When will Auto Makers correct SUDDEN ACCELERATION and make us SAFE?
Car Washes and Insurance Companies KNOW which vehicles are problematic. Consumers don't!
The horrific SUDDEN ACCELERATION and FIERY CRASH of the Toyota Lexus, driven by Mark Saylor highlighted the justifiable TERROR of SUDDEN ACCELERATION....
The settlement between the parents of the victims and car dealer Bob Baker is the latest in a case that has received worldwide attention over unintended acceleration problems in Toyota and Lexus vehicles.
The terms of the settlement, including the amount, are confidential, and none of the parties involved would discuss the agreement.
A spokeswoman with the Los Angeles County Superior Court confirmed that the parties called the court Thursday to say that they had settled the case. Trial had been set to begin Monday.
It is the second settlement that the parents of both the officer and his wife have received in the lawsuit. In 2010 they accepted a $10 million payout from Toyota.
The Aug. 28, 2009, crash in Santee set off a ripple effect that has cost Toyota billions of dollars in settlement payouts and led to massive recalls.
The crash occurred as California Highway Patrol Officer Mark Saylor was driving the loaner Lexus ES350 from Bob Baker Lexus El Cajon with his wife, Cleofe, their daughter, 13-year-old Mahala, and his brother-in-law, Chris Lastrella.
In a 911 call as the car was barreling north on state Route 125, Lastrella reported the accelerator was stuck and brakes weren't working. The call cut off as the Lexus struck a Ford Explorer then launched into a ditch at Mission Gorge Road and erupted into flames.
Scars from crash remain raw | Toyota admits hiding defects, fined $1.B
I am terrified because of unintended acceleration....
https://community.cartalk.com/t/i-am-terrified-because-of-unintended-acceleration/97649
Monday, August 22, 2016
Korean study demonstrates 100% wide
open throttle SUA reproduced by auto
voltage drop
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Korean study demonstrates 100% wide open throttle SUA reproduced by auto voltage drop
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(Notice image: TPS (throttle position sensor) is 100%, while the APS (accelerator pedal sensor) is only 35.5%.)
[Automakers “would claim” the 100% EDR readout from the TPS “PROVES” the driver MUST HAVE DEPRESSED THE
ACCELERATOR PEDAL TO 100%. NOT TRUE.)
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LVTGO-VBS
Low Voltage Tester -
Ground Offset &
Vehicle Battery Simulator
http://www.add2.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/J001451-V3.0.2-LVTGO-VBS-Specification-Sheet.pdf
(47 pages) (What the Korean researchers used.)
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Forensic Science International
Volume 267, October 2016, Pages 35–41
Experimental study for the reproduction of sudden unintended
acceleration incidents
Sungji Parka, Youngsuk Choib, Woongchul Choib
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Experimental Study for the Reproduction of Sudden
Unintended Acceleration Incidents
Sungji Park, Youngsuk Choi, Woongchul Choi
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Highlights
•Efforts were made to reproduce some cases of sudden unintended acceleration (SUA).
•One possible cause of the SUA were carefully investigated.
•Supply voltage level to the ECU was perturbed to mimic unstable power supply.
•The wide open throttle occurred without intention with the unstable supply voltage.
•Current research reproduced the SUA and provided a possible clue to the SUA.
Abstract
A few cases of the sudden unintended acceleration have been reported over the last few years [1–11] and
some of them seemed to be somewhat related to an electronic throttle control (ETC) system [11,12] . In this
experimental study, efforts were made to reproduce the cases of sudden unintended acceleration possibly
related to the ETC. Typically, an ETC of the engine is managed based on signals from airflow sensor, throttle
position sensor and acceleration pedal sensor. With this typical sensor configurations in mind, these sensor
signals were checked for noise levels. However, none of them showed any clear relationship with the sudden
unintended acceleration mainly due to the robustness of the ETC logic software. As an alternative approach,
supply voltage to an engine control unit (ECU) was tempered intentionally to observe any clues for the
incidents. The observed results with the supply voltage drop and fluctuation tests were rather astonishing. The
throttle valve position went all the way up to 100% for around one second when the battery voltage plunged
down to 7 V periodically despite that the acceleration pedal position was kept steady. As an effort to confirm the
case, multiple tries were made systematically on a chassis dynamometer as well as on the test road. In this
paper, detailed procedures and findings are reported accordingly.
Keywords:
Sudden unintended acceleration (SUA), Supply voltage drop, Engine control unit (ECU), Electronic throttle
control (ETC), Wide-open throttle
© 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Please cite this article as:S. Park, Y. Choi, W. Choi, Experimental Study for
the Reproduction of Sudden Unintended Acceleration Incidents, Forensic Science
International (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2016.08.014
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EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF REAPPEARANCE FOR SUDDEN ACCELERATION INCIDENTS
Presenter: Sungji Park
Forensic Engineering, National Forensic Service, Seoul, Korea (South)
SESSIONS
Oral Presentation 05
10/15/2014 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
(excerpts):
The input voltage of ECU(Electronic Control Unit) was fluctuated from 7V to 14V periodically
and the all of the engine data like throttle valve position, acceleration position, engine RPM,
brake pressure and maximum torque of wheel were recorded.
As results of this study, we found that the periodical low voltage could make the throttle
valve fully open and the car would reach the maximum performance condition. So, the
unintended acceleration could happen without pressing acceleration pedal.
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Simulation of Sudden Acceleration
in a Torque-Based Electronic Throttle Controller
by Ronald A. Belt
Plymouth, MN 55447
30 January 2015
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(excerpts):
(from page 9 of 25):
IV. Experimental Evidence for Sudden Acceleration
Caused by Low Battery Voltage
Experimental evidence that supports the author’s theory of sudden acceleration has been obtained recently by a research team at the National Forensic Service in Seoul, Korea. This organization is the Korean government’s official automobile accident investigation team in Korea, and it has been looking into the cause of the epidemic of sudden acceleration incidents in Korea for the last several years.Their results show that the electronically operated throttle valve in a late model car with electronic throttle can be made to open to the maximum opening position by voltage fluctuations of 14 to 7 volts on the battery supply line without pressing on the accelerator pedal. Their results were described in an oral presentation given at the World Forensic Festival 2014 meeting in Seoul, Korea on October 12-18, 2014. An abstract of their presentation appears in the published abstract book for the meeting.
7 This abstract is reproduced in its entirety in Figure 5 below. A paper describing their complete findings has been submitted to an international journal and will be published soon after going through the peer review process.
Figure 5. Abstract of an oral presentation at the World Forensic Festival 2014 meeting in Seoul, Korea on October 12-18, 2014
=================================
Dr. Ronald A. Belt’s Sudden Acceleration Papers
Dr. Ronald A. Belt: Why I Publish Here
Some Facts About Sudden Acceleration in Mitsubishi Montero Sport Vehicles - 1/1/16
Answers to Some Remaining Questions On Belt’s Theory of Sudden Acceleration - 12/1/15
Unintended Acceleration with a Confirmed Cause – Smaller Tires in Front – 8/1/15
Sudden Acceleration in Vehicles with Mechanical Throttles and Idle Speed Actuators - 7/1/15
Sudden Unintended Acceleration in an All-Electric Vehicle - 2/27/15
Simulation of Sudden Acceleration in a Torque-Based Electronic Throttle Controller - 1/30/15
Dr. Ronald A. Belt: Comparison of Two Electronic Theories of Sudden Acceleration - 9/30/14
Further Details on an Electronic Mechanism for Sudden Unintended Acceleration - 1/6/14
A More Detailed Electronic Mechanism for Sudden Unintended Acceleration - 8/4/13
Sudden Acceleration Without an Accelerator Input - 11/1/12
A Detailed Electronic Mechanism for Sudden Unintended Acceleration - 8/2/12
An Electronic Cause for Sudden Unintended Acceleration - 4/11/12
A Layman’s Account of Dr. Belt’s Theory
Who is Dr. Belt?
http://www.autosafety.org/dr-ronald-a-belts-sudden-acceleration-papers/
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[excerpts from page 3: A Layman’s Account of Dr. Belt’s Theory]
http://www.autosafety.org/sites/default/files/imce_staff_uploads/beltlayman.pdf
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Dr. Belt’s theory also explains why loss of brake function occurs in some vehicles undergoing
sudden acceleration. It is not due merely to the loss of vacuum boost as the engine operates at
high RPM during a sudden acceleration incident. This would cause a hard pedal feel to the driver.
It may also be caused by negative voltage spikes affecting the operation of the ABS brakes, whose
operation is known to depend upon the vehicle’s supply voltage. It is possible that these negative
voltage spikes cause the ABS controller to reset, and that coming out of reset the controller enters
into a temporary diagnostic test mode as it is designed to do each time that the vehicle’s ignition
is turned on. During this test mode, the ABS brakes are cycled through all the normal modes to
see if they operate properly, one of which is a mode that reduces pressure on the brake lines. This
could cause a soft pedal feel to the driver by which the driver’s brake pedal may to go to the
floor as many drivers have contended. This condition could be caused by a single negative voltage
spike, which also initiates the sudden acceleration, if it is sampled by the microcontroller and used
for calculating the throttle motor voltage correction coefficient
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Dr. Belt’s theory also explains why the sudden acceleration incident rate is higher for older people,
and especially for older women. The reason is that many of these people are retired, and hence make
infrequent shorter trips with their vehicles to the grocery, library, mall, and church, instead of commuting
longer distances each day to places of employment. This means that their vehicle’s batteries run down
more easily because they never get charged back up properly, causing a lower voltage on the vehicle’s
voltage supply line. This lower voltage makes the supply line more susceptible to negative voltage spikes
produced by the inrush currents of radiator fan motors, ABS pump motors, and stop lights. Such negative
voltage spikes are the cause of most sudden acceleration incident.
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Artificial intelligence
DEMAND AND SUPPLY
By Boo Chanco (The Philippine Star)
Updated December 16, 2015 - 12:00am
(Michael. Barr and Dr. Belt information) (Should have had an SUA-related title)
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(selected comment):
Dr Antony Anderson • (16 December 2015)
Your former colleague Engineer Marcial Ocampo provides some constructive
suggestions as to possible contributory causes of SA incidents when a vehicle
is at or near standstill. [“..traffic draining the battery” ] What he suggests
regarding the role of the battery very much complements what Dr Ronald Belt
says in his various memoranda, which you mention later in your article.
Google key words “RONALD BELT AUTO SAFETY”
Your readers might also find this reference from the UK Automobile
Association (AA) regarding automobile batteries useful:
Google key words : “AA FLAT BATTERY ADVICE”
The AA roadside fault finding technique, when going to the help of a
stranded motorist, is to immediately fully test the battery condition, in
accordance with international standards, to see if it is able to hold charge
before doing anything else. If the battery is judged to be in poor condition by
the automated test equipment the AA replace immediately with a new high-quality
battery correctly sized for the vehicle and then carry on fault finding. If the
battery is in good condition they charge it and then carry on fault finding.
What they avoid doing initially is to jump start the engine. The right kind of tester has
to be used, otherwise the battery may appear to be alright when actually it is not.
Being able to start the car with the battery is no evidence of its capability to hold
charge and act effectively in its role of smoothing out transient current demands and
limiting transient voltage drops.
It would be very interesting to know what test protocol Mitsubishi use when
they test vehicles that have experienced an SUA and whether or not it includes
testing the battery BEFORE anyone either starts the engine or charges the
battery.
It would certainly be worth establishing what Mitsubishi's policy is regarding the
quality and CCA rating of the batteries that they install in Monteros exported from
Thailand to the Philippines. Owners should most certainly check the manufacturing
date, CCA rating and make of their batteries.
Another related area that SUA investigators ignore at their peril is intermittent
electrical contacts in the main 12V supply - battery terminals and ground terminals.
Also intermittent sensor contacts. Most of the fault detection strategies followed by
the automotive industry assume that a sensor fault is either an open circuit or a short
circuit. In some cases there may be an intermittency - at a relatively high frequency -
which may not be detected as a fault.
Google the key words: “IEEE ACCESS SUDDEN ACCELERATION”
This pdf article has some practical suggestions about ways and means of
reducing the likelihood of electrical/electronic intermittencies and discusses
various options for independent fail-safes that would help reduce engine power
in an emergency.
Nearly all auto manufacturers have filed patents for reducing the risk of a
sudden acceleration in the event of an electronic engine control computer
malfunction. If the designers believed in the perfection of their software and
that SUAs were caused by driver error then they would not spend precious time
designing countermeasures to a supposedly non-existent problem. If the DTI do
get around to doing an investigation, they could do worse than visiting the US
PATENT OFFICE and doing a search on fail-safes for SUAs and also on measures
to control runaway diesel engines. Patents often reveal what problems a company
has and what measures they propose to overcome them. Whether or not a particular
patent ever gets implemented is another.
Copyright © 2012. Philstar. All Right Reserved
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