Automobile版 - Toyota electronics not at root of sudden acceleration, NASA report says |
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发帖数: 4304 | 1 Reporting from Washington — A NASA report on Toyota's sudden
acceleration found "no electronic flaws … capable of producing the
large throttle openings required to create dangerous high-speed,
unintended acceleration incidents."
The report, released Tuesday by the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration, said that the mechanical safety defects identified
more than a year ago -- including sticky accelerator pedals and
pedals trapped by floor mats -- "remain the only known causes for
these kinds of unsafe, unintended acceleration incidents."
The report followed a 10-month study by the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration, which was brought in by NHTSA to review only
the electronics.
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Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said: "We enlisted the best and
brightest engineers to study Toyota's electronics system, and the
verdict is in. There is no electronic-based cause for unintended,
high-speed acceleration in Toyotas."
For the study, a team of NASA engineers evaluated the electronic
circuitry in Toyota vehicles and analyzed more than 280,000 lines of
software code.
"NASA found no evidence that a malfunction in electronics caused
large unintended accelerations," said Michael Kirsh, principal
engineer at the NASA Engineering and Safety Center.
NASA's study "confirmed that there is a theoretical possibility that
two faults could combine under very specific conditions" to affect
the electronic control systems to create an unintended acceleration.
But the team "did not find any evidence that this had occurred in the
real world or that there are failure mechanisms that would combine to
make this occurrence likely."
Despite the findings, the NTSA said it was considering taking new
actions to deal with sudden acceleration. They include proposing
rules by the end of the year to require brake override systems,
standardized keyless ignition systems and accident data recorders in
all passenger vehicles.
The agency also proposes to start broad research on the reliability
and security of electronic control systems and to research the design
and placement of accelerator pedals, as well as how drivers use the
pedals.
The NASA study came after three congressional hearings into sudden
unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles. Toyota has issued more
than 11 million recall notices in the last 16 months, most to resolve
sudden-acceleration issues. In December, Toyota agreed to pay more
than $32.4 million in fines for failing to inform U.S. regulators
promptly about vehicle defects. That followed a $16.4-million fine
levied against the automaker by the Transportation Department in
April for delaying the recall of gas pedals that could become stuck.
Toyota also faces more than 100 lawsuits in state and federal courts
linked to the sudden-acceleration problems over the last decade.
Toyota settled at least one of those cases, agreeing to pay $10
million to the families of four people killed when a Lexus ES
accelerated out of control near San Diego in 2009.
The Los Angeles Times found that reports of sudden unintended
acceleration in some Toyota vehicles surged after the automaker
installed electronic throttles.
In the case of the Lexus ES and Camry sedans, total complaints
averaged 26 annually for the 1999-2001 model year. After electronic
throttles were installed beginning with the 2002 models, complaints
jumped to an average of 132 a year. Toyota vehicles also have been
involved in more fatal accidents involving sudden acceleration than
all other automakers companies. A Times review in 2009 found that
there were at least 19 such deaths in Toyotas since the introduction
of 2002 model year vehicles, compared with a total of 11 for other
automakers.
Last March, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
enlisted the help of NASA engineers with expertise in computer-
controlled electronic systems and electromagnetic interference after
complaints that the agency lacked the expertise to conduct such a
review. The Department of Transportation also commissioned a study by
the National Academy of Sciences, which is expected to release its
report in July.
The two studies were expected to cost a combined $3 million,
including the cost to purchase vehicles that had been subject to
sudden-acceleration complaints.
Toyota said last year it would install brake overrides in all its
future vehicles to deal with sudden, unintended acceleration.
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Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times |
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