Could there be a second accelerator problem plaguing Toyota Owners?
Toyota has made headlines over the last two weeks because of a huge recall that was issued due to faulty accelerators. However, while millions of vehicles have been recalled because of sticking gas pedals, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak reports that the gas pedal on his Toyota is suffering from another issue; one he's insisting is software related.
Speaking at an event in San Fransisco, Wozniak claimed to be having a "very scary" problem with his 2010 Toyota Prius.
"Toyota has this accelerator problem we've all heard about," CNet quotes Wozniak as saying. "Well, I have many models of Prius that got recalled, but I have a new model that didn't get recalled. This new model has an accelerator that goes wild but only under certain conditions of cruise control. And I can repeat it over and over and over again--safely. This is software. It's not a bad accelerator pedal. It's very scary, but luckily for me I can hit the brakes," he said.
"I don't get upset and teed off at things in life, except computers that don't work right," Wozniak said before adding that he had been trying to get through to Toyota and the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) for three months but could not get anyone to explore an alleged software-related acceleration problem.
A Toyota spokesperson said they hadn't heard of such a problem. "We're in the business of investigating complaints, assessing problems and finding remedies," John Hanson, national manager environmental safety and quality communications at Toyota, told CNet. "After man years of exhaustive testing we have not found any evidence of an electronic [software] problem that would have led to unwanted acceleration."
In Wozniak's case it's bear years. Am I right? Am I right?
Hopefully a few people will try out Ford's and GM's newer cars, they seem to be getting on the right foot now.
In Wozniak's case it's bear years. Am I right? Am I right?
On the other hand, I spoke with a couple of folks at my local Toyota dealership recently. One of them told me that they're thinking the problem is a software issue, and not a pedal issue in the first place.
If the Woz says he can repeat the error then it most probably IS a software error. SOmehow I have more respect for the Woz than Toyota when regards to electronics.
And if he says he has tried to tell toyota Mr Hanson should give an apology and get to it not try and wave Woz off as a crackpot. Seems Toyota has gotten GMitis.
LOL!
I would like to see the sequence that causes the accelerator to "go wild". So much for supporting details. Don't get me wrong, I had respect for Wozniak all the way to back to when the products he designed only stored 140K on a floppy. Let's see what the pattern that causes the issue!
He'll open his mouth for anything. I mean look at how big he is......
A real business major would form a derivatives product that pools life insurance policies of Prius owners.
Touché sir. Touché.
Its sour grapes over Toyota announcing their sales halt, accelerator problem, on the day of the Ipad announcement. The market and Apple was set for a banner day, the buzz and Apple stock had been going up for days prior and thats also why Toyota chose that day.
My point- if Woz says there's a software problem... I'd put my money on that there is one.
In the least, the person would make sure to test the bug on more than a single system... after all, a faulty component and not faulty software may be behind the issue if it cannot be reproduced on another machine.
Oh yeah, and then record another person following the said procedure on the same machine to reproduce the error.
Now, I do believe his error does exist, and that Toyota's quality has fallen a bit (I had an 80s Camry at 180k miles that leaked transmission fluid and oil - despite my wife forgetting the 3rd day level checks, she'd drive it near bone dry for a month and it never failed... gave it to my brother in law, who gave it to a friend... so there may be an Undead Camry out there on the highways still, probably looking for Christine.) However, I generally find American cars lacking several things - like a decent fuel efficient engine.