LEFT HAND LANE. AFTER GETTING INTO THE PROPER LANE, THE CAR BEHAVED IN THE SAME WAY AS A CAR AFTER PRESSING THE RESUME BUTTON, AFTER DISABLING CRUISE CONTROL. THIS HAPPENED AT 4:30P DURING THE START OF RUSH HOUR TRAFFIC. THE ONLY WAY I COULD KEEP FROM HITTING ANOTHER VEHICLE WAS TO FLOOR THE BRAKE. AT ONE POINT THE CAR RACED TO SPEEDS OF 65-75 MPH. I COULD TELL THAT AT THE 75 MPH RANGE THAT I WAS VERY LIKELY TO HIT THE CAR IN FRONT OF ME. TO PREVENT THIS I BRIEFLY PLACED THE CAR IN NEUTRAL, THEN SWITCHED IT INTO REVERSE TWICE IN QUICK SUCCESSION. THE CAMRY MADE A HORRIBLE NOISE, BUT DID SLOW DOWN AFTER THAT. THE BRAKES SEEMED TO BE UNABLE TO ENGAGE PROPERLY FROM THAT POINT, POSSIBLY DUE TO EXCESSIVE USE. I WAS ABLE TO SUCCESSFULLY DRIVE TO THE DEALERSHIP AFTER THAT. THE DEALER EXAMINED THE CAR, TEST DROVE IT AND STATED THAT THEY COULD FIND NO PROBLEM WITH THE CAR. STATEMENT FROM SPOUSE: AS A RECENTLY RETIRED ENGINEER FROM A LARGE RESEARCH LABORATORY, I+D LIKE TO ADD MY COMMENTS: I SPENT 33 YEARS DESIGNING LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS TO RUN SAFELY AND RELIABLY. OVER THOSE YEARS, I FORMED THE OPINION THAT LAB EQUIPMENT SHOULD BE DESIGNED SO THAT MALFUNCTIONS CAUSE ONLY MINOR PROBLEMS, NOT MAJOR ONES. SINCE TOYOTA+S PROBLEMS WITH UNINTENDED ACCELERATION SEEM TO AFFECT VEHICLES OF VARIOUS AGES AND DESIGNS, I SUSPECT THE ROOT CAUSE IS NOT A SPECIFIC PIECE OF HARDWARE, BUT RATHER A FAILURE TO DESIGN THEIR EQUIPMENT SO THAT MALFUNCTIONS CAUSE ONLY MINOR PROBLEMS, NOT MAJOR ONES. PERHAPS THERE ARE COMPONENTS OF THEIR VEHICLES THAT FAIL IN A WAY THAT GIVES THE VEHICLE FULL POWER, WHEREAS A SAFER FAILURE MODE WOULD BE HAVE NO POWER.
Betsy: But suddenly having no power when you are on the freeway driving 60mph during rush hour traffic is also not so safe, to put it mildly.
Question: As Toyota contributed to the ISO 26262 functional safety standard for automobiles, based on the earlier, more general standard IEC 61508, wasn't the company fully aware of its "failure to design equipment so that malfunctions cause only minor problems, not major ones"?