In 2020, Resolve To Ask “Why?”
Bryce HoffmanContributor Leadership StrategyI write about strategy, leadership and red teaming
Back in the 1980s, a German theoretical psychologist named Dietrich Dörner conducted a fascinating series of experiments that offered amazing insights into the differences between good decision makers and bad ones.
He and his team used computers to create simulations of complex, interconnected systems ranging from small towns to African countries. Each of these systems was beset with a host of problems that threatened their very survival – everything from high infant mortality rates and drought to underperforming schools and stagnant industries. Then Dörner gave his research subjects dictatorial powers over those systems and challenged them so solve their underlying problems. It was like an early version of SimCity, albeit much darker and more complex.
Toyota Recalls 2.9 Million Cars for Faulty Airbag Sensor
In certain types of crashes, airbags in the Avalon, Corolla, and Matrix could fail to deploy
By Keith Barry January 22, 2020
Toyota is recalling millions of vehicles for airbags that might not deploy in certain kinds of crashes.
The recalled vehicles include approximately 2.9 million 2011 through 2019 Corolla sedans, 2011 through 2013 Matrix hatchbacks, 2012 through 2018 Avalon sedans, and 2013 through 2018 Avalon Hybrid sedans.
The problem involves airbag control units, which may fail to interpret or receive the correct signals from crash sensors and fail to deploy airbags and tighten seatbelts in a crash. Toyota says this problem is more likely to happen during certain types of crashes, including underride crashes, in which the front of a vehicle wedges beneath the rear of another vehicle.
A Toyota spokesperson would not confirm or deny whether there have been any crashes or fatalities due to this issue. However, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Defects Investigation has identified two “substantial frontal crash events,” including one fatality, involving Toyota Corolla sedans that may be related to the recall condition.
This announcement follows a NHTSA investigation into the airbag control unit, which was manufactured by a company then called TRW and now known as ZF-TRW. These parts have also been used in vehicles from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mitsubishi, and Toyota.
Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Hyundai, and Kia have all issued previous recalls for vehicles that use this same control unit.