Whoa, you can bash NASA all you want, I mean, what good do they ever bring to light? Hmm let's look at a really short list...
Artificial limbs
Baby formula
Cell-phone cameras
Computer mouse
Cordless tools
Ear thermometer
Firefighter gear
Freeze-dried food
Golf clubs
Long-distance communication
Invisible braces
MRI and CAT scans
Memory foam
Safer highways
Solar panels
Shoe insoles
Ski boots
Adjustable smoke detector
Water filters
UV-blocking sunglasses
But anyway, that post had nothing to do with NASA. It appears you did not read the article, here is a little more.
Last month, Toyota hastily settled an Unintended Acceleration lawsuit – hours after an Oklahoma jury determined that the automaker acted with “reckless disregard,” and delivered a $3 million verdict to the plaintiffs – but before the jury could determine punitive damages.
What did the jury hear that constituted such a gross neglect of Toyota’s due care obligations? The testimony of two plaintiff’s experts in software design and the design process gives some eye-popping clues. After reviewing Toyota’s software engineering process and the source code for the 2005 Toyota Camry, both concluded that the system was defective and dangerous, riddled with bugs and gaps in its failsafes that led to the root cause of the crash.
Bookout and Schwarz v. Toyota emanated from a September 2007 UA event that caused a fatal crash. Jean Bookout and her friend and passenger Barbara Schwarz were exiting Interstate Highway 69 in Oklahoma, when she lost throttle control of her 2005 Camry. When the service brakes would not stop her speeding sedan, she threw the parking brake, leaving a 150-foot skid mark from right rear tire, and a 25-foot skid mark from the left. The Camry, however, continued speeding down the ramp and across the road at the bottom, crashing into an embankment. Schwarz died of her injuries; Bookout spent five months recovering from head and back injuries.
Attorney Graham Esdale, of Beasley Allen, who represented the plaintiffs is the first to say that the Bookout verdict – in some measure – rested on those two black skid marks scoring the off- ramp.
“Toyota just couldn’t explain those away,” Esdale said. “The skid marks showed that she was braking.”
The jury was very attentive, despite the technical discussions that dominated the testimony. After the jury learned that the case had been settled, jurors asked Judge Patricia Parrish if they could stay and discuss the trial. A dozen jurors, Judge Parrish, and the plaintiff’s lawyers discussed it. Esdale says that it was obvious from that conversation that the jury was poised to punish Toyota for its conduct and cover-up.
Skid marks notwithstanding, two of the plaintiffs’ software experts, Phillip Koopman, and Michael Barr, provided fascinating insights into the myriad problems with Toyota’s software development process and its source code – possible bit flips, task deaths that would disable the failsafes, memory corruption, single-point failures, inadequate protections against stack overflow and buffer overflow, single-fault containment regions, thousands of global variables. The list of deficiencies in process and product was lengthy.
Now, no machine built by humans is perfect, but having knowledge of devices that I have worked on that go into autos, I was very surprised that a perceived quality company would allow this to happen. Not that they are alone, VW, GM, Daimler, Ford, Honda, etc all have had their demons; although imo few are as terrifying as unintended acceleration. I just find it funny that anybody puts any car maker on a pedestal.
Another nugget of wisdom here that may not be obvious, having a manual transmission is good protection against acceleration issues. Well, at least for now most clutches are still manually actuated (not all though, just most cars that this forum would care to purchase).
-RCC