Assuming for a minute that Mrs. Smith’s account is completely accurate, which is doubtful, what she describes would take independent and simultaneous failure of several systems. That is something that simply doesn’t happen in the real world. Moreover, if the car actually did behave the way Mrs. Smith says it did, what kind of idiots are the Smiths for selling it to somebody else? Unless there is something in Mrs. Smith’s testimony to indicate that the problems causing her experience were identified and corrected, which doesn’t seem to be the case, selling a car with a known and demonstrated defect of the magnitude Mrs. Smith describes would open them to unbelievable liability exposure, not to mention a pretty good case for depraved mind murder if it happened again and somebody were to be killed.
Although there could indeed be something in the electronic controls on Toyotas and other cars that needs to be corrected, this Toyota thing is rapidly turning into a Democratic witch hunt. I would hope that the heavy reliance Democrats have on trial lawyers for their funding doesn’t have anything to do with Mrs. Smith being recruited to give the testimony she did.
Sounds like Christine has been reborn in a toyota!
To me that makes sense that the brakes could malfuntion, much of this ABS and other controlled braking systems along with remote starting could malfuntion to cause something like this.
I’m wondering,
If there are systems out there that will not allow shifting to neutral, will they allow a downshift or two to at least reduce top speed ?
“this Toyota thing is rapidly turning into a Democratic witch hunt. I would hope that the heavy reliance Democrats have on trial lawyers for their funding doesn’t have anything to do with Mrs. Smith being recruited to give the testimony she did.”
One of the Congressmen who is getting the most “face time” as a result of the Toyota safety hearings is Darrell Issa, a Republican from California. So–when he chases cameras and then makes inflammatory statements about Toyota, it isn’t a witch hunt?
And, in case you hadn’t noticed, all of those Congressional committees are bipartisan.
I think that you might want to start using news sources other than The Faux News Network.
We are told: "Simply put the car into neutral then turn the engine off."
MAY NOT BE SO SIMPLE! Check out these video clips:
TESTIMONY OF TOYOTA DRIVER WHO ‘LOST ALL CONTROL’
(This is the video of the text of this original post.
She put car in neutral and was unable to turn off engine!!!) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8533129.stm
and the CA crash:
“911 Call Released from Crash that Prompted Initial Toyota/Lexus Floor Mat Recall”
(with California Highway Patrolman driving unable to stop vehicle) http://www.cardealerreviews.org/?p=247148
"Witnesses saw flames coming from the front and rear tires of the speeding 2009 Lexus ES 350 before it crashed Aug. 28 in Santee, suggesting ?long, constant heavy braking,? said Sgt. Scott Hill, the lead sheriff’s investigator. "
Man, we would have to really be reaching to believe this: " It could be that she had broken motor mounts before this happened, and the open throttle shifted the position of the transmission, making it impossible to shift out of drive".
If we’re talking about “drive by wire” and “shift by wire” where there is no mechanical linkage between the pedal & throttle and/or the shifter and transmission, could it be that the “computer” won’t let you shift into neutral because the “computer” thinks you want to be flooring the accelerator?
Wow! The more I hear about new cars today, the more I appreciate my 1993 Ford Festiva.
EllyEllis, how many people out there are driving around with a broken motor mount or two? I don’t know what the number is, but I would bet 20 years ago, that number was pretty high. When you have a big V8 with rear wheel drive, it is easy to have a broken motor mount and not know it.