You know, I cringe when I read about how so many accidents of planes and cars etc are caused by CPU/wiring failures when these clever yet cheaper expedients replace mechanical structures that generally have a fail-safe function built-in by virtue of their physical strength. I'm waiting until the steering column is replaced by a wire from the steering pot to the servo on the rack.
In our recent time we have heard of runaway conditions caused by fly-by-wire accellerator failure and/or cruise control logic error with Toyota and Ford vehicles.
One of the "fixes" is to disable the "accellerator input" or fuel entry once the brake is applied so that brake input overrides fuel input. Sounds simple enough but apparently not "programmed in" for all cars.
This took me back to the discussion a while back where one or two members were less than impressed when juditious left foot braking in a legitimate attempt to "move the back out" while cornering also killed the engine. The full implications of this (not happening) escaped me at the time and I found myself agreeing that the design was broken because it didn't allow control of the car by admittedly advanced techniques.
I've since decided that this "safety" measure is a good one.
If what I've suggested is related to Toyota's problems then I suspect Toyota agree with me and other manufacturers need to take heed when letting their programmers loose.
