Prius black box?

I didn't know that automotive systems can provide this much historical data about pressing pedals.

Toyota said testing found that the car's accelerator pedal had no mechanical binding or friction, and the floor mat was not interfering with or touching the pedal.

A self-diagnostic system did show evidence of repeated applications of the accelerator and brake pedals, Toyota said.

"The data from the diagnostics test indicated that the accelerator and the brake had been rapidly pressed, alternately back and forth, 250 times," Mike Michels, vice president of corporate communications for Toyota Motor Sales USA, told a press conference.

In a test, the front brakes were replaced and then purposely overheated by continuous light application and still stopped the car, the company said.

According to Toyota, the Prius has a self-protection system that cuts engine power if the brake pedal is pressed moderately or greater. Tests found that system to be functioning, the carmaker said. The company also said the car's push-button power switch worked normally and shut off the vehicle when pressed for three seconds, and that the shift lever worked normally and allowed neutral to be selected.

The power management computer contained no diagnostic trouble codes, and the dashboard malfunction lights were not activated, Toyota said.

As I recall, the problems with Audi accelerators back in the 80s were later found to be user era. Nevertheless, you couldn't sell an Audi in this country for several years. But Audi didn't have this kind of post-incident information to look at.