But it’s also interesting that Toyota suddenly displays this amazing ability to retrieve information from the engine computer when needed to cover its corporate behind … whereas similar data hasn’t been available in other alleged cases of sudden acceleration.
Actually it is not that amazing. Most cars that have OBD-II compliant computers can tattletale on you. There was a court case, don’t know the date, covering whether use of that data in a court w/o permission of the car owner could be considered violation of 5th amendment; specifically “nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself“.
If the car is burnt to the point that the ECU is toast, it is not likely that any info will be retrieved since it is stored within the ECU.
In terms of the acceleration due to the floor mat, the ECU would register that the gas pedal was all the way to the floor at the same time that brakes were applied. This is why the suggestion that it might be useful to cut the engine power when brakes are applied on cars with drive-by-wire.
