From: Noddy on

"Clocky" <notgonn(a)happen.com> wrote in message
news:4b981fd8$0$8751$c3e8da3(a)news.astraweb.com...

> Which vehicles? I can't say that I have driven a vehicle where the
> drive-by-wire system was obviously appallingly bad so which ones are you
> speaking of?

Ford BF & BG Falcons and all Territory's for a start, and then there's some
others where it's less noticable (but nevertheless noticable just the same).
The Throttle lag on the Fords is bordering on dangerous.

Of course, then there's the massive throttle problems Toyota are having all
over the world, and while it's not exactly clear what the cause is it'd be
fair to presume that it's related to DBW systems.

> As far as electric power steering goes in my experience with different
> manufacturers they have been uber-reliable so once again which vehicles?

Toyota Corolla :)

To date there have been 83 reports of sudden & unexpected steering changes
with Corolla owners in the US, with apparently 10 crashes resulting in 6
injuries according to the report I read in the paper last week. Those
figures might not be exact, and if I'm not correct then I apologise in
advance but I'm sure if you google the subject you'll find what you're
looking for.

--
Regards,
Noddy.


From: Noddy on

"John Tserkezis" <jt(a)techniciansyndrome.org.invalid> wrote in message
news:4b983c08$0$5860$afc38c87(a)news.optusnet.com.au...

> Show me one driver that cares about software updates that fix
> everything, AFTER they've had their crash...

Excellent point :)

> When confidence in a product drops like that, who (well, anyone who
> HASN'T been living under a rock) is going to buy a Priarse now?

Only the completely stupid to the point of sheer bloody mindedness.

I mean, you needed the 8's, 9's and 10's missing out of your deck to buy one
when they *didn't* have issues, but if you bought one *now* the registration
papers should come with a certificate that classifies you as legally insane.

--
Regards,
Noddy.


From: Clocky on
John Tserkezis wrote:
> On 11/03/2010 9:24 AM, Clocky wrote:
>
>> Software updates are released very often in the automotive industry
>> fact for all sorts of fixes.
>
> Show me one driver that cares about software updates that fix
> everything, AFTER they've had their crash...
>

That's my point, the fact that there are plenty of software fixes for all
sorts of issues shows that software bugs are prelevant, including
potentially disasterous ones as it turns out.

> When confidence in a product drops like that, who (well, anyone who
> HASN'T been living under a rock) is going to buy a Priarse now?

I makes you wonder about the reliability of any car when an unforeseen
software bug surfaces and it all goes pearshaped.
Buy a Prius? Never was a consideration here ;-)



From: Clocky on
Noddy wrote:
> "Clocky" <notgonn(a)happen.com> wrote in message
> news:4b981fd8$0$8751$c3e8da3(a)news.astraweb.com...
>
>> Which vehicles? I can't say that I have driven a vehicle where the
>> drive-by-wire system was obviously appallingly bad so which ones are
>> you speaking of?
>
> Ford BF & BG Falcons and all Territory's for a start, and then
> there's some others where it's less noticable (but nevertheless
> noticable just the same). The Throttle lag on the Fords is bordering
> on dangerous.
> Of course, then there's the massive throttle problems Toyota are
> having all over the world, and while it's not exactly clear what the
> cause is it'd be fair to presume that it's related to DBW systems.
>
>> As far as electric power steering goes in my experience with
>> different manufacturers they have been uber-reliable so once again
>> which vehicles?
>
> Toyota Corolla :)
>
> To date there have been 83 reports of sudden & unexpected steering
> changes with Corolla owners in the US, with apparently 10 crashes
> resulting in 6 injuries according to the report I read in the paper
> last week. Those figures might not be exact, and if I'm not correct
> then I apologise in advance but I'm sure if you google the subject
> you'll find what you're looking for.

That's one model by one manufacturer. Hardly a reason to wholesale slam
electronic power steering considering it has been in use by various
manufacturers over many years without any problems ;-)
I wonder how many accidents have occurred due to a power steering belt
snapping or otherwise disabling the hydraulic power steering system?

Now you have to ponder if every Corolla driver in the US is going to claim
their steering/accelerator/whatever fucked up after they have an accident
even if it was their own fault :-/





From: Noddy on

"Clocky" <notgonn(a)happen.com> wrote in message
news:4b985247$0$8830$c3e8da3(a)news.astraweb.com...

> That's one model by one manufacturer. Hardly a reason to wholesale slam
> electronic power steering considering it has been in use by various
> manufacturers over many years without any problems ;-)

Some context is in order here.

It's one model by one manufacturer, sure, but it also happens to be one of
the world's most popular cars made by the world's largest manufacturer who
up until recently had a reputation of outstanding reliability. If *they* can
get it so clearly wrong then the concept ain't foolproof, and it makes you
wonder about the idea being employed by "lesser" brands.

For the record, I'm not "slamming" the idea of electric power steering. I'm
simply stating that compared to hydraulic systems it has far greater
potential for problems and these side effects are the result of nothing
other than cost cutting. I'd also suggest to you that electrically assisted
steering is relatively new, and claiming that it's been in use "over many
years" is stretching things a tad. It might have been around in low numbers
for a while but it's only recently become mainstream and it's still very
early days.

> I wonder how many accidents have occurred due to a power steering belt
> snapping or otherwise disabling the hydraulic power steering system?

How many cars have you ever driven where a loss of hydraulic assistance has
"disabled" the steering? I mean, any number greater than zero would do :)

> Now you have to ponder if every Corolla driver in the US is going to claim
> their steering/accelerator/whatever fucked up after they have an accident
> even if it was their own fault :-/

The report about Corolla steering issues, which appeared in Melbourne's
Herald-Sun, seemed to suggest that the problem related to the steering in
the cars unexpectedly turning of it's own accord and it occured at speed,
with the average speed being something like 48 miles per hour. The general
gist of the story was that it was a "highway use" issue, and it caught a lot
of drivers off guard (as one would expect).

I'm sure there will be those who no doubt plan to exploit Toyota's current
problems and make things seem a lot worse than what they are, but that
doesn't remove the fact the problems are out there and Toyota wouldn't be
recalling hundreds of thousands of vehicles all over the world if they
weren't.

It would seem that the days of Toyota being thought of as a company that
builds bullet-proof reliable cars are well and truly over.

--
Regards,
Noddy.



First  |  Prev  |  Next  |  Last
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Prev: Might make v8s less a snore ?
Next: US headlight control