America, you brought the Toyota hoax on yourselves

[darin]

Spot on. The problem isn't the cars - it's us...as drivers, who generally suck. Yes, most drivers - even the egos here - have not been trained; nor do they care to do so; in how to handle a vehicle emergency.


No matter how the Great Toyota Recall and Jim Sikes saga ends, two things are certain: one, American drivers are sheep, and two, yes, this will happen again.

So: Jim Sikes perpetrated a hoax, the media is confused, the demonization of Toyota is no longer so cut and dried, and the automobile as we know it is caught in the crossfire. Faced with all this, we have but one question: Why did no one see it coming?

Unintended acceleration is nothing new. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration receives countless complaints on the subject every year, and no make of car or driver demographic is left unscathed.

The volume and frequency of these complaints seem to ebb and flow with the cultural tide. Media coverage, statistical ignorance, and opportunism appear to have more to do with the recurrence of reported UA than anything else. And the patterns — Brian Ross and ABC reviving the 60 Minutes Audi hoax, a hefty swing in UA complaint sources toward older drivers (see our chart) — seem to have more to do with mass psychology and opportunism than technical problems.

Still, it's not all the media's fault. We are a nation that knows less and less about the cars that we drive, we spend more time on the road indulging our selfish whims, and we have allowed — nay, begged — Beige Bites Back to happen. Consider the following: In 1988, NHTSA concluded that the majority of the documented Audi acceleration incidents were caused by driver error. Shift interlock devices were developed to prevent accidental forward motion, and UA claims dropped off sharply in the years that followed. Did the about-face — 60 Minutes was wrong! Audi doesn't have it in for us! — change the country's relationship with the automobile? No. We moved on, we forgot, and we dug our own graves.


<.....>

At heart, we are a short-sighted culture. When times are good, we kid ourselves into believing that companies like Toyota are looking out for the common good — How could they not? Their cars are reliable and efficient! Prius ads have trees in them! — rather than simply reading the needs of a market better than anyone else. When times are bad, we point fingers at a million culprits and cry out for blood. We have a fear of perspective and careful analysis, and we fool ourselves into thinking that there is such a thing as an electronically managed free ride.

In retrospect, our constant need for cultural grist has not helped us. We are media enablers; we eat up congressional feeds on CNBC and snap analysis from uninformed TV pundits. Yes, Toyota has initiated a couple of recalls, but does that explain the increased reports of unintended acceleration since the announcement? No.

Sheep. We want the beige so we can zone out or text or read the newspaper or listen to talk radio in our cocoon-like cars. We want to make it home in time to watch our corporate-owned cable news and eat our corn syrup-infused food and watch our mindless reality TV and get up to do it again tomorrow morning. We are the problem. Beige bites back? Ha. Unless we do something to stop it, it's going to get a whole lot worse.

Rest at link

http://jalopnik.com/5493693/america-you-brought-the-toyota-hoax-on-yourself

[LiberalNation]

yeah, my dad was like wtf they had time to call the cops but not shift the car in neutral or pull the parking break.

[darin]

...or turn off the engine??? Or FLOOR the brakes? Car and Driver did a test w/ a camry - the brakes were able to 'eventually' overcome the engine's power at Wide Open Throttle.

We aren't training drivers anymore; we're installing system administrators.

[DragonStryk72]

Yeah, plus we've built so many useless add-ons for our vehicles that make sure we are never going to feel a need to learn to drive better. and the funny part to that is that VW van bought when the line first rolled out would still be in operable condition these days, whereas these newer vehicles have nowhere near that kind of lifetime, so the quality has actually gone down, while getting more complex.

[namvet]

most drivers never use neutral let alone know where it is

FT07_JbnKWQ

[darin]

^^ That video:

"Dont shut off because you don't have power steering!" Blah - that's dumb. Rolling fast enough the car will steer fine. Also - many cars have Electric powersteering anyway.

"You'd have to (gasp!) READ THE MANUAL! to (know to hold the power button down)".

[Gaffer]

I have had the accelerator stick many times in my years of driving. I simply step on the brake and pop it into neutral. Then stomp on the accelerator and it unsticks. Simple. You usually don't even need to turn the engine off. And you can drive perfectly fine without power steering for a short distance. This should all be part of drivers training. How many people even know how to use hand signals anymore if their lights aren't working?

[Sitarro]

^^ That video:

"Dont shut off because you don't have power steering!" Blah - that's dumb. Rolling fast enough the car will steer fine. Also - many cars have Electric powersteering anyway.

"You'd have to (gasp!) READ THE MANUAL! to (know to hold the power button down)".

The one thing he did mention was that in turning the key to shut it off you could go too far and lock the steering....... ooops!

[darin]

Righto - but people 'should' be practiced enough to know not to lock the f'ing wheel...right? I know..panic situation - but it shouldn't BE a panic situation, and wouldn't be if we taught people to drive with any sort of vigor.

[Sitarro]

Righto - but people 'should' be practiced enough to know not to lock the f'ing wheel...right? I know..panic situation - but it shouldn't BE a panic situation, and wouldn't be if we taught people to drive with any sort of vigor.

In Denver, I used to practice in parking lots when we would have our first snow each year. I got stopped by a cop one night and when I explained what I was doing he said...... "good idea". When I was younger, in Louisiana, a friend and I would take my 67 Beetle and do donuts in the rain on the levees in the Atchafalaya Basin. It all paid off one night when I was driving up I-25 near the Colorado border. I hit a 10 mile stretch of black ice doing 60 miles an hour. My 78, rear wheel drive, Buick Regal started coming around to the left, I let off the gas, didn't touch the brake and steered into the slide. As the speed bled off it settled down and I was able to track straight at exactly 35 mph. For the next 10 miles it was like that with 4 wheel drive trucks upside down in the median. All that practice saved my ass.

When I bought a 4 wheel drive Toyota Truck, I rarely drove it in 4 wheel drive because of the black ice worry. I was lucky, never got it stuck........ it had auto locking hubs and you could drop it in 4 wheel high at 45 mph, I would usually use it for going up and down hills or when we had deep enough snow that ice wasn't a problem. I also kept two 40 pound tubes of sand on top of each wheel well in the bed, a lot more traction and you could sped it on ice if you got stuck.

[KarlMarx]

I live on the end of a dead end street. One day, about 13 years ago, I received a call at work from the Electric Company... a car had struck my house. By the time I got home there was no trace of anything amiss. That is, until the little old lady across the street came out apologizing up and down. She told me that, as she was pulling into our street, a squirrel ran in front of her car. Instead of hitting the brake, she hit the accelarator pedal and was going to go over the embankment at the end of our street. So she swerved her car and it side swiped my house. Fortunately, because I live in a brick house, the damage was minimal. She did manage to damage the power line coming into my house .. but that was about it. I was grateful that she didn't get hurt.

[namvet]

^^ That video:

"Dont shut off because you don't have power steering!" Blah - that's dumb. Rolling fast enough the car will steer fine. Also - many cars have Electric powersteering anyway.

"You'd have to (gasp!) READ THE MANUAL! to (know to hold the power button down)".

you mean the manual that's to long and complicated to read ??? they threw it in the trash :coffee:

[LiberalNation]

bleh, I let my dad read it and give me the highlights.

[darin]

In Denver, I used to practice in parking lots when we would have our first snow each year. I got stopped by a cop one night and when I explained what I was doing he said...... "good idea". When I was younger, in Louisiana, a friend and I would take my 67 Beetle and do donuts in the rain on the levees in the Atchafalaya Basin. It all paid off one night when I was driving up I-25 near the Colorado border. I hit a 10 mile stretch of black ice doing 60 miles an hour. My 78, rear wheel drive, Buick Regal started coming around to the left, I let off the gas, didn't touch the brake and steered into the slide. As the speed bled off it settled down and I was able to track straight at exactly 35 mph. For the next 10 miles it was like that with 4 wheel drive trucks upside down in the median. All that practice saved my ass.

When I bought a 4 wheel drive Toyota Truck, I rarely drove it in 4 wheel drive because of the black ice worry. I was lucky, never got it stuck........ it had auto locking hubs and you could drop it in 4 wheel high at 45 mph, I would usually use it for going up and down hills or when we had deep enough snow that ice wasn't a problem. I also kept two 40 pound tubes of sand on top of each wheel well in the bed, a lot more traction and you could sped it on ice if you got stuck.


That's my plan - and the plans for my kids. I figure, if my kids can get the car all squirrely on purpose, and recover - they wont' freak out when it happens by accident.

[Abbey Marie]

Years ago, I had an accelerator stick while I was driving on a bridge over the Delaware River. I didn't panic, hit the brakes, it stopped. I took it to directly a mechanic, who greased the throttle cable (?), and it never stuck again. :dunno:

[Sitarro]

Years ago, I had an accelerator stick while I was driving on a bridge over the Delaware River. I didn't panic, hit the brakes, it stopped. I took it to directly a mechanic, who greased the throttle cable (?), and it never stuck again. :dunno:

For some reason, when I read "greased the throttle cable", I had all sorts of mental images which put a smile on my face.:coffee::thumb:

[darin]

Years ago, I had an accelerator stick while I was driving on a bridge over the Delaware River. I didn't panic, hit the brakes, it stopped. I took it to directly a mechanic, who greased the throttle cable (?), and it never stuck again. :dunno:

...I, too, would like to grease your throttle cable....

:D

:coffee:

[KitchenKitten99]

The one feature on my car that i hate and do not like to use in winter (or any time) is the 'traction control'. I DO NOT like the computer take-over of my wheels-I feel like I have less control over the car. So I turn off the feature, which I am happy GM put that option on the car. I like to feel what my wheels and brakes are doing through my gas pedal and brake. Traction control takes that feeling and skews it. I have been driving my Impala for 7 years now. I know what it will do and I know what to do in a slide or on ice, or heavy rainfall/wet roads. I sometimes will slide around corners for fun (and to freak out my passengers).

Like Sitarro, I refresh myself on winter driving when the first big snowfall happens by taking an hour or so in an empty parking lot and 'playing' with my car. I have yet to end up in a ditch going anywhere in any snowstorm. Even going to school 4 days/week, which is 37 miles from home.

[Abbey Marie]

Sitarro & dmp:


I literally lol'ed at you two. The cat thinks I'm a kook. :laugh2:

[darin]

The one feature on my car that i hate and do not like to use in winter (or any time) is the 'traction control'. I DO NOT like the computer take-over of my wheels-I feel like I have less control over the car. So I turn off the feature, which I am happy GM put that option on the car. I like to feel what my wheels and brakes are doing through my gas pedal and brake. Traction control takes that feeling and skews it. I have been driving my Impala for 7 years now. I know what it will do and I know what to do in a slide or on ice, or heavy rainfall/wet roads. I sometimes will slide around corners for fun (and to freak out my passengers).

Like Sitarro, I refresh myself on winter driving when the first big snowfall happens by taking an hour or so in an empty parking lot and 'playing' with my car. I have yet to end up in a ditch going anywhere in any snowstorm. Even going to school 4 days/week, which is 37 miles from home.


Traction Control and Dynamic Stability Control have saved me and stuck me.

Got me home while driving the RX8 in a few inches of snow (WAYYYYYYYYY Summer tires - tires that barely stick below 40 degrees)...and, on wet grass kept locking the car down so hard it'd stall the engine. :( It's a blessing and a curse.

At the track I turn off stability control, but leave traction control on. :)