Jim Taylor’s Weblog

Sunday March 14, 2010

Media vendetta targets Toyota

By Jim Taylor

Bias showing up?
        There seems to be a trace of xenophobia here. Even after Volvo, Honda, and Toyota set up North American manufacturing plants, their cars were still classed as “imports.” All “domestic” cars originated in Detroit.
        Further, these acceleration problems apparently occurred only in North America. Der Spiegel’s independent investigation reported, “No other country in the world has had comparable problems with cars accelerating on their own.”
        I sense a similar vendetta today against Toyota.
        That’s not an excuse for unintended acceleration problems. Even one death caused by them is too many.
        But I can’t help suspecting some bias. Is it purely coincidental that in 2008, Toyota surpassed General Motors as the world’s largest automaker?
        Is there a possible conflict of interest, when U.S. legislators grill Toyota executives? Since last year’s bailouts of General Motors and Chrysler, the government is now a major shareholder in Toyota’s competitors.
        And why focus on Toyota? JD Power ranked Toyota and Lexus first in quality more times than any other brand. Independent market-research firm Edmunds.com found that Toyota ranked 17th in recalls, based on the number of vehicles on the road, way below other major manufacturers.
        Over the last decade, the NHTSA received 12,700 complaints of unintended acceleration. Ford, Chrysler, General Motors, Honda, and nearly every other carmaker were listed.
        But you’d think Toyota was the only offender.

Not a design flaw
        Lest I be accused of brand loyalty, let me state that I have only once owned a Toyota — for about six months, a very second-hand Celica.
        However, I have owned six other Japanese cars — three Hondas and three Mazdas. I have great respect for Japanese engineering – especially when contrasted with seven British vehicles prone to self-destruction.
        Joel Hirschhorn describes himself as “a materials and manufacturing engineer with decades of experience in failure analysis of manufactured products.”
        Hirschhorn cites “statistically rare occurrences.” Over 20 million Toyotas have been sold in the last decade. Only about one in 10,000 has experienced acceleration problems.
        “If this had been a design defect,” Hirschhorn argues, “we would have seen many thousands of cases of sudden acceleration.”

Tracing human error
        Hirschhorn points to “a non-systemic flaw or defect in a critical component.” Almost all modern cars use drive-by-wire technology; a computer chip controls the throttle, not a mechanical cable.
        Mechanical failures are traceable. If something breaks or goes wrong, it will not repair itself before inspection.
        Human failures are less traceable, as Audi’s experience proved. The driver stomps on the wrong pedal.
        It’s an easy mistake to make. Indeed, one of my cars – a quite expensive sports car – has pedals located so that the edge of my right shoe can catch the gas pedal when I start braking. By the time I’ve pressed down hard enough to activate the brakes, the car has surged forward.
        Fortunately, there are solutions. The dealer could adjust pedal positions. I can simply learn to move my right foot over an extra quarter of an inch. Or use my left foot instead.
        But electronic flaws – as anyone who has sworn at Microsoft knows – do not lend themselves to quick fixes. Nor will flaws show up in conventional testing. A tiny impurity in raw materials can cause unpredictable malfunctions in a semi-conductor chip, possibly triggered by a once-in-a-lifetime combination of inputs.
        “The precise cause of such a sporadic event is incredibly difficult to pin down and even more difficult to remedy,” says Hirschhorn.

The simplest cure
        But I’m surprised that so few “experts” have suggested the obvious solution — turn the ignition key off!
        Not all the way off to “Lock,” or you will lock the steering and lose control completely. Turn the key off just one click. The engine will quit. You will not stop instantly. You’ll coast. You’ll lose power assist for steering and brakes, but you won’t keep hurtling forward.
        An engine that’s not producing power cannot cause acceleration. In a Toyota, or anything else.

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Copyright © 2009 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups permitted; all other rights reserved.
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Your Turn



Last week’s column, you may recall, was a sort of refresher course on why and how earthquakes happen, and why it’s ridiculous to blame them on divine retribution.

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About My Books

Over the years, I think I have written (or ghostwritten) about 17 books. Several of them (mercifully) are no longer available from any source. But here’s a listing of those that are still available. The ones marked “WLB”, you can order from Wood Lake Books, either on-line at http://www.woodlakebooks.com, or call Wood Lake Books directly at 1-800-663-2775 in Canada, 1-800-654-5129 (Pilgrim Press) in the U.S. The ones marked “JT only” are now available only directly from me — as collector’s items, I price them all at $25 Cdn.

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