[AT] Can you hear me now?

[Brad Gunnells]

That's the thing, there isn't nearly as much "mechanical" as we're  
used to. The only mechanical part is the way we operate the  
electrical switch.  :-)

I remember the first time I test drove a newer Ford PowerStroke (a  
'99 but wound up buying an '01). It had low miles for the year and  
after driving it I thought maybe it was a lemon and wanted no part of  
it. I wasn't used to the idea that there wasn't anything from my  
right foot connecting under the hood. I'd mash the pedal and it would  
just slowly creep along. I almost wrecked it trying to pull out in  
traffic on the test drive. Then I thought the transmission was  
slipping as the engine speed was pretty high driving down the road.  
(I test drove it on a 25 degree day)

I later figured out with my current truck that the computer won't  
dump a bunch of fuel to it until it has a chance to warm a bit. And  
the transmission and turbo waste-gate also do things to help bring  
the engine up to temp. It was a far different animal to drive than  
what I was expecting at the time as I had an '84 with a 4 speed. That  
truck had a real cable to the injection pump and the only computer  
was the one in my laptop bag.

Of course those computers can do a lot of good things when they  
work.....it's just when they decide not to that makes us all  
grumble.....

Brad

On Feb 4, 2010, at 3:38 PM, Bob McNitt wrote:

> I'm kind of holding my breath, hoping Subaru isn't the next to have
> electronic problems, as I have a Baja. Years ago, I had a Plymouth
> Breeze that I used for business trips since it had great mpg  
> qualities.
> Once I was traveling on an Interstate at about 70mph in cruise and all
> of a sudden the car began to accelerate. I tapped the brake and even
> turned off the cruise, but it kept going faster. I slipped it into
> neutral, coasted to the shoulder and turned it off. On restarting it
> worked fine the rest of the trip. I had the dealer check it out but  
> they
> could find nothing wrong, and it never did that again. Since many  
> of the
> electronics on the car were made in Japan (or maybe Korea), when I
> started hearing about the Toyotas, what happened to me made more  
> sense.
> I suspect it has a lot to do with the electronics (especially when in
> cruise) than a mechanically faulty brake pedal or floor mat.
>
> On 2/4/2010 2:43 PM, David Bruce wrote:
>> Been rather quiet for a day or so.
>>
>> Seems Toyota is having the week from ...
>>
>> First the big recall
>> then the Transportations Secretary plants his foot firmly in mouth -
>> wonder if any of that was driven by the US government owning a lot  
>> of GM
>> and Chrysler?
>> more and more buzz about electronics problems rather than  
>> mechanical for
>> the accelerator issues
>> now a recall for Prius brake problems
>>
>> "Oh what a feeling"
>>
>> David
>> NW NC
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