

2-second video causes headache for ABC News - jackfoxy
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100311/D9ECD86O0.html

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hga
In looking for a reference to NBC's rigging of a GM pickup for a fiery crash
test ("the hidden rockets, the over-filled tank, the loose gas cap") I came
across this in an author's archive:
<http://www.walterolson.com/articles/crashtests.html>

Network malfeasance in car safety reporting would seem to go back at least to
the '70s:

" _The tank with its attached hose was apparently sitting right on the front
passenger seat of the doctored Audi, but the 60 Minutes cameras managed not to
pick it up. It might have been for the same reason the Jeep weights were
tucked away in the wheel wells, rather than being placed visibly on top. Or
why the Dateline rockets were strapped out of sight underneath the truck
rather than conspicuously on its side, and were detonated by remote control
rather than by a visible wire. Doing it otherwise would only have gotten
viewers confused._ "

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morisy
I was rather shocked when some of my friends went to go work with the big
networks about what's staged and what's real. It's not an uncommon, for
example, to interview someone with the camera on them 100% of the time, and
then the interviewer re-asks the questions after the person leaves. Almost any
ethical journalist will try to make sure those questions are exactly the same,
but with so much in intonation, pacing, and more, it struck me as
fundamentally altering the tone if not the substance story, even when the
intentions of all involved were the best.

Tachometergate just takes it up a few RPM.

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mhb
Editorial by investigator of Audi brake "problems" asserting that Toyota
issues are likely driver error:

[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/opinion/11schmidt.html?th&...](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/opinion/11schmidt.html?th&emc=th)

~~~
xsmasher
I could accept that explanation for short "hops," but some of the Toyota
incidents lasted for minutes/miles - surely that's long enough to realize
you're on the wrong pedal?

Unfamiliarity may explain why some drivers were unable to switch off the car,
though. I would not have known how myself. CHP Officer Mark Saylor was driving
a rental car and might not have been familiar with the system either.

~~~
hga
Yes, I remember reading that the "off" button in the rental car required
depressing for 3 full seconds and evidently didn't have logic to recognize
e.g. several quick presses in succession.

In general, if there are indeed flaws in whatever in these Toyotas and not all
these incidents are operator error, there has been a serious failure in human
factors design. E.g. Toyota is now programming the system so that pressing the
breaks will disengage the throttle.

Of course, any one of a number of problems might pay no attention to the off
button and so on of an excessively "fly by wire: design.

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ascuttlefish
I wonder if anyone actually thought they were looking at a tachometer in a
Toyota with a jammed accelerator as the car and its occupants, convenient
videographer and all, hurtled toward an uncertain fate... unlikely in my
estimation.

I always assume that the junk I see on TV is either staged or a representative
example.

~~~
goatforce5
A very respectable news program once made a story about my mum who was meeting
one of her journalists for the first time, just after he'd been released from
jail.

It took them over 30 minutes and at least 12 shots to film their first
meeting, where he walked up some stairs and they shook hands.

The forgot to mention they'd actually met for the first time the night before
and stayed at our house.

~~~
lotharbot
A very respectable news anchor in the US aired some memos supposedly written
by a presidential candidate's superior officer in the 1970s. Upon
investigation, it was discovered the memos were written in Microsoft Word
using the default settings, and probably run through a fax machine or copier a
few times to make them look "old". They were most definitely not typed on a
1970s era typewriter.

Once this was pointed out, it took the aforementioned newsman a week before he
was forced to conclude the memos were inauthentic. The exact statement used
was "fake but accurate".

The "fake but accurate" standard for journalism is problematic. Either show us
the real thing, or describe to us the real thing and explain why you can't
show it. Trying to slide by with carefully staged shots ends up looking really
bad, and costs the organizations a ton of credibility.

~~~
ars
I though all they had to do was write "recreation" or "dramatization" in a
little note at the bottom of the picture.

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justinsb
I totally don't understand Toyota now. Why are they complaining about this,
drawing attention to the problem? ABC comes back and says "yes, we had to fake
the shot, because when the accelerator is jammed down the car starts to shake
dramatically and it's so terrifying that we couldn't get a good camera shot".
PR fail.

Why aren't Toyota simply saying 'if a Toyota - or any other make of car -
accelerates as if the accelerator was jammed, you can simply stop it with the
brakes, or by putting the car into neutral, or by turning the key in the
ignition'?

I wrote a blog post about this the other day:
<http://justinsb.posterous.com/what-is-toyota-doing>

~~~
xsmasher
Saying "these are the steps" might be seen as admission that the problem is
widespread or likely to affect you.

By the way, if there really is a software problem (which Toyota has denied so
far) then your steps will not help. The key is a button, and the brakes and
the shifter are just inputs to the computer. Your steps would help if it's
just the floor mats or a malfunctioning accelerator switch.

~~~
justinsb
Thanks for providing a possible explanation. A recall is also an admission
that the problem is widespread, so I think that horse has bolted, but it's
possibly the reason Toyota are behaving so oddly (at least in my world view).

If it is a software problem, it's certainly possible that e.g. the brake pedal
might not work. I think it's likely that one of the three would work, because
the code is likely to be broken into modules, and I think it unlikely that all
3 modules would be affected by one bug. Anyway, what's the harm in telling
people to try the 3 step process? Right now, people think they're doomed if
their car accelerates - I'm thinking that some people are panicking because of
this and making bad situations a lot worse.

Take the case of the Prius driver in California the other day: he called 911,
a police car was dispatched, to tell him exactly the same steps through a
megaphone, and - sure enough - the car stopped. Why not tell people in advance
so they don't have to make a cellphone call at 90mph?

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lsc
is there any evidence at all that this is any different from the 60 minutes
hatchet job on audi in the '80s?

