Toyota unsafe at any speed due to irrecoverable design fault: the single ON/OFF switch case

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Ed Gerck, Ph.D." <egerck () nma com>
Date: February 24, 2010 2:27:24 PM EST
To: Ip Ip <ip () v2 listbox com>, David Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: Toyota unsafe at any speed due to irrecoverable design fault: the single ON/OFF switch case

[Dave: for IP with your consideration]

Drivers experiencing the deadly issue of sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles have failed to be able to do one simple 
thing: turn the engine off.

If you use any machine that can endanger lives, in most countries they must have a POWER OFF switch.  This switch can 
be  a mechanical key that you twist to OFF or, for easier access, a large OFF button (also called EMERGENCY STOP) that 
you press. The switch or button must be clearly visible, single function, operate in fail-safe mode (ie, if it fails it 
fails in OFF), and must power off directly and electrically, without any intervening CPU or software logic (that could 
hang).

But not Toyota vehicles. Of course they do have a POWER OFF button but it is a single power button *overloaded* with 
three functions: OFF, ACCESSORY and ON. 
Further, according to Toyota manual, for an emergency stop the driver needs to press that power button for more than 3  
(three) seconds. Not only this delay is an eternity in emergency terms, but it can intuitively give the driver the idea 
that it is not working after (say) 2 seconds, after which time the driver in panic gives up and the OFF function is not 
used by the vehicle.

Therefore, we find that Toyota did not follow safety standards that exist even since the steam locomotive -- you need a 
single OFF switch/button that acts directly.

Using even a desktop laser printer is safer than driving a Toyota with the current design.

This fault cannot be cured by changing floor mats, or even adding more redundancy and diagnostics. It is a basic design 
flaw that makes Toyota vehicles unsafe at any speed. You just may not be able to turn the thing off.

What's needed is a recall of all vehicles, all models and brands, that do not have a proper (see above) single function 
OFF switch/button. Nothing less will allow drivers to control their cars' sudden acceleration (due to any cause).

Best regards,
Ed Gerck
www.gerck.com




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