Electronic Gremlins? (National Review, 03.01.10)

Posted by hpayne on March 1, 2010

Detroit — An Edmunds.com study has found that Toyota has received more complaints of unintended acceleration than any other automaker, contradicting company claims that it’s been unfairly singled out by federal investigators. But the study also puts in doubt the claims of tort lawyers and their Congressional parrots that electronics — standard in vehicles over the last decade — pose a new threat to vehicle safety.

On a complaints-per-sale basis, Toyota had four times the number of complaints (4.81 per 100,000 U.S. vehicles sold) of Chrysler, Honda, Nissan, and GM (which averaged 1.22 per 100,000). But significantly, another manufacturer — Ford — also had an unusually high number of complaints: 3.12 per 100,000 or nearly double the industry average.

Tort lawyers salivate at the thought that electronics — which have displaced hydraulics and cables in operating accelerator pedals — are vulnerable to random electrical interference and faulty computer code. Some in Congress now routinely make wild claims about “possessed” vehicles. . .

Read full article here.

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