Vintage Cars Rock as Hard Drive on Wheels may be Hell on Wheels

March 12th, 2010. By Hunter West

I have a prediction: this whole Toyota mess is going to spawn a re-birth of vintage cars.

 

I have a friend who has a vintage Volkswagen Beetle. An original Veedub. It was made at the original Wolfsburg factory in Germany, has a carburetor and no pollution controls. It coughs, and wheezes. Despite the obvious fact that it’s loads of fun to drive, my pal has had it parked for a few years now due to his attempt to respect the environment—even though legally he can drive it as is—given the fact the car is so old it is grandfathered and is not governed by modern-day pollution control standards. 

He would sit there, at the red light, an obvious Old-World stench belching from the exhaust pipe, cowering under the scorn of other drivers sitting behind the wheels of their gleaming Toyotas that didn’t stink so much. 

So he parked the car. There it sits in the garage, replaced by a more modern vehicle. He’s aware there are others in the vintage car communities who have done the same. They’re driving their vintage cars less, if at all, out of respect for the environment. Besides, newer cars are that much safer. 

Or, are they?

Don’t be surprised if you see more old cars out on the road now. Cars that drive by mechanics, not electronics. The only circuit you’ll find is the battery that connects the starter, the headlights, the horn, the wipers and the radio.

That’s it. Cars according to KISS: ‘keep it simple, stupid…” 

Are cars getting too complicated? 

Toyota has been beleaguered with trouble. We all know that. We’ve all heard about the recall, and the sticky pedals. We’ve all heard that Toyota said it was NOT electronics that were at fault, then say they weren’t sure, and then say again as late as this week that in their view the electronics are fine. It’s sticking pedals and floor mats that are causing unexplained acceleration. 

And yet we hear of reports where Toyota owners have experienced more incidents whereby their recalled cars have sped away seemingly under their own power AFTER the safety repairs were made. This week a guy driving a Prius is lucky to be alive after his car sped up along a California Interstate. He said the pedal stuck and wouldn’t let go. He even tried to pry it free with his hand. It wouldn’t budge. Floor mats were not the issue.

His car wasn’t on the recall list. 

On Wednesday a woman was just heading out of her driveway when her Toyota suddenly lurched forward, sped up and she slammed into a retaining wall across from her property. 

Okay, so is the problem mechanical? Or electronic? Or a combination of both? Do you ever recall a 1964 Impala doing this kind of stuff?

Most agree that cars are getting increasingly complicated. Some say, too much so. Well if that’s you, then you don’t want to ever meet up with the 2010 Lexus HS 250h, manufactured by Toyota. 

More computing power than a moonshot 

Here is a car that can literally drive itself. Roman Mica, a reporter and producer for CNN reviewed Toyota’s latest marvel, calling the Lexus HS 250h a technological ‘tour de force.’ You don’t drive the car any more, he says. Rather, drivers simply make suggestions to the car’s clusters of computers via the steering wheel, brake and gas pedal, and the car does the rest. 

Every aspect of the car is completely controlled by clusters of computers…from acceleration, to braking, to gearshifts, to fuel economy. 

It may look like a car on the outside—with a front grill and windows, door handles and tires. But what you’re really looking at is a hard drive on wheels. 

In the case of the aforementioned Lexus, the car actually has more computing power than what was used to send Man to the moon in the Apollo moonshots. 

In light of the current troubles plaguing Toyota, but technology that’s inherent to most new cars on the road today, does that give you comfort? Or do you find it troubling? 

The Lexus HS 250h has something called dynamic radar cruise control. You can set the car to remain at an exact distance behind the car in front. If the vehicle in front goes faster than you’re comfortable with, the car won’t speed up. In other words, if you set your cruise control at 60pmh, and the car ahead speeds up to 70, the Lexus won’t try to keep pace (or…at least it’s not supposed to). However, if the car ahead brakes suddenly, your Lexus will brake too—on it’s own. Mica says the car will almost come to a complete stop, before the cruise control shuts itself off.

Then there’s the lane assist feature. What’s that, you say? Well, simply switch on the feature and now the Lexus can identify the lane lines to the left, and right. Should the Lexus sense that you’re about to drift over a line, it will steer itself back into the center of the lane. 

The reviewer doesn’t say what happens if you want to change lanes. Can you only change lanes when ‘Lane Keep’ is switched off? What if you forget to switch it off? Will it disengage itself? Or will the car fight you in your attempt to change lanes? Would that result in an accident? 

A few random thoughts… 

Cars have become technological marvels, with more computing power (in this case) than a moonshot. 

Your computer at home, or at work will sometimes hang, or lock for no reason. Or will behave erratically if infected with a virus. 

Launches of the Space Shuttle have been scrubbed because the on-board computers wouldn’t talk to each other. 

The next time you have to re-boot your computer to get it working again, imagine if you were sitting in it going 70 miles per hour down the freeway… 

My friend’s old VeeDub Beetle has no airbags. The gas tank is in the front. It pollutes like hell. 

But it doesn’t have a computer chip in it. 

So which is the safer car?  

Tags: Toyota, toyota recall

This was posted on Friday, March 12th, 2010 at 9:23 am and is filed under Accidents, Automotive, Emerging Issues . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.