'Hal' has taken over control of spaceship

I have years of experience in electronics, mechanical engineering and industrial safety design. I own an 2006 Toyota Tacoma TRD pickup and was recently informed my truck was put on the list for “a potential for the gas peddle to get stuck on the floor mat.” (In reality this could mean “There is a potential computer glizts that could make the truck speed up and not respond to driver signals”)

The NHTSA states that since 2002 there have been 34 people killed as a result of a Toyota having the gas peddle stuck in full throttle position with no known way to stop the vehicle. CHP officer Mark Saulor, 45, his wife Cleofe, 45, his daughter Mahala, 13, and his brother-in-law, Chris Lastrella, 38, were killed in the Aug 28 crash in Santee. Police said that someone in the 2009 Lexus ES 350 called 911 just after 6:30 p.m. to report that the accelerator was stuck. Witnesses said the Lexus was going about 100 mph.

I decided to find a way to ensure that I could stop the engine if this potential happened. The first thing to obviously look for … the coil. Remedy? Install a switch on the incoming wire to the coil and remote it to the cab for access. This would deny power to the coil and shut off the electricity to the spark plugs and stop the engine. In trying to complete this intent I find there is no singular coil, each spark plug has its own coil with numerous wires going to it.

The next option to look for is a way to deprive electricity to the engine. I started the engine and then disconnected the battery cable. The engine ran just fine as the alternator was providing electrical current. Next: look for a mechanical connection form the gas peddle to the carburetor or injectors. There is none. I checked with Toyota to find it is computer controlled.

Toyota and God knows which other manufacturers have violated a cardinal rule in fail safe engineering: “If the computer automated safety design fails, leave something mechanical or manual that can shut it down.” The old style mechanical linkage from the gas peddle to the carburetor or injectors would have eliminated the runaway potential.

My advice for Toyota is to do something simple and easy to install to abort this potential for the vehicle to speed out of control. The power to the electric fuel pump may be the anger. By installing a manual switch to quickly shut off electrical power to the fuel pump would deny gas to the engine in a few seconds. The engine would stop and the vehicle would slowly come to a stop.

Remember the ‘2001 Space Odyssey’ movie? The computer “Hal” took over the spaceship. Has Toyota allowed “Hal” to again full control of the vehicle? So far no one has been able to suggest any other plausible reason for these runaway instances. “Hal” has become real. At the least, he has the ability to traumatize you and, at worst, cause injury and death. We need to hear Toyota has a fix for this problem.

LOUIS BARIBEAU

Sandpoint