Has ABC News Found The Ghost In Toyota's Machine?

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

Ever since Toyota’s recent problems hit “frenzy” level on our mainstream media monitoring system, speculation has been rampant that some mysterious electronic problem was at the root of the unintended acceleration scandal. We’ve been wary of jumping on the “ghost-in-the-machine” bandwagon, for a number of reasons, chief among which is the fact that it seems to be the product of an inability to explain specific instances of unintended acceleration, rather than hard evidence. Given that unintended acceleration occurs at the intersection of man and machine, good old-fashioned human error is an easier assumption than mystery software errors. Given the worrying results of our Toyota gas pedal analysis, we’ve been content to explain the situation on a combination of pedals, mats and human error. But now ABC News may just have the first positive evidence of an electronic problem that could explain the mystery behind Toyota’s unintended acceleration problem. Dave Gilbert of Southern Illinois University has found that it’s possible to cause unintended acceleration without it triggering an error code that might give some kind of clue as to its cause. Combined with our finding that Toyota actively conceals data from its black box data recorders (out of line with standard industry practice), this could be some of the first positive evidence that there’s more to the “ghost in the machine” theory than mere panic-driven speculation.


Edward Niedermeyer
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  • Dbatoloco Dbatoloco on Feb 23, 2010

    I was able to record the video and paused it right about when the rpms went up. It is very strange that the speedmeter was reading 0 and it didn't move as the revs where going up. The camera didnt move as much when the revs went up. I have own and drive different type of car with an automatic transmission. As you press the pedal all the way down and the revs go up the transmission will downshift to a different gear and it will give you a surge that should have been noticed on the rpm and also on the movement of the camera. I was also able to see that the rpm limiter working as the needle keep going back and fort very sightly. If it were true the rpm needle will have gone over 8000 rpm or at least drop when the car will shift into a higher gear. This was a set up. How come they cut the video rigth before showing the rpm going up and then right after. If it was showing 0 mph while the rpm went up that means they just rev up the engine while in park or neutral. Actually is because the car was in Park. As you are able to see in the video that the Park light is on. Can the professor explain why was the speedmeter stuck at 0 mph or that was part of the short. Don't get me wrong but I also doubt that the car going at 20 MPH will rev up so rapidly to more than 6000 rpm in such a small amount of time. They recorded the reving up the engine while in park and then inserted it into the video to make it more interesting. I also read today that Toyota is also flashin the ECU with a brake overide. http://www.just-auto.com/article.aspx?id=103289&lk=dm

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    • Robert.Walter Robert.Walter on Feb 23, 2010

      If they are fooling around, cutting in video, as dbatoloco describes, then ABC is unnecessarily practicing dramatic fraud. The issue itself is both dramatic and titillating enough on its own to not need such enhancements.

  • ASISEEIT ASISEEIT on Feb 23, 2010

    Well if you haven't watched the ABC video yet you should and make your own conclusions. Here's the website--www.autoblog.com/2010/.../video-smoking-gun-abc-news.../2 --I would also like to point out that it takes a HELL of a lot to FINALLY get SOME people to FINALLY admit there might be SOMETHING more to Toyota's Quality issues than UNION CONSPIRACIES!!!!!!! I also see there are the "Old Stand By's" that claim this ABC video is a "HOAX". I wonder if this same crowd believes the world is flat? I'm trying to find out just who this "Crowd" is and I have a few ideas. First they could be Toyota employees,2. Own a large quantity of Toyota stock,3. Silver spoon management employees of any company who have never REALLY PHYSICALLY worked an honest day in their life,4. Narcissists who feel they compare to no one,5. Braindead or a combination of all or part of the aforesaid.

    • CamaroKid CamaroKid on Feb 23, 2010

      Wow, someone needs to cut back on the coffee, Actually what I see on this site is a bunch of people who are trying to figure out what is going on. I don't see anyone defending Toyota. Their cars are accelerating out of control and are killing their customers. That is a given, that is a fact. The issue is we still don't know why. Having an assistant professor sit in the passenger seat and short out two wires to trick the computer into a balls to the wall 0-60 run proves nothing. Just about any technician who knows the wiring diagram for just about any drive by wire system could EASILY accomplish the same feet. So what. Until this professor publishes what he did so we can all see what he did and see if it makes sense and has validity, then this is nothing more then someone trying to get their 15 minutes of fame.

  • Wmba Wmba on Feb 23, 2010

    Has anybody here looked inside a Toyota ECU? I haven't personally. Reason I ask is that over the last four or five years at our high-end audio store, we have found strange behavior in all manner of Eastern-made electronics. It's caused by dried glue, which becomes conductive, sometimes in a few months, other times years. For example, you get a subwoofer or a receiver from a well-known make that goes weird, and upon inspection, you see wires, or a capacitor or some bigger component held in place with a blob of what looks like hot-melt glue. This stuff should be banned, because it causes high resistance shorts and screws things up completely. Wiggle the components around, and the problem will disappear, only to reappear later. Took our tech quite a while to figure out it was the glue itself to blame. Now when he sees this stuff, our tech cleans it off and cleans the PCB also, and nine times out of ten, the problem goes away. That's why I ask if anyone has seen the inside of a Toyota ECU and knows whether this hot-melt-like glue is used at all. Would be especially interested if anyone's been inside a Subaru ECU and seen this stuff, because I drive one!

  • Barry K. Nathan Barry K. Nathan on Feb 23, 2010

    Here is David W. Gilbert's prepared testimony, FWIW. I think it has more detail than the ABC News report.

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