Re: Ada and Automotive Industry

[jsa@alexandria (Jon S Anthony)]

In article <EACHUS.96Nov25153939@spectre.mitre.org> eachus@spectre.mitre.org (Robert I. Eachus) writes:

> 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

There is no defense of American drivers, :-)


> was duplicated in the lab involved shorting between two adjacent pads
> on a controller chip.  Some of the chips from failed cars were

Irrelevant.  As I have pointed out, if you use the brakes the engine
can't move the car as the brakes have far more power than the total
rated output of the engine.


>    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.

Doesn't matter.


>    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." 

Certainly have and that is pretty much _exactly_ what happened.  The
final NTSB reports indicated similar.


> 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 that is part of the point: The 5000's pedal layout is typically
"European" in that it was _intentionally_ setup up for "heel and toe"
driving.  Even in an automatic this can be useful (trail braking and
such).  In such a setup, 1) the pedals are "close" together and 2)
when the brake starts to be engaged it drops to just the point where
the throttle will start to engage (if you are over a bit).  _That's_
the point!  But for someone used to land yahts whose pedals span the
entire foot well, it's not hard to see how they might get all messed
up.  And they did.

 
>    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.

So here you are claiming that absolutely everything in the ignition
system failed.  Right.

/Jon

-- 
Jon Anthony
Organon Motives, Inc.
Belmont, MA 02178
617.484.3383
jsa@organon.com