Yeah, I have heard talks about the Electric Valvetrain But I didnt know anyone actually tried it yet. I wonder if that Benz ever came out in production? I'll have to look into that.

If you think about it, the old Muscle car guys think the Same about our cars....they always say to me "there is too much computer crap in them there modern day cars sonny boy"
Yet every new car has LOADS of computers and Electonics, and they get MORE HP per liter than ever before! And use LESS fuel doing it.

Toyota will figure it out eventually. Nothing ever works 100% right the first time around...the Drive by wire is still fairly NEW.

Just wait till all the cars have BRAKE by WIRE and steer by wire in them.

Not any different than flying a plane really

Jeff99GS said:

Just wait till all the cars have BRAKE by WIRE and steer by wire in them.

Not any different than flying a plane really

Click to expand...

Scary thoughts!

MB SL500 I once drove had electronic braking or whatever they call it. I didn't like that much either. Maybe it's better now.

Wonder if this will make 60 Minutes like Audi did back in the 80's.

Ludachris said:

Wonder if this will make 60 Minutes like Audi did back in the 80's.

Click to expand...

Haa I doubt it. These Toyota Big Wigs got enough Money to keep the 60 minutes guys hush hush.

WIDSM said:

Wow this is pretty shocking. They should get this on dateline or something. How can they say to over 400 people that their floor mates jumped up and stomped on the gas. Completely ridiculous.

Click to expand...

People put the all season floor mats which are about 3/4" thick and very heavy over top of the carpet mat. There for the all season mat is not hooked in the hooks on the carpet that hold it in place, thus letting it slide over the carpet mat and right over top of the gas pedal.

There is a reason the when you purchase the all season mats they have huge warning labels that say remove carpet mats before installation.

Can electronics and DBW fail? Yes. This problem was not a failure, it was caused by misuse of the product.

I don't think misuse of product is the issue. I have seen an Escalade fly by wire system fail, however, the ecm shut down the starting and charging system when it happened. I have also encountered the same problem on Dodge 3500 Ram trucks with the Cummins diesel in it fail also. The Dodge did just as mentioned above. Accelerate to rapid speeds. The dealership here in Springfield tried to say that it was the ignition switch shorting out sending false signals to the ecm. Sad thing is that there are no recalls on this issue but stupid technical service bulletins. It's all non-sense in my opinion.

It's great for new technology being introduced into the market. But I say not with things that can kill someone....

its nice to have all this electronic stuff for some people, but I'm the kind of person that likes things simple. i don't need navigation, 6 disc cd, heated and a/c seats, coffeemakers, ect. sure, its all nice, but as said before, it weighs a lot. no braking + accelerater? I'm not buying that crap. I like the heel-toe thing too much, and I'm just starting to learn it.

to those who said to turn the key off: when you panic like that, it's not usually the first thing to come to mind. not that it would work anyway, for this situation.
be sure to throw away your floormats! those things are dangerous! haha.

Jeff99GS said:

Like the other guys said...WHY do they need to do this drive by wire crap? That is the stupidest Idea ever.

Click to expand...

the_mork said:

Also keep in mind that fly by wire allows the computer to control a lot of extra functions such as traction control and fuel cut much more transparently which makes for a more durable engine and a more pleasant driving experience.

Click to expand...

OBD III (3), -yes three.

It's coming.

Won't it be great when your new car's RF transmitter is able to tell the police it's polluting too much and to write you a fix-it ticket? Or how about allowing someone behind a computer to track your exact route from beginning to end, and identify your driving patterns by days of the week? Or how about when it can report every single instance that you exceeded the posted speed limit or crept through a stop sign?

The capabilities of OBD III that will be given the legal green light by lawmakers are still undecided, but it's quite easy to see how much could be controlled when it's already certain your car's transmitter will send out your coded VIN and report any emissions related failures.

With a drive-by-wire throttle (and/or brake), the OBD III system could theoretically be used to tag your individual car with a speed governor or bring the vehicle to a complete stop if you refuse to do so on your own. It could also be used to limit the rate at which you may be permitted to accelerate, or at what locations you are allowed to accelerate more rapidly.

The good news comes if your car is ever stolen. -GPS anyone?

Scroll to the bottom of this page and read the section labeled "BEYOND OBD II" for more info on OBD III.

That sounds like what they have in Japan. Their cars are governed at certain speeds on certain roads. Yet the limit is lifted if you're at a sanctioned Race Track.

Uhg Im not looking forward to that. I personally feel that is an invasion of privacy and my RIGHTS as a human. Pretty soon they will tell us how to eat and Shit too

Then again, they say we shouldn't have illegally modded cars, yet we do.


Apparantly those programs are easy to hack, so no worries.

Lead box around the RF transmitter ftw!

Jeff99GS said:

Just wait till all the cars have BRAKE by WIRE and steer by wire in them.

Click to expand...

There are already cars that brake automatically and electric assist steering. Only a few lines of code to make it all automatic.

I'm going to start hording megasquirt boxes, slap one of them on any new engine and it'll run just fine. The day when cars become nothing but people transporters is the day I die inside.

You know what will not be funny "on other thoughts it might", that while the car decides to go over 100mph without breaking,there is a cop behind you not knowing you cant do shit to stop it.

By the way I currently own a 97 Expedition and it does the same thing I have set the cruise control a few times and all of a sudden the damn thing wont brake and tries to go on its own. After some research online they do have a recall on the expedition for faulty cruise control

Lofty said:

Then again, they say we shouldn't have illegally modded cars, yet we do.


Apparantly those programs are easy to hack, so no worries.

Click to expand...

Yeah Its NOT that Im woried we can't dissconect all of that shit...but will they let you get plates for it without that system functioning?? Thats the question?

Notice its almost impossible to have a Modded car in Cali...so I doubt if they are just gonna let us get away with hacking the computer to eliminte speed governers...Thats sounds like JAIL time to me.
It can become a federal Mandate...like seat belts and airbags. I mean back in the 1950's seat belts were an option.

As it is MOST cars now have a BLACK BOX recording device that Logs all of you ECU data...plus all GM's have that on star crap that tracks your car and can listen to what you say in the car

Who knows someday they might tell us our DSM's aren't fit for the raod anymore and we have to buy one of these new cars.

Jeff99GS said:

...so I doubt if they are just gonna let us get away with hacking the computer to eliminte speed governers...Thats sounds like JAIL time to me.

Click to expand...

If it gets that bad I hope there is a revolution. I'll do my part.. oh wait they're trying to take my guns. So much for my rights.

I know I will get flamed for this but all those idiots that complained about the cars accelerating and not putting it in neutral are compete tools and should take public transportation from now on.

I agree. Bouncing off rev limiter vs. possible death.

Fly by wire systems were invented for one reason...Emissions. Bottom line, traditionally the engine computer would use inputs from MAP/MAF and throttle position sensors to determine the amount of fuel to output. With fly by wire Systems the computer is proactive in doing this, so instead of the over lap where you mash your foot to the floor and it responds and there is an inaccuracy of fuel mixtures you are running out of the efficiency range. Now fly by wire, you put your foot to the floor, it simultaniously increases throttle opening and amount of fuel to keep the engine burning just the right amount to maintain propper emssions levels.

Of course it has other benifits such as eliminating the need for idle speed control, seperate cruise control module, and torque limitation for traction control.

By the description of that story it sounds like a fault in the Traction control system being as it dissables the brakes as well as throttle control...both of which would be regulated by that in some way.

I think replacing all of those sensors is potentially expensive in the long run. if a sensor goes bad in a multiple sensor car, you can still get home and fix it with an less expensive sensor. this electric throttle thing could malfunction in a way that you can't get the car to run at all. sounds expensive to me.

illeffekt vr-4 said:

I know I will get flamed for this but all those idiots that complained about the cars accelerating and not putting it in neutral are compete tools and should take public transportation from now on.

Click to expand...

Why would you think that would work? The automatic transmission is controlled by the TCU not the shifter itself. Maybe the car will disengage, maybe it would completely ignore the signal from the shifter.
Fact of the matter is, this happened only for a few seconds. By the time it's over the only action taken is after action; "I could have done x. I should have done this"

Jeff99GS said:

I have had Throttle cables stick for me before. My Talon does it every now and again. I'm not sure if it is the cable corroded or the Cruise control...but SOMETING makes it STICK when I go WOT.

If you think about it electronics can be VERY reliable...I just think Yota is doing something wrong.

Im waiting for someone to come out with Electronic Valves! You could open them a lil bit on Idle...then bust em open around 3500 rpms!

Click to expand...

From you profile I see you have a 97...not so sure about the Talons, but on the Eclipse 2G-B (97-99) there is a safety bulletin for changing the grommet that the throttle cable goes through the firewall because of a similar issue. The cable would stick. Not accelerate, but just not come back down. Never got the true "jist" of things. But you might want to check...maybe the dealer will fix it.

I purchased my 98 in NOV 97 and roughly 4-6 months later I was talking to a buddy that worked at the Mitsubishi dealer and he told me to bring the car in for the "fix". I personally never had an issue, but yea, not being able to stop when planned sucks.

laserspeeddemon said:

Why would you think that would work?

Click to expand...

Why wouldn't you try?

You wouldn't think to try.

Have you ever been in a serious accident?
It's hard to think when you're about to die, ask laser, I'm sure he knows about this being in the army and all.
Then you feel even worse after the accident has happened, thinking about what you COULD have done.

laserspeeddemon said:

Why would you think that would work? The automatic transmission is controlled by the TCU not the shifter itself. Maybe the car will disengage, maybe it would completely ignore the signal from the shifter.
Fact of the matter is, this happened only for a few seconds. By the time it's over the only action taken is after action; "I could have done x. I should have done this"

Click to expand...

Its worth a try.

Again you are assuming that you have a full capacity to think under extreme stress. The mind panics, this is designed to give us adrenaline so we can run away quicker with little thought. However in a situation like this, the panic only servers to further make damage.

I guess I think fast then, cause I have shut cars down several times haha. I used to work at this place that Repossessed Cars and auctioned them.
Well, one time I was in a 3000 GT and I floored it. The floor mat jammed the throttle and I was heading towards a parking lot FULL of cars at WOT...PANIC set in and I popped it in neutral and shut the ignition off. I guess It was either that or jump out of a car doing 70 mph haha.

I hope NO one on here would panic to the point where you loose all rational thought.
IMAGINE the Panic and fear the guys had flying BOMBERS over Germany in WWII with Flack flying at them from every angle. You have to remain calm and think clearly or else you're a DEAD MAN. Panic = MISTAKES...and some mistakes could cost you your LIFE.

Now my Girl friend on the other hand would just freak out and cry if the car started getting faster by itself. I'm sure she would let go of the wheel and close her eyes, like the other guy said