WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- NASA engineers, after a 10-month, $1.5 million study, determined electronics were not the cause of unintended acceleration of Toyota vehicles, officials said.
"We enlisted the best and brightest engineers to study Toyota's electronics systems, and the verdict is in. There is no electronic-based cause for unintended high-speed acceleration in Toyotas," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood in a release Tuesday.
The federal watchdog National Highway Traffic Safety Administration commissioned the study by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration at the request of Congress last spring, after Toyota initiated recalls of nearly 8 million vehicles in the United States blaming floor mats and "sticking" accelerator pedals.
Toyota paid nearly $33 million in civil penalties for not notifying NHTSA of the potential defects in a timely manner.
NASA engineers with expertise in computer controlled electronic systems, electromagnetic interference and software evaluated the circuitry in Toyota vehicles and analyzed more than 280,000 lines of software code for potential problems, NHTSA said.
"NASA found no evidence that a malfunction in electronics caused large unintended accelerations," said Michael Kirsch, principal engineer at the NASA Engineering and Safety Center.
I don't know about you, but at this point I grab me a massive chunk of crow and commence to chow down. I guess it was the STUPID AMERICAN DRIVERS after all. I hope that Toyota and the Empire of Japan can find it in their hearts to forgive my obvious and blatant ignorance. What a fool I was to have ever doubted the superior craftsmanship of the World's Greatest Car Company. If I were them, I would most distinctly ask for my $33 million back. May I say as an American taxpayer that Toyota should be given its money back along with an apology. Oddly, there was a little bit more to this story...
NHTSA said, despite the report's findings of no electronic flaws, it was considering proposing rules this year to require brake override systems, to standardize operation of keyless ignition systems and to require installation of event data recorders in all passenger vehicles.
And now I am freaking mystified. If NASA gave them a clean bill of health, why are we going along with mandating the fix on a drive by wire problem that does not exist? Although Hil-Gle's heart felt, emphatic and sincere admission of error remains in force, we reserve the right to spit out the crow if all this turns out to be a snow job.
Not so snowjobby and rather straightforward is our update on True Story, True Confessions, Best of Secrets and Dorchester Publishing's other fine pulp magazines. In this case the news is solid and somewhat uplifting...
THE PULP ERA IS NOT OVER.
True Story, True Confessions, Best of Secrets and the other magazines are still being published. And they are still being published by Dorchester. Now it took me two calls to find that out. The people in the book department were not too sure. Another person on another call set me straight. As for the magazines' omission on the website, it was an oversight. The website will eventually mention the magazines.
You know, if I had a group of magazines with an average monthly paid circulation of 2 million copies, I would give each of them their own website. But that's just me.
For some time I have not been sure exactly what it is Dorchester calls itself. Is it Dorchester Publishing or Dorchester Media? As it turns out, Dorchester doesn't know, either. The firm used both names on the phone.
Next: A Public Service Infotainment Fiction Offering
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