Apple Co-Founder Says His Toyota Accelerates Unintentionally
By Mehul Srivastava
Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Count Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Wozniak among Toyota Motor Corp. car owners who say their vehicles accelerate unintentionally.
Wozniak’s 2010 Toyota Prius can unintentionally accelerate to as much as 97 miles (156 kilometers) per hour when he uses cruise control to increase his speed, he said in an interview yesterday. Toyota and the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration haven’t responded to his complaints in the past two months on what may be a software-related glitch, he said.
“It’s scary when it happens,” Wozniak, 59, said from San Jose, California. “I’ve had trouble getting both the government safety agency and getting Toyota to listen to me.”
The world’s largest automaker has recalled millions of vehicles globally to fix mechanical flaws in accelerator pedals that could lead to sudden unintended increases in speed. The action led to a halt of U.S. sales and production of eight models and prompted Congress to schedule hearings.
The Japanese carmaker, based in Toyota City, has recalled 5.35 million vehicles, including the 2004-2009 Prius, because of the risk of “floor mat entrapment” of the accelerator pedals, according to Toyota’s Web site. Wozniak’s 2010 model, which has a steering wheel-mounted dynamic radar cruise control, hasn’t been recalled by the company.
“I have never heard of this problem with cruise control on Priuses,” a Toyota spokeswoman, Ririko Takeuchi, said by phone from Tokyo. She said she doesn’t know whether the problem has been reported by anyone other than Wozniak or whether Toyota is investigating.
Cruise Control
While in cruise control, flicking the lever on side of the steering wheel doesn’t always increase the speed of the car in increments as intended, Wozniak said. Instead, the vehicle would sometimes continue accelerating until one steps on the brake, he said.
Believing the issue may be software-related, Wozniak, who owns four Priuses, said he took his car to a dealership, contacted Toyota and called the NHTSA about the issue.
Wozniak said he believes the acceleration may be caused by a software glitch because the unintended increase in speed occurs when his feet are on the floor, he said. Wozniak said he would buy another Prius.
Electronics are “not part of the issue,” Jim Lentz, president of Toyota Motor Sales USA, said during a conference call this week. The company has pinpointed the cause and has an effective solution, he said.
Toyota’s American depository receipts traded in New York fell $2.33, or 2.9 percent, to $77.61 at 3:04 p.m.
Wozniak made the comments after a Web log posted on the CNET News Web site reported he spoke about his Prius’s cruise control at the Discovery Forum 2010 in San Francisco.
“The reason that my case is important and urgent is that it is electronic. I can cause it totally under cruise control without a foot touching the accelerator pedal,” Wozniak said. “Is my software bug also some code that is in the other Priuses and related to the deadly problem?”
Last Updated: February 2, 2010 15:14 EST |
