[SystemSafety] Yet another supposedly-runaway car (is it lack of adequate training?)

[Chuck_Petras at selinc.com]

> And why is it happening now, and not (say) twenty years ago?

Probably the number one cause is lack of adequate training.

Years ago when I started driving autos were much more unreliable (so one 
expected things to fail).  I had a '72 Lincoln that had the cruse control 
disengage switch on the brake petal fail, which created the interesting 
situation of coming up to a line of stopped cars at a high rate of speed. 
The correct response was to stand on the brake and fumble around to turn 
the cruse off - so tragedy averted.  If this happened in my wife's '12 
Jetta -- where everything seems to be soft switches -- what the outcome 
would be?

Here's a recent headline *Ford Escape, Fusion get software fix* <
http://www.autoweek.com/article/20121211/CARNEWS/121219975>.  As much as I 
am in awe of the exhaustive testing that the automotive companies perform, 
the complexity of the systems guarantees defects.


Chuck Petras, PE**
Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc
Pullman, WA  99163  USA
http://www.selinc.com
Tel: +1.509.332.1890
Cel: +1.509.991.0613

SEL Synchrophasors - A New View of the Power System <
https://www.selinc.com/synchrophasors/>

Making Electric Power Safer, More Reliable, and More Economical (R)

** Registered in Oregon.




From:   Peter Bernard Ladkin <ladkin at rvs.uni-bielefeld.de>
To:     "systemsafety at techfak.uni-bielefeld.de" 
<systemsafety at techfak.uni-bielefeld.de>, 
Date:   03/07/2013 02:25 AM
Subject:        [SystemSafety] Yet another supposedly-runaway car
Sent by:        systemsafety-bounces at techfak.uni-bielefeld.de



Here we are again.

 From today's Risks Forum Digest 27.18:

> Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2013 10:03:59 PST
> From: "Peter G. Neumann" <neumann at csl.sri.com>
> Subject: Hyundai controller failure?
>
> ... allegedly causes high speed chase/crash:
>
> 
http://www.autoblog.com/2013/02/22/hyundai-elantras-alleged-unintended-acceleration-sends-teen-po/#continued

>

It is hard for me to believe that these things continue happening and are 
unresolved. So what and 
where are the resolutions? They can't all be due to Toyota car mats 
getting stuck.

Are they due, perhaps, to people becoming "frozen" (a phenomenon 
well-known to flight instructors) 
and not being able to apply brakes or turn off engines?

And why is it happening now, and not (say) twenty years ago?

PBL

-- 
Prof. Peter Bernard Ladkin, Faculty of Technology, University of 
Bielefeld, 33594 Bielefeld, Germany
Tel+msg +49 (0)521 880 7319  www.rvs.uni-bielefeld.de




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