As reported by Toyota
TORRANCE, Calif. - Today, during a live webcast, Toyota raised serious concerns about the validity, methodology and credibility of a demonstration of alleged “unintended acceleration” in a Toyota Avalon by Professor David Gilbert of Southern Illinois University and depicted in ABC News broadcasts and on-line segments.
A comprehensive analysis conducted by a world renowned engineering group, as well as testing by Toyota, has concluded the following about Professor Gilbert’s demonstration:
• The vehicle’s electronics were rewired and reengineered in multiple ways, in a specific sequence, and under conditions that are virtually impossible to occur in real-world conditions without visible evidence
• Toyota vehicle electronic systems were actively manipulated to mimic a valid full-throttle condition
• Substantially similar results were successfully created in vehicles made by other manufacturers.
In the demonstration dramatized by ABC on February 22, Professor Gilbert, assisted by segment reporter Brian Ross, asserted that he had detected a “dangerous” flaw in the Toyota electronic control system that he alleged could lead to unintended acceleration.
The following day, Professor Gilbert offered a preliminary report of his findings in testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.
Engineers at Exponent, one of the country's leading engineering and scientific consulting firms, as well as Toyota engineers, have reviewed and recreated Gilbert’s demonstration with substantially similar results in representative vehicles of other makes.
Separately, at Toyota’s request, Dr. J. Christian Gerdes, associate professor of mechanical engineering at Stanford University and the director of the Center for Automotive Research at Stanford (CARS), conducted an independent review of Professor Gilbert’s testimony and the preliminary report presented to Congress.
Their findings were demonstrated today at a news conference during which the accelerator circuitry of a Toyota Avalon, as well as a sampling of well-regarded and popular competitive makes, was rewired and manipulated as Gilbert did in his demonstration.
Kristen Tabar, general manager of electronics systems, Toyota Technical Center, summarizes three of the major concerns with the artificial nature of Professor Gilbert’s demonstration.
TORRANCE, Calif. - Today, during a live webcast, Toyota raised serious concerns about the validity, methodology and credibility of a demonstration of alleged “unintended acceleration” in a Toyota Avalon by Professor David Gilbert of Southern Illinois University and depicted in ABC News broadcasts and on-line segments.
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| Dr. Matthew Schwall of Exponent (photo: Toyota) |
A comprehensive analysis conducted by a world renowned engineering group, as well as testing by Toyota, has concluded the following about Professor Gilbert’s demonstration:
• The vehicle’s electronics were rewired and reengineered in multiple ways, in a specific sequence, and under conditions that are virtually impossible to occur in real-world conditions without visible evidence
• Toyota vehicle electronic systems were actively manipulated to mimic a valid full-throttle condition
• Substantially similar results were successfully created in vehicles made by other manufacturers.
In the demonstration dramatized by ABC on February 22, Professor Gilbert, assisted by segment reporter Brian Ross, asserted that he had detected a “dangerous” flaw in the Toyota electronic control system that he alleged could lead to unintended acceleration.
The following day, Professor Gilbert offered a preliminary report of his findings in testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.
Engineers at Exponent, one of the country's leading engineering and scientific consulting firms, as well as Toyota engineers, have reviewed and recreated Gilbert’s demonstration with substantially similar results in representative vehicles of other makes.
Separately, at Toyota’s request, Dr. J. Christian Gerdes, associate professor of mechanical engineering at Stanford University and the director of the Center for Automotive Research at Stanford (CARS), conducted an independent review of Professor Gilbert’s testimony and the preliminary report presented to Congress.
Their findings were demonstrated today at a news conference during which the accelerator circuitry of a Toyota Avalon, as well as a sampling of well-regarded and popular competitive makes, was rewired and manipulated as Gilbert did in his demonstration.
Kristen Tabar, general manager of electronics systems, Toyota Technical Center, summarizes three of the major concerns with the artificial nature of Professor Gilbert’s demonstration.
| |
| Dr. Matthew Schwall of Exponent (photo: Toyota) |