If you were in an airplane and some critical part electronically fails AND you're lucky enough to survive, I'm sure you'd be pretty pissed at the airline for improper maintenance. You TRUST your life that the plane is going to work right. Toyota doesn't get a free pass.
In the event the equipment doesn't work, Pilots are supposed to have hours upon hours of ER training and PRACTICE to be able to handle that...I doubt most are taught what to do in situations like this in driver's ed.
Even if you are experienced, it means little if the computer doesn't respond. Some cars won't even LET you turn off the engine while the car is in gear as a failsafe. Neutral might work but there is something fundamentally wrong with the car's computer if the accelerator is out of control. As was said, some cases have reported neutral not working.
Bottom line is it comes down to knowing your car. If your car has anti-lock brakes, if it will allow you to turn it off in gear etc. However, you never know if you'll be in heavy traffic or open road. So blaming the driver is not only incompassionate, but presumptive when you don't know everything he did to stop the car. In this case, he had little time before an intersection.
Most disturbing to me is how Toyota has simply tried to PR over the problem instead of just recalling everything and stopping sales. But no-they want to continue to sell unsafe cars to the public. Lamely blaming it on floor mats, the shape of the pedal, and making commercials claiming the problem is fixed when they don't even know what it is. "We can find no evidence of electronic malfunction". Unless the cars run like trolleys, it's obviously electronic. Toyota will never have my business...not just b/c of this issue, but how they've treated the public like dumbasses.
In the event the equipment doesn't work, Pilots are supposed to have hours upon hours of ER training and PRACTICE to be able to handle that...I doubt most are taught what to do in situations like this in driver's ed.
Even if you are experienced, it means little if the computer doesn't respond. Some cars won't even LET you turn off the engine while the car is in gear as a failsafe. Neutral might work but there is something fundamentally wrong with the car's computer if the accelerator is out of control. As was said, some cases have reported neutral not working.
Bottom line is it comes down to knowing your car. If your car has anti-lock brakes, if it will allow you to turn it off in gear etc. However, you never know if you'll be in heavy traffic or open road. So blaming the driver is not only incompassionate, but presumptive when you don't know everything he did to stop the car. In this case, he had little time before an intersection.
Most disturbing to me is how Toyota has simply tried to PR over the problem instead of just recalling everything and stopping sales. But no-they want to continue to sell unsafe cars to the public. Lamely blaming it on floor mats, the shape of the pedal, and making commercials claiming the problem is fixed when they don't even know what it is. "We can find no evidence of electronic malfunction". Unless the cars run like trolleys, it's obviously electronic. Toyota will never have my business...not just b/c of this issue, but how they've treated the public like dumbasses.