Page 356 - Acceleration News Today

Conference in japan this week, a toyota executive ruled out any software or electronic issue with the accelerator. >> translator: for the electronic control unit, we could not come across any case where we found that there was a misfunction in the control system. >> reporter: mckeown says toyotas recalls are disturbing in their limitations, because they dont apply to all makes and models that have allegedly experienced the acceleration problem like the 05 camry guadalupe alberto was driving. bas...

Acceleration. you are in a car and suddenly the car is taking off. that is not a stick -- that doesnt seem to be a sticky pedal. at least we want to know, is the explanation of a sticky pedal the explanation for the sudden acceleration? so we need to get the facts on all of this. >> just to clarify, i think what youre suggesting is that this may actually in fact be an elect cal issue as opposed to the mechanical issue. >> i think we need to find out if that is the case. whether or not the recall...

Function. to talk more about this we are joined by dr. michael peck who is the head of the electronics reliability in university of maryland and also the author of "sudden acceleration" and it is a book that is more than 10 years old, but it is considered definitive on the subject. so dr. pekt, how did this all work if this is a car functioning normally and a simple cell phone signal close to it triggers a different reaction. >> the cell phone is getting a signal and at the same time it sends ou...

Alberto is haunted by her mothers last moments. the fear the 76-year-old woman must have felt desperately trying to control her 2005 toyota camry as it barreled down a quiet street at 80 miles an hour. >> she nicked that tree, and the car went airborne, and it was going 80 miles per hour. and hits the tree on the top, and it just went down. she died instantly. >> reporter: guadalupe alberto by all accounts was an extremely careful driver in good health. >> that was the first thing that i knew so...

One attorney said they are programmed that way because it could allow the giant a lot of information to see why there is sudden acceleration. >> we appreciate it. we may see the tip of the iceberg, not just for toyota but for the government as well. now, we have our guest, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group. the transportation department is now opening an investigation into break problems for the 2010 model of toyotas prius. the japanese automaker came forward and announced design problems wi...

Does. we did talk to toyota officials throughout the week who said they believe that the sudden acceleration problems are due to the sticking gas pedals and then previously to the floor mat issue, but they do not believe that an electrical problem is causing the acceleration problems, but it is one possibility, and we wanted you to see how it works. >> but people are investigating whether it is an electronic problem in addition to the floor mats, and in addition to the pedal, and maybe something...

He comes out and says to the nation, dont drive your toyota, and then a couple hours later, oops, i did not mean that, you can drive your toyota. look, you were the head of nitza, and we had these investigations. should we drive their toyota or not? >> they could drive the car, but if they have a concern about it as the secretary said very appropriately, they should take it to the dealer. the dealers are getting parts, and if anybody thinks their car is dangerous, take it in there. if anybody ex...

Defec defects. i hope the department of transportation jumps on this immediately and pushes toyota to make these repairs very, very rapidly because not having braking and sudden acceleration are hideous experiences to the public. >> this is why even this morning driving to work people are still curious and worried about whether they should be driving their cars. joan claybrook and david rosenberg, thank you so much for your time on this still developing story about toyota recalls. its 36 minutes...

Malfunction depending on the design of the car. >> reporter: and the problem is that the cars these days, the throttle and the acceleration is not controlled by cables or simple mechanics, but computers? >> yes. they are trying to put the features in a small place and make it completely controlled by a computer and in todays cars there are more than 20 microprocessors. >> reporter: wow, that is a lot. and now a research scientist michael lasarian is going to show it to us. the sound is operating...

But its very painful. it is still very vivid in my mind and heart. >> toyota says all new cars made next year will be programmed with the override break system. and toyota said it would install the break override system in what ats to millions of camrys and lexus models and said it was an extra measure of confidence. >> and so should not the those recorders similar to a black box let them know what is happening? >> yeah, they are not programmed specifically to detect unwanted acceleration, and e...