It was a floor mat problem. Little thing. It was a sticky accelerator. Still small. It happens, it’s fixable, it goes away. Then Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computer has the problem with a new Prius, and pronounces it a software problem.
Now it’s getting to be not so small. Not because of Wozniak, but because today’s automobiles are controlled by computer. The accelerator is no longer connected directly to a mechanical gizmo that controls fuel flow, but electronically to a computer that controls the fuel and air constantly. And the computer controls your brakes.
So now, whether you drive a Toyota, a Ford, or a luxury car, your car’s going – and stopping – is controlled by a computer.
That means every little thing has become a big thing when it comes to our automobiles. Tinkerers used to be able to lift the hood, tinker for a moment, and have one of those small things fixed. Or an offending floor mat could have been, and still can, be fixed instantly, tinkerer or not. Just take the floppy offender out and trash it.
But lifting the hood today reveals nothing that the average person can understand. To get anything fixed that controls your transportation machine, you have to take it to somebody who can connect his computer to your computer.
Which is why it’s hard to imagine how Toyota could have thought this whole thing was a small thing. Is it the reverse of “too big to fail”? Like the bigger they are the harder they fall? Or is it a case of the bigger they get, the harder small things are to see?
Maybe. Until they grow large enough to stumble over. And fall hard. Come to think of it, that can happen even if we just think we’re too big to fail… or fall.
