But the media never learns, and if they don’t, why should the government? So the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is proposing a rule that would require all auto designs to include “override” systems which shut off the accelerator if the brake is pressed. This will have no effect at all on typical “sudden acceleration” accidents, which arise from drivers’ hitting the wrong pedal, since those drivers already imagine themselves to be hitting the brake. They will have little if any effect on the extremely rare floor mat entrapment cases in which an accelerator gets trapped in the depressed position, because drivers can already overcome such acceleration by pressing the brake pedal if it is available, while if it is not available because of mats or other obstructions, the efficacy of the override may fall short of what is hoped.

But at least the government will be able to say that it did something.

I did find it interesting in the Washington Post account that Ditlow seems for the moment to have joined the rest of us in agreeing that pedal misapplication is the big cause of these accidents, the better to afford him a vantage point to criticize NHTSA for Not Doing Enough on that front. That’s quite a change from what you hear from him at the height of these panics, when he tends to talk up every possible cause of unwanted acceleration other than driver error. When the next sudden-acceleration panic breaks out, I fully expect CAS to be back pitching the electronics theories again.

P.S. Plaintiff’s lawyer and longtime Overlawyered favorite Steve Berman asserts that there have been “thousands of crashes, hundreds of deaths,” a claim the National Law Journal’s Amanda Bronstad relays without skeptical comment.

NHTSA to mandate accelerator overrides is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

March 5 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

A baffling award for ABC’s Toyota scaremongering is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

May 31 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

April 6 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

P.S. Also, welcome listeners from Richmond, Va.’s WRVA, which had me on to discuss these issues this morning. And a retrospective on the Toyota scare from The Truth About Cars’ Edward Niedermeyer.

Why Toyota stock rose after yesterday’s recall is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

More: Jalopnik, Coyote, Marc Hodak, Rick Woldenberg/AmendTheCPSIA, Dan Fisher/Forbes, Dan Bigman/Forbes (LaHood: “no defect, but we’ll regulate the industry anyway”); Carter Wood/ShopFloor and more, Ted Frank/PoL (class action over loss of resale value continues), New York Times, Leonard Evans/AOL. My March 2010 National Review piece “Exorcising Toyota’s Demons” is here. And welcome readers from Instapundit, Charlie Martin/PJ Tatler, Pejman Yousefzadeh, Roger Donway/Atlas Society, Ira Stoll/Future of Capitalism.

NHTSA: no electronic flaws in Toyotas is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Toyota theories shift is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

• You mean cigarettes were dangerous? “Florida jury awards $80M to daughter in anti-smoking case” [AP]
• “Acne drug not found to increase suicide risk” [BBC, earlier on Accutane here, here, etc.]
• “Man hit by jar of exploding fruit says $150,000 award isn’t enough” [Detroit News via Obscure Store]
• Chicago accident coverage exemplifies Toyota acceleration hysteria [Fumento/CEI] NHTSA-NRC panel findings on subject [PoL]
• Strict product liability is in decline, according to Prof. David Owen [Abnormal Use]
• More questions raised on $500 million Nevada hepatitis verdict [PoL]
• Notwithstanding chatter in press about toxic cosmetics, study finds cosmetologists have below-average cancer rates [David Oliver]
• Florida juries repeatedly hold Ford liable for millions when drivers fall asleep [five years ago on Overlawyered]

November 22 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Allstate advances “Toyota sudden acceleration” narrative is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system