Last year, the U.S. Department of Transportation launched an unprecedented ten-month study of potential electronic causes of unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles. The study was conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), who enlisted National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) engineers with expertise in areas such as computer controlled electronic systems, electromagnetic interference and software integrity to conduct new research into whether electronic systems or electromagnetic interference played a role in incidents of unintended acceleration.
Following the study, NASA engineers found no electronic flaws in Toyota vehicles capable of producing the large throttle openings required to create dangerous high-speed unintended acceleration incidents.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said, “We enlisted the best and brightest engineers to study Toyota’s electronics systems, and the verdict is in. There is no electronic-based cause for unintended high-speed acceleration in Toyotas.”
While NASA and NHTSA have identified no electronic cause of dangerous unintended acceleration incidents in Toyota vehicles or any new mechanical causes beyond sticking pedals and accelerator pedal entrapment, NHTSA is considering taking several new actions as the result of today’s findings, including:
- Propose rules, by the end of 2011, to require brake override systems, to standardize operation of keyless ignition systems, and to require the installation of event data recorders in all passenger vehicles
- Begin broad research on the reliability and security of electronic control systems
- Research the placement and design of accelerator and brake pedals, as well as driver usage of pedals, to determine whether design and placement can be improved to reduce pedal misapplication.
Based on objective event data recorder (EDR) readings and crash investigations conducted as part of NHTSA’s report, NHTSA is researching whether better placement and design of accelerator and brake pedals can reduce pedal misapplication, which occurs in vehicles across the industry. NHTSA’s forthcoming rulemaking to require brake override systems in all passenger vehicles will further help ensure that braking can take precedence over the accelerator pedal in emergency situations.
“NASA found no evidence that a malfunction in electronics caused large unintended
accelerations,” said Michael Kirsch, Principal Engineer at the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC).
NHTSA and NASA noted that the vast majority of complaints involved incidents that originated when the vehicle was stationary or at low speed and contained allegations of very wide throttle openings, often with allegations that brakes were not effective. NHTSA’s analysis indicated that these complaints generally do not appear to involve vehicle-based causes and that, where the complaint included allegations that the brakes were ineffective or that the incident began with a brake application, the most likely cause of the acceleration was actually pedal misapplication.
To read the executive summary and findings of the NASA report, click here:
http://www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/nvs/pdf/NASA_report_execsum.pdf
To read NASA’s full report, click here:
http://www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/nvs/pdf/NASA-UA_report.pdf
To read the executive summary and findings of the NHTSA report, click here:
http://www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/nvs/pdf/NHTSA_report_execsum.pdf
To read NHTSA’s full report click here:
http://www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/nvs/pdf/NHTSA-UA_report.pdf