Apple co-founder says his Prius accelerates to 97 mph on cruise control, suspects software glitch

[concerned1]

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-toyota-wozniak3-2010feb03,0,3057333.story

Apple co-founder says his Toyota accelerates unintentionally
Bloomberg News

Count Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Wozniak among Toyota Motor Corp. car owners who say their vehicles accelerate unintentionally. Wozniak's 2010 Toyota Prius can unintentionally accelerate to as much as 97 mph when he uses cruise control to increase his speed, he said. Toyota and the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration haven't responded to his complaints in the past two months on what may be a software-related glitch, he said.

"It's scary when it happens," Wozniak, 59, said from San Jose. "I've had trouble getting both the government safety agency and getting Toyota to listen to me." The world's largest automaker has recalled millions of vehicles globally to fix mechanical flaws in accelerator pedals that could lead to sudden unintended increases in speed. The action led to a halt of U.S. sales and production of eight models and prompted Congress to schedule hearings.

The Japanese carmaker has recalled 5.35 million vehicles, including the 2004-2009 Prius, because of the risk of "floor mat entrapment" of the accelerator pedals, according to Toyota's website. Wozniak's 2010 model, which has a steering wheel-mounted dynamic radar cruise control, hasn't been recalled by the company. "I have never heard of this problem with cruise control on Priuses," a Toyota spokeswoman, Ririko Takeuchi, said from Tokyo. She said she doesn't know whether the problem has been reported by anyone other than Wozniak or whether Toyota is investigating.

While in cruise control, flicking the lever on side of the steering wheel doesn't always increase the speed of the car in increments as intended, Wozniak said. Instead, the vehicle would sometimes continue accelerating until one steps on the brake, he said. Believing the issue may be software-related, Wozniak, who owns four Priuses, said he took his car to a dealership, contacted Toyota and called the NHTSA about the issue. Wozniak said he believes the acceleration may be caused by a software glitch because the unintended increase in speed occurs when his feet are on the floor, he said. Wozniak said he would buy another Prius...

Wozniak made the comments after a Web log posted on the CNET News Web site reported he spoke about his Prius's cruise control at the Discovery Forum 2010 in San Francisco. "The reason that my case is important and urgent is that it is electronic. I can cause it totally under cruise control without a foot touching the accelerator pedal," Wozniak said. "Is my software bug also some code that is in the other Priuses and related to the deadly problem?"

[gateley]

1. I'm glad this was posted in the LA Times -- NOW maybe Toyota and the

government will pay attention to him.

[farmout rightarm]

2. That used to happen to my Corvette years ago. It turned out to be a relay that

would stick, the contacts were "welding" themselves together. I forget who made the relays in that unit.

[Zoeisright]

3. I'm not surprised it's a software problem.

Trying to pass it off as something as physical as floor mats causing the acceleration made me lose all respect for Toyota. And we just bought a Sienna last year. We've had a lot of trouble with the tire low level light, which has cost us $1000 in the first nine months we owned the car. Apparently my husband 'broke' the tire sensor when he filled the tire ($250, plus $200 to a local garage which couldn't figure out how to undo the spare and charged us anyway). Then he 'broke' two other stems, making the tires go flat. Replaced at $250/pop. Plus $10/tire 'insurance' (like the Sopranos, apparently) for each tire in case he 'breaks' the stem again.

I'm pretty angry at them.

[truedelphi]

7. We are stuck using our older cars for the durantion. But Toyota USED TO be

Our choice of dream car.

Now of course, we are looking into other car mfgrs. Why wouldn't we?

I suspect that Toyota is not going to get over this bad PR so easily.

[Zoeisright]

18. We do need another car - our 'second' car is 8 years old

and getting expensive to repair - $500 last month alone.

We're thinking Honda or Volkswagen, and Consumer Reports likes Hyundai too.

[Hello_Kitty]

8. When my floor mats in a Mustang I used to have got wedged under the gas pedal

It caused the car to decelerate, not accelerate, because I wasn't able to press the gas pedal hard enough to speed the car up. It doesn't make sense to me from a standpoint of pure physics how floor mats could cause a car to speed up on its own.

[frazzled]

4. In the documented accidents, were the drivers using cruise control?

I think that would have been fairly well documented.

I hate cruise control and always have, so I never use it. Maybe for a minute or two after a long time on the highway, to rest my foot. I just don't feel you have control when it is on. But my husband uses it all the time, and we've never had any acceleration problem. It's a 2006 Prius.

[NYC_SKP]

5. Oh, that's just the "Prius Zoom" feature. I use it all the time on Interstate 5.

Wozniak is just not doin' it right!

[Oregone]

6. BS lies. Propaganda to launch the iCar

Alright, so the iCar looks pretty, but if I can hold it in my hand its probably not going to get me anywhere

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[jmowreader]

11. He has a Hummer too

He was supposed to do an experiment in 2008 where he and Buzz Aldrin would drive a hydrogen-powered H1 Hummer to the South Pole.

http://hummerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1880

Incidentally, Woz enriched the state of California to the tune of $700...he got clocked doing 105 in one of his Priuses. Says he was framed--he was only doing 104.

[BeatleBoot]

13. Owned by the Chinese now

Wow, he's my fucking hero.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

16. Not all Toyotas are Japan made and Harley-Davidson is scarcely an all American motorcycle

[BeatleBoot]

19. Big difference between

Manufactured and Assembled.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

20. But both clearly are

[name not needed]

17. "rice-beater"?

:wtf:

[superduperfarleft]

21. Good to know that you use racial slurs in your defense of American products. n/t

[MisterP]

10. "iWoz iWizzesByUncontrollably" nt

[PacerLJ35]

12. That'll show Toyota for using Vista to run the Prius's acceleration...

If they had used OSX, there would be no problems...

[JVS]

14. Can those cars even go 97 mph?

[Last Stand]

15. Not to bring it up, but...

Isn't building 4 Priuses more of a drain on resources than the reduced carbon emissions might represent? It's like having 3 Big Macs and a Diet Coke.