U.S. finds no defect in Toyota's electronic throttles

Here 'tis:

The description of the RTOS is on page 145. I just skimmed it, but it would be hard to take issue with the report. For example, on the analysis of the throttle level sets (I don't recall what their terminology was) makes the case that if a single value gets garbled that would not cause unintended acceleration.

On the other hand, some of the anecdotal user reports are hard to ignore, and I learned some time ago not to ignore reports of rare events from credible observers. For example, the guy who was stopped with his foot on the brake when the engine surged and it was all he could do to keep it in place for a few moments. This is not a case of a poor driver fumble-footing the gas pedal..

This is really, really interesting, and the section on the computer system itself is more detailed than in the NASA SP that I saw earlier. Thanks!

--scott

e:

I said this when the problem originally surfaced and I'll say it again now... Toyota should publish all the relevant source code on the internet for world wide review. If there is a bug, some hot shot coder will find it just for the fame of it.

If they publish the code and after say 4 months, nobody finds a problem, i would feel it is safe.

Mark

This would be true... but.....

After 4 months, Nissan and Ford will have copied all relevant features...

--scott