sudden acceleration in Toyotas is linked to cosmic rays<\/a>. Radiation from space long has affected airplanes and spacecraft, and is known for triggering errors in computer systems, but has received scant attention in the auto industry.<\/p>\nThe questions show how deep regulators and automakers may have to dig to solve the mysteries of sudden acceleration. An anonymous tipster whose complaint prompted regulators to look at the issue said the design of Toyota’s microprocessors, memory chips and software could make them more vulnerable than those of other automakers.<\/p>\n
The phenomenon can trigger software crashes that come and go without a trace. Unlike interference from radio waves, there’s no way to physically block particles; such errors typically have to be prevented by a combination of software and hardware design.<\/p>\n
The tipster told NHTSA last month that “the automotive industry has yet to truly anticipate SEUs (Single Event Upsets).” Such radiation “occurs virtually anywhere,” said William Price, who spent 20 years at the Jet Propulsion Lab testing for radiation effects on electronics. “It doesn’t happen in a certain locale, like you would expect in an electromagnetic problem from a radio tower or something else.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
While this has no direct connection to 2012 itself, it does highlight how easily we are able to forget the extraordinary forces of cosmic rays, which are zapping through each of us right now, which account for 50% of current rates of genetic mutations, and an increase of which could be a tragedy for life on Earth.
\nIt may sound far-fetched, but federal regulators are studying whether sudden acceleration in Toyotas is linked to cosmic rays. Radiation from space long has affected airplanes and spacecraft, and is known for triggering errors in computer systems, but has received scant attention in the auto industry.
\nThe questions show how deep regulators and automakers may have to dig to solve the mysteries of sudden acceleration. An anonymous tipster whose complaint prompted regulators to look at the issue said the design of Toyota’s microprocessors, memory chips and software could make them more vulnerable than those of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cosmic-rays"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/survive2012.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/survive2012.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/survive2012.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/survive2012.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/survive2012.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/survive2012.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/survive2012.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/survive2012.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/survive2012.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}