DetNews.com Acceleration test rigged, Toyota says
http://detnews.com/article/20100309/AUTO01/3090377/Acceleration-test-rigged--Toyota-says
Provides a review of the press conference held by Toyota in an effort to debunk statements made by Professor David Gilbert during U.S. House committee holding hearings that he had discovered an electronic flaw in the acceleration system of Toyota.
Quotes from the story:
The engineers said Professor David Gilbert of Southern Illinois University had rewired the circuitry in a way that would cause uncontrolled acceleration not only in Toyota vehicles but in all the cars they tested. "Any circuit can be taken and re-engineered and rewired to perform what it is you want it to do," said Matthew Schwall, an engineer at Menlo Park, Calif.-based Exponent, a firm retained by Toyota to examine its vehicles.
Chris Gerdes, a professor of mechanical engineering at Stanford University, said he spoke with Gilbert, who confirmed that he had stripped insulation from wires connecting the pedal to the throttle and connected wires that were normally too far apart to touch in his experiment.
"Dr. Gilbert's demonstration is not evidence of a design flaw or a safety risk," Gerdes said at the news conference webcast from Torrance, Calif. "Dr. Gilbert provides no evidence that his scenario occurs in the real world."
