Another flaw in sophisticated electronic vehicle control systems rears its ugly head. Our Lake Jackson auto defect attorneys have been writing about Toyota’s as yet unexplained unintended acceleration problem. So we thought it fair to give equal time to Mercedes’ unintended braking problem. Both problems seem to issue from hard-to-pinpoint defects in the vehicles’ electronic control systems.
We wonder if the Toyota engineers and the Mercedes engineers were to merge the two defective systems, would that cause the unintended acceleration and the unintended braking problems to cancel each other out? (Of course not, but that solution is no more ludicrous than Toyota’s advice to replace the floor mats.)
Our Lake Jackson auto defect attorneys point out that while automakers turn increasingly to electronic computerized control of vehicle systems, we as yet have no federal standards here in the U.S. governing functional safety for automotive electronics. Less than a year ago, the ISO (International Standardization Organization) issued a voluntary functional safety standard (ISO 26262) for electronic systems in mass-produced passenger vehicles.
We emphasize that this is a purely voluntary standard by which automakers are not required to abide in the U.S. It falls to the human driver to act as the failsafe for defective or malfunctioning vehicle electronic control systems. Isn’t that backwards? Weren’t electronic control systems supposed to work the other way around and provide fail-safes against problems to which human drivers couldn’t react quickly or accurately enough?
Victims of the Mercedes sudden unintended braking malfunction have reported that were driving at speed when suddenly the brake began engaging for brief periods, causing their vehicles to “buck” and other vehicles around them to swerve and brake hard to avoid collisions.
The sudden unintended braking problem is attributed to a malfunctioning yaw sensor. The ESC (electronic stability control) system reacts to brief electrical faults in the defective yaw sensor by applying the brake in short bursts (about 0.3 seconds or less) to try and correct the perceived problem. Basically, when the yaw sensor malfunctions, the ESC perceives this as an event where Mercedes is losing traction with the road or leaving its intended course.
So the ESC applies a brake or brakes to try and bring the vehicle back on what it believes was the intended trajectory. The real flaw here is that the Mercedes was not leaving its intended course and the driver had not lost any vehicle control until the defective system tried to “correct” a problem that had not occurred. The alarming defect in the electronic control systems could easily cause a crash by erroneously trying to prevent one.
The problem of Mercedes’ M-class vehicles unintended braking has been presented to the NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation (ODI). But in 2007, it closed a preliminary evaluation of the problem without taking any action. Mercedes had presented a non-public explanation to the ODI that apparently satisfied the agency. And the agency seemed to take the position that since there were no documented crashes and deaths from the problem, it wasn’t a problem worth further attention. (Source: Safety Research & Strategies, Inc., 7/14/2012.) Our Lake Jackson auto defect attorneys mention that in a fatal crash, it would be difficult to document without surviving witnesses that a few split seconds of unintended braking had caused the crash.
Mercedes’ own VP for electrical, electronics, and chassis development cautioned strongly as early as 2004 against overburdening vehicles with electronic functions. And Mercedes did in fact remove about 600 unnecessary functions from vehicles due to quality concerns. Our Lake Jackson auto defect attorneys approve limiting unnecessary electronic functions. Too many electronics distract some drivers, and also limit drivers’ control over their own vehicles.
Federal laws require ESC systems in all new vehicles. And the ESC tie to the yaw sensor in the Mercedes M class seems to be the source of the dangerous unintended braking problem. So the Mercedes unintended braking issue is probably not a safety problem that will be going away any time soon.
Our Lake Jackson auto defect attorneys really can’t decide which is more dangerous: Mercedes’ unintended braking issue or Toyota’s unintended acceleration issue. Both have the potential to catch drivers off guard and cause deadly crashes. Inexperienced drivers particularly might not know how to react to the malfunction in order to save themselves and their vehicles.
If you’re injured because of a vehicle defect or malfunction, you might be eligible to obtain a full financial recovery for the needless harm you’ve suffered from the vehicle’s manufacturer. Contact our experienced Lake Jackson auto defect attorneys for a free consultation to evaluate your case and to learn your legal options for holding the manufacturer accountable for your injuries.