Surprise! Toyotas aren't defective!

History repeats itself.

Back in 1983, Audi was getting complaints about sudden acceleration in the Audi 5000 automatic. They couldn't really determine a direct cause, but issued recalls anyway. They even announced a service campaign to "correct a problem of drivers inadvertently pressing the accelerator rather then the brake".

PEOPLE WERE PRESSING THE WRONG FRICKIN PEDAL. The problem was that the Audi 5000 was a new breed of premium car. Americans who wanted premium cars were used to cars in which, as P.J. O'Rourke said, "On a clear day you can see the brake pedal from the accelerator" had this new european car with the pedals much closer together.

There was no design flaw. The Audis that were jumping into swimming pools (Literally) showed no evidence that the brake pedal had been applied at all. Here's a link to a summary of the Audi findings. The determination? "Pedal misapplication is the most likely cause of these accidents".

Try this at home: ANY car, I don't care what it is, has more powerful brakes than engine. ANY car. If you hold the brakes and gas all the way down, it will stop. Go ahead and try it. More proof? Try accelerating to 100 km/h in the distance it takes to stop from 100 km/h. You can't do it, I don't care what you drive.

So. over 25 years later, Toyota is faced with a similar problem. More old people are buying their cars (Check the average age of the people who have had sudden acceleration incidents here). The pedal placement is different on a Toyota than a Buick.

Here is a new study showing the exact same thing is the cause of the Toyota problem. People are STILL pressing the wring damn pedal! Toyota is spending all this money on 'repairs' that aren't actually doing anything to pacify the public, when there is no fault in the first place beyond the usual "Loose nut behind the wheel".

Sigh.