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08.10

By IEEE-USA Staff

Mounting reports of sudden, unintended vehicle acceleration, most recently involving Ford and Toyota, have generated national media attention and attracted congressional scrutiny. One of the questions emerging from this exposure is the adequacy of the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration's (NHTSA) technical capabilities.

NHTSA, which operates under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Transportation, was created by the Highway Safety Act of 1970, as the successor to the National Highway Safety Bureau. Its mission is to promote auto safety, which includes a broad mandate to reduce deaths, injuries and economic losses resulting from motor vehicle crashes. This is accomplished through safety performance standards, by grants to state and local governments to support local highway safety programs, and through programs to promote safe driving practices such as use of safety belts and child safety seats. NHTSA is also responsible for investigating safety defects.

Underlying the current acceleration issue is that modern automobiles are much more technologically complex than even their predecessors of a few years ago. Electronic systems have supplemented or replaced many mechanical systems essential for vehicular operation.

In addition to the electronics, software is also an increasingly important component of automotive systems. IEEE Spectrum (“This Car Runs on Code,” February 2009) noted that a premium-class automobile “probably contains close to 100 million lines of software code,” and “all that software executes on 70 to 100 microprocessor-based electronic control units networked throughout the body of your car.” By comparison, Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner “requires about 6.5 million lines of code to operate its avionics and onboard support systems.”

In February, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation held its initial hearing to explore the "Response by Toyota and NHTSA to Incidents of Sudden Unintended Acceleration.” Testifying at the hearing, Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood indicated that "some consumers and others believe that Toyota’s electronic throttle control systems, and perhaps such systems in other manufacturer’s vehicles, are susceptible to electro-magnetic interference (EMI) that can theoretically cause unintended acceleration by resulting in incorrect signals to the engine. These types of electronic systems are commonly used in all major vehicle manufacturers. To date, we have not identified any particular crash or unsafe occurrence that can clearly be attributed to such phenomenon.”

However, LaHood added “to be absolutely sure that the agency is aware of all potential defects, NHTSA is conducting a review of the general subject of possible EMI effects on ETC system.” He also qualified the work, noting that it would be a review of the technological issue and not a specific defect investigation.

In a follow-up letter to LaHood, House Energy and Commerce Committee chair Henry Waxman thanked NHTSA for its cooperation with the committee’s oversight hearings into Toyota’s sudden acceleration issues, but then expressed concern that “NHTSA officials told the Committee staff that the agency does not employ any electrical engineers or software engineers. As a result, NHTSA appears to lack the technical expertise necessary to analyze whether incidents of sudden unintended acceleration are caused by defects in the cars' electronic systems.”

Although NHTSA subsequently assured Rep. Waxman that they had access to technical expertise, and Secretary LaHood amended DOT’s testimony to clarify that NHTSA had two electrical engineers on staff, the issue of NHTSA’s technical capabilities continued to draw scrutiny and pressure from Capitol Hill.

In March, DOT announced that the National Research Council (NRC) and its Transportation Research Board had been tasked to form a “Committee on Electronic Vehicle Controls and Unintended Acceleration.” The project began on 26 March, with a projected 15-month review leading to a final report.

It was also announced that NHTSA had enlisted NASA engineers with expertise in computer-controlled systems, electromagnetic interference and software reliability to help support their ongoing investigation into the Toyota unintended vehicle acceleration issue.

In April, IEEE-USA sent a letter to Secretary Lahood stating that two electrical engineers was “still inadequate to allow the agency to perform the vital task of ensuring vehicle safety.” IEEE-USA recommended that NHTSA increase the number of electrical, electronics, computer and software engineers within NHTSA.

NHTSA responded in May, indicating plans to hire a “large number of engineers in direct response to increased activities of the agency,” and solicited IEEE-USA’s help in raising awareness of these job opportunities.

The membership of NRC’s Committee on Electronic Vehicle Controls was announced on 9 June, and their first meeting held on 30 June - 1 July in Washington, D.C.

In 20 May testimony to the House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, NHTSA Administrator David Strickland described plans to engage the NRC. He noted “this group will study the broad subject of unintended acceleration and electronic control systems across the automotive industry. They will look at subjects such as electronic vehicle control systems’ design and reliability (including hardware and software issues), electromagnetic compatibility and electromagnetic interference, existing relevant design and testing standards, human factors and the possibility of human error, and mechanical failure. The panel will make recommendations to NHTSA on research, rulemaking, and enforcement activities and the personnel, infrastructure, and financial resources required for NHTSA to help ensure the future safety of ETC systems and other electronic vehicle control functions.”

The NRC panel is chaired by Dr. Louis Lanzerotti, long-time Bell Labs physicist who is currently a distinguished research professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. The original panel contained several members with electronics and computer background:

• Dr. Dennis Bley, a nuclear and electrical engineering consultant

• Dr. Daniel Dvorak, a systems and software engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory

• Deepak Goel, president of the automotive electronic business TechuServe LLC

•  IEEE Fellow Dr. Linos Jacovides of the Delphi Research Laboratory and former EE Department Head for General Motors R&D

• Daniel Jackson, a professor of computer science at MIT

• IEEE Senior Member Michael Oliver, who is an electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) expert and Vice President for Electrical/EMC Engineering at MAJR Products Corp.

• Dennis F. Wilkie, retired Motorola Senior Vice President and electrical engineer with a background in automated transportation systems

On 23 July, the National Research Council announced that it had added four new members to the panel with backgrounds in economics, mechanical and industrial engineering, along with IEEE Fellow Dr. William A. Radasky, founder of Metatech Corporation and an expert in electromagnetic environmental effects.

During the same time frame, Toyota Corporation put together its own seven-member panel, chaired by former Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater and including engineering notables Norm Augustine, retired CEO of Martin Marietta, and Mary Good, former Under Secretary of Commerce for Technology and engineering dean at the University of Arkansas. Toyota also retained engineering and scientific consulting firm Exponent to conduct additional testing and analysis of its ETCS-i systems.

Spokespersons for consumer advocacy groups such as Public Citizen and the Center for Auto Safety criticized both the NRC and Toyota panels. Several NRC committee members, including two electrical engineers were alleged to have conflicts of interest due to their previous experience in the automotive industry.

Former U.S. transportation chief Rodney E. Slater, who chairs Toyota's panel, defended his appointments in a Washington Post interview, saying he wanted people with experience on similar panels and broad knowledge about automotive technology.

"I was looking for people who have the ability to reach out to other experts and reserve judgment," Slater said. "I'm proud of this panel. They have a wealth of experience, and we will be seeking out electronics experts and other experts during the course of our work."

The NRC also responded by officially disclosing the conflicts, which National Academies’ Transportation Research Board director Stephen R. Godwin characterized to the Washington Post as “unavoidable.” He explained “You have to understand how the industry operates, and the committee needs to know what questions to ask.” One panel member, former NHTSA administrator Nicole Nason, was also removed.

The renewed debate prompted IEEE-USA President Evelyn Hirt to issue a press statement in July noting that “the skilled engineers and technical professionals who design and evaluate modern vehicle systems bring not only knowledge and expertise from their specific disciplines, but also their experience and lessons learned from integrating technology into these vehicles.”

Hirt added, “It goes beyond just having experience in a technology to understanding the complexity and application of that technology in its specific operating environment. This is frequently what is needed to assess why systems sometimes fail.”

The media frenzy was stirred again in late July as the Wall Street Journal cited an unnamed source claiming that NHSTA had completed its review of Toyota acceleration incident claims and found no evidence of electronic causes. The Transportation Department released a statement to ABC News indicating that "NHTSA did not provide any information about its ongoing investigation to WSJ for its story last week. Engineers at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are continuing to investigate the possible causes of sudden acceleration, along with the National Academy of Sciences and NASA [National Aeronautics & Space Administration]. We have drawn no conclusions and released no data."

A week later, the Wall Street Journal released a follow-up story featuring recent NHTSA retiree George Person, who suggested that NHTSA’s final report was being held up by Transportation Secretary LaHood. According to Person, NHTSA looked at 40 sudden acceleration claims, and found evidence of acceleration in 23 cases. In all 23 cases, the vehicle’s electronic recorders allegedly confirmed that the car’s throttle was wide open, but that brakes were not depressed at the moment of impact, suggesting that drivers may have mistakenly stepped on the gas pedal instead of the brake.

As that drama unfolds in the press, work continues on the NRC and Slater/DOT reviews, for which final reports are scheduled next year.

Comments may be submitted to todaysengineer@ieee.org.