Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, who drives a Toyota Prius, recently told a group of people of an unexpected and unintentional acceleration problem he experienced. Remember the Prius is not currently under recall. This makes Wozniak believe that, “This is software. It’s not a bad accelerator pedal.” Now Wozniak is not the first person to bring up the idea of the possible software problem. Two former administrators for the NHTSA, Ricardo Martinez and Joan Claybrook, believe that there is some electronic glitch causing all of Toyota’s problems. Many other independent saftey experts are also saying the same things. But its Wozniak’s expertise in software and programming that packs the biggest punch in this claim. The computer guru has also stated that he can duplicate the acceleration problem over and over at a certain speed while in cruise control. Its important to take into account that cars in the Toyota fleet have a gas pedal that isn’t actually connected to the engine mechanically, but the engine actually relies on software input from the gas pedal to relay acceleration information. This makes the possibility of an electrical or computer error much more likely. So whether Toyota is trying to cover some bigger problem by doing a quick and easy “fix” we will soon find out, but for the time being, it makes us think.
No comments:
Post a Comment