Comments on: “I am not afraid of my Toyota Prius”

By: Office of White House counsel announces hiring of New York personal injury lawyer Eric Turkewitz as official Obama administration legal blogger | Popehat

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 13:25:23 +0000

[…] defending his future masters’ attacks on the auto industry in the (now infamously debunked) California Toyota accelerator case. Typically, a man who has been offered a sensitive government position doesn’t let the […]

By: Prius locks up like a frozen PC - Page 4 - PriusChat Forums

Prius locks up like a frozen PC - Page 4 - PriusChat Forums — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 04:20:19 +0000

[…] braking charges the batteries. Everything is "fly-by wire" in the Prius. “I am not afraid of my Toyota Prius” […]

By: Sal

Sal — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:04:40 +0000

To HappyFunBall

You added a remote start to a 2001-2003 Prius then, as that first generation Prius had a real mechanical shift lever that engaged a real mechanical parking pawl inside the hybrid transaxle. There is no such electromechanical shift from park release solenoid that works via brake switch input on this 2008 Prius (2004-up actually). The switch, as another commentor posted, is merely a glorified joystick. If the various ECMs don’t want a driver’s shift input to occur, it is disallowed electronically. Example, if you want to shift from park to drive you have to have your foot on the brake or the shifter switch input will be ignored. If you want to select reverse while moving forward the switch input will be ignored and the display will flash to warn of a foolish input. If you want to select neutral while moving the switch input will be processed and the traction motors and engine would power down to produce a neutral condition.

I agree with your skepticism concerning this runaway event, but wanted to clear up some misunderstandings about how the shift lever works.

By: Bob Lipton

Bob Lipton — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:06:47 +0000

One would think there would be a number of “sudden accelerations” that did not end in death, substantially larger than the death toll.

Bob

By: GA

GA — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 02:10:24 +0000

You only have data on deaths after sudden acceleration. You don’t have data on sudden acceleration.

Substitute something else such as “beat up a N-year old” for “sudden acceleration” and you’ll probably get disproportionate deaths in the elderly. Now you can argue that they died because of their age and the beater upper is not at fault.

By: HappyFunBall

HappyFunBall — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 23:05:33 +0000

So, I worked on a Prius a few years back. Put a remote starter in it (I know, I know…an R/S in a hybrid) Anyway, the shifter has a electromechanical locking pin activated by a small 2-wire solenoid. Every single care I worked on for 12 years had the same shifter lock-out. When you hit the brakes, current flows down those 2 wires and activates the solenoid, pulling the pin out of the way of the shifter to allow the it to move…into gear. Wanna guess what keeps it from moving out of gear? Apparently…intelligence. This pin is only used to get it into gear. There is nothing to keep a person from shifting to almost any gear…including reverse or park…WHILE in motion. There has not been one that I ever worked on the could not move out of gear. Now, before anyone tries to go and find an obscure one, has anyone actually tested this excuse on a Prius? I think that it would be enlightening.

I heard a little blurb of the 911 call where the operator asked him if he tried to move it out of gear and he first says no and then does not respond to the next immediate request to do so but just claims to be trying to control the car.

I’m sure all of the claims that “nothing” worked will now show all of the systems working perfectly. See, the gremlins in your car break and then fix it to leave no trace. And, since you are under no obligation to know or learn how to stop a car that accelerates out of control, this can never be your fault.

I heard a report on the radio that he took his car in with no other problems, they tested it for this issue even though they told him that he car was not affected by the recall, he leaves the dealership and, almost immediately, the car’s peddle “felt weird” and just stuck wide open.

Cooincidence? Or is there more? Time Life books has a series on it.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 19:13:40 +0000

Eric, are you wearing your advocate hat, or your ordinary everyday Eric hat? Circumstantially, that Jalopnik report is devastating, exactly the sort of thing an attorney would want to know before signing up the client if this were headed to litigation.

The man looks about as credible as Balloon Boy’s dad now.

By: Eric T

Eric T — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 19:02:33 +0000

Or he originally planned to sue and intensive questioning from his lawyer talked him out of it…

…or he had a friend sell short in the market (who needs a long and yucky lawsuit?)…

I agree, plenty of possibilities, some honest and some not.

By: tizona

tizona — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:56:50 +0000

A Toyota Prius is a fly-by-wire design. You can only switch into neutral if that request is acknowledged by a computer. The “gear shifter” is a simple joystick control not too much different from a video game controller. Any computer system can fail or get hung up. If a Prius computer system does hang, there is no kill switch in the cockpit that provides for a direct, mechanical disconnect of all computer control to force the thing to shut down. I just hope the things don’t leverage microsoft sotware in their OS. You can’t pull the battery out of a Prius at 90 MPH on 101.

By: Richard Nieporent

Richard Nieporent — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:51:43 +0000

Mr. Sikes, this song is for you!