On March 3, 2011, NASA presented the findings contained in its study of unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles to the NAS panel of experts tasked with studying this issue for NHTSA. The NASA study attempted to answer the following questions:
- What specific conditions, both internal and external, are necessary for these failure conditions to occur?
- Are those conditions evident in the reported cases?
- What physical or electronic evidence does the failure produce?
- What are the expected ranges in severity?
- Could the failure have any effect on other interfaces, such as braking system?
The NASA study made the following findings:
- NASA detailed analysis and testing did not find evidence that malfunctions in electronic throttle control caused large unintended accelerations, as described by some consumer reports.
- NASA found a way that the electronic throttle control can fail, that combined with driver input, can cause the throttle to jump to 15o open, but consumer reports of this condition is very low and it leaves evidence of occurrence.
- NASA found ways that the electronic throttle control can fail that results in small throttle openings up to 5o.
For a copy of the presentation NASA gave to the NAS panel, click here (Download NASA support to NHTSA - NAS outbrief 03 03 11).
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