Toyota Unintended Acceleration and the Big Bowl of "Spaghetti" Code (2013)
5 comments
·December 8, 2025supahfly_remix
Does anyone know where one could obtain the firmware for this? It might be interesting to reverse engineer.
gnabgib
Popular in 2015:
(96 points, 106 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10437117
(152 points, 145 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9643204
LanceH
Ah yes, where Toyota was found guilty of not being a US company.
The only thing they did in the recall was the same floor mat anchor as so many other cases.
"NASA engineers found no electronic flaws in Toyota vehicles capable of producing the large throttle openings required to create dangerous high-speed unintended acceleration incidents. The two mechanical safety defects identified by NHTSA more than a year ago – “sticking” accelerator pedals and a design flaw that enabled accelerator pedals to become trapped by floor mats – remain the only known causes for these kinds of unsafe unintended acceleration incidents. Toyota has recalled nearly 8 million vehicles in the United States for these two defects." -- transportation.gov
Cosmic rays and other wild theories over the simple theory of driver error. Even with a stuck throttle, the brakes will still stop a car (not to mention shifting into neutral still works).
Denatonium
Not to mention that in an emergency, you can always turn the key to kill the engine, and then put it back into pre-igntion (to unlock the steering column). You won't have power-assisted braking or power-steering, but with a bit of adrenaline-fueled strength, it is definitely preferable to being in a car that is stuck accelerating.
Safety Research Systems, the author of TFA, is a for-profit company whose income is based on lawsuits.
Make of that what you will.