Re: Ada and Automotive Industry

[eachus@spectre.mitre.org (Robert I. Eachus)]

In article <yukviawh8tf.fsf@tornado.aem.umn.edu> Ralph Paul <paul@tornado.aem.umn.edu> writes:

  > In defense of Audi, I have to say that the only country in the
  > world where customers had problems with the Audi 5000 was the U.S
  > !  I can't remember anyone in Germany or Europe making a case
  > about the so called faulty automatic gearbox. Since the engine,
  > driveshaft, gearboxes ... are all the same, this problem should
  > have shown up on every Audi 5000.

   In defense of American drivers, I will say that the way the problem
was duplicated in the lab involved shorting between two adjacent pads
on a controller chip.  Some of the chips from failed cars were
determined to have solder droplets of a size to cause the needed short
in the chips, but of course, there was no smoking gun in the form of
finding the droplets shorting the pins.

   Since the engine controller chips were different for US and
European models (due to emission control rules), I think it is
possible that there was one bad lot of chips, and it all went to the
US.

   But to say that the problem involved drivers hitting the gas
instead of the brakes indicates that you haven't seen any of the
"accidents."  It might be possible to "floor it" with the brakes on
and leave that much rubber, but from my experience it takes both feet.
The emergency brake won't do it, and holding both petals with one foot
is not something you do by mistake, especially since they are at
different levels.

   But the most damning case is one where (on video tape) the car is
up against a stone wall, tires spinning madly, and the driver
scrambles out holding the keys.

--

					Robert I. Eachus

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