Recent reports of fatal crashes involving Toyota and Toyota-made Lexus vehicles are frightening! The crashes involve the cars accelerating uncontrollably, reaching speeds of 120 MPH, and leaving drivers with no ability to brake! The company’s apologies seem sincere, however they are blaming the acceleration problem on the floor mat causing the accelerator to get stuck. This explanation fails to acknowledge life-threatening defects in the cars’ overall designs, described in this article.
Toyota’s designs have become increasingly computerized, making them more complicated. Many of the high-tech features designed for convenience have proven to be unsafe in emergency situations. The push-button start system is confusing and makes it difficult to turn the car off if it is accelerating out of control. The way the gear selections are arranged is also confusing and makes putting a runaway car into neutral challenging, especially in a high-stress emergency situation. The power-assisted braking system also fails to operate effectively when the car is traveling at full speed.
While removing floor mats is not a bad for a quick fix, Toyota needs to rethink their designs and include foolproof methods to stop an our of control car. The current design is clearly defective and life-threatening to anyone on the road! Aren’t five fatal crashes more than enough to cause Toyota to acknowledge that their product is dangerous?
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