Toyota’s Issues May Drive Change in U.S. Brake Standards
February wasn't a good month for Toyota, what with the fallout from the automaker's recent recall, but Toyota's pain may lead to a gain for U.S. drivers, in the form of a potential requirement for automobiles to include a brake override system.
February wasn’t a good month for Toyota, what with the fallout from the automaker’s recent recall, but Toyota’s pain may lead to a gain for U.S. drivers, in the form of a potential requirement for automobiles to include a brake override system. –KA
AS CHAOS UNFOLDS, FIND SOLID GROUND…The New York Times:
The Obama administration is considering requiring all automobiles to contain a brake override system intended to prevent sudden acceleration episodes like those that have led to the recall of millions of Toyotas, the Transportation secretary, Ray LaHood, said Tuesday.
“We’re looking at it,” Mr. LaHood said. “We think it is a good safety device, and we’re trying to figure out if we should be recommending it.”
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As drones, driverless cars, robotic surgeons and algorithms that can buy and trade in the stock market become part of the daily conversation, there needs to be an understanding of how the law and the public will deal with these imminent realities.
Toyota's hybrid system is a marvel of technology, except in one really inconvenient way.
U.S. auto regulators have decided to fine Toyota a maximum $16.375 million, having determined that the car company waited “at least four months” to recall its troubled vehicles. Toyota can contest the fine, which, although a record, amounts to a tiny fraction of the total financial impact of recalling some 8 million vehicles worldwide. (continued)
Amid major setbacks leading to massive recalls related to unintended acceleration, faulty brakes and other mechanical calamities, Toyota is shifting into damage control mode. On Tuesday, the Japanese carmaker's president, Akio Toyoda, made a personal apology before the U.S. Congress, admitting that his company got ahead of itself, prioritizing growth over quality control.
Sorry, Toyota. Certainly there'll be a slew of jokes about the automaker's old "Oh, what a feeling!" commercials -- oh, wait, too late! -- now that Toyota has caught yet another tough break (sorry again) in the form of a recall of about "436,000 hybrid vehicles worldwide," according to the BBC.
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