Recent comments elsewhere have surprised me with a number of descriptions of strange and unusual vehicle controls of which I was not aware.

It appears that several manufacturers have introduced new "shift patterns" that differ radically from the familiar. Some have gone to complete electrical accelerator, shifting, and braking systems. Some have interlocks that prevent shifting into neutral above certain speeds or that require "unusual" and non-obvious methods to override the interlocks.

It appears that the controls in affected Toyotas are not what most of us are familiar with. The car demonstrated in one of the videos appears to have an electric shifter, as it's difficult to imagine a mechanical linkage with a 1 or 2 inch "throw" giving good control of the transmission. In the video in which the engine was shut down, the driver appears to comment that the brakes disappeared initially, although they later seemed to work. It might be expected that the throttle is entirely electric and controlled by a computer.

If there is one failure in the computer, other systems controlled by it - or by interconnected computer(s) - might be expected to also behave abnormally. Demonstrating that "emergency responses" work in a vehicle that performs normally is not much proof that the same methods would work in the event of a failure that is not well understood.

Opinions are fine; but without knowing the particular vehicle (which may differ a lot from prior year models of the same name) it appears unsafe to criticize either car or driver too severely.

There does appear to be substantial evidence that Toyota has "concealed" reports of malfunctions, and has failed to make required reports to NTHSA.

The "computer systems" in question are reported to be non-maintainable by anyone outside Toyota (as evidenced by there being only ONE laptop in the US capable of even displaying the status of the central computer, and no readout accessible by "authorized service agents."). The computer uses a sytem claimed to be "proprietary" and Toyota refuses to divulge even what programming language(s) are used in it.

Toyota has REFUSED to provide information requested in several prior legal cases where defects were suspected, even to the extent of "credible opinions" as to whether defects may have occured.

Thus far their word can be trusted about as completely as that of recent US DOJ people talking about torture.

(Just an opinion, of course.)

John