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Braking News: Runaway Prius Saved By CHP – Video
by
Paul Niedermeyer
(IC: employee)
Published: March 8th, 2010
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Paul Niedermeyer
More by Paul Niedermeyer
Published March 8th, 2010 10:00 PM
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I still cannot believe what I am seeing. Once mighty Toyota being reduced to rubble right before my eyes. Astounding!
This was the NBC lead story Tuesday night. Toyota got hit with everything NBC could pick up and throw at it. People across the U.S. will go to bed tonight with the vision of the police car blocking the Toyota. Damage was done. Never piss off someone who owns a coast-to-coast cable channel.
Carperson: "When I bought my current car, the dealer had classes every two weeks for new buyers and drivers. It lasted about 90 minutes and covered a wide range of topics. Many handouts and displays. We all got to climb in a car and feel what the anti-lock system felt like after we learned how to apply this type of brake. Did this guy blow off similiar training or was it even offered? Did the dealer spend about 15 minutes and walk him through everything, including the Driver’s Handbook?" Every car comes with a nifty manual that describes how to properly operate all features of the car. There is absolutely no excuse for a driver not to know how to operate his/her own car - the system-critical components such as brakes, transmission, accelerator, etc. If this problem would happen on the way from the dealership - the maiden voyage, that would be one thing, but this was not the case. Either the guy is lying, or he is incompetent.
I was a techno at a computer company which often sent out a tiger team to "talk the problem away" (sometimes they actually fixed a problem). I will accept Toyota's fix - after they take this car, (the one with the problem), one logic analyzer attached to relevant signal points, and travel 50000 Miles - or until the problem happens. During my work with computers I had too many intermittent problems which happened every other day - or once per week - to understand how easy it is to talk the problem away and how difficult it is to fix it. Engineering is afraid ot the cost involvement - and too often too proud to admit that something might be wrong. Until this is done, I will drive my Prius - always ready to put it into neutral - very carefully