yamaha silent recall on FZ09 leads to paralyzed rider - fly by wire acceleration

Hard to believe some kind of negligence from a manufacture like Yamaha.
 
Seems a little misleading; a snatchy throttle is one thing but "unintended acceleration" implies the throttle butterflies opening without any wrist input and the bike taking off.

I wonder how much experience Mr. De Lua-Ruiz had before hopping on the hooligan-esque FZ-09.
 
Blackfin said:
Seems a little misleading; a snatchy throttle is one thing but "unintended acceleration" implies the throttle butterflies opening without any wrist input and the bike taking off.

I wonder how much experience Mr. De Lua-Ruiz had before hopping on the hooligan-esque FZ-09.
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Was thinking the same thing...

1. It's the US, so people sue for everything whether it was their fault or not.
2... His statements don't really make sense..

"Non-linear transition is a technical term for 'uncontrolled,'" Edwards said. "You give the bike some throttle and it could either glide you forward or explode under you, you can't count on the bike doing what you need it to do. It's a crap shoot that can kill you."
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Non-linear transition does not mean "uncontrolled".
I highly doubt it's a crapshoot as he implies wondering if the bike will slowly glide you forward or go balls to the wall full throttle... (at least that's how I define his use of "explode under you")

A fix to a jerky throttle is far from a guessing game of whether the bike will accelerate while not intending to do so.

Question is whether this defect caused him to go down, or if he went down and just wanted to blame anyone but himself.

"V-tec kicked in and I experienced non-linear acceleration which caused me to crash... Time to sue Honda"
 
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if you read the article yamaha acknowledged non linear throttle from CLOSED TO 1/4 THROTTLE. In first gear that would be more than a choppy throttle.

non linear means INSTANTLY.
 
Originally empathetic, sympathetic and spiritually aligned with our Texan friend I must now reluctantly admit to raising an eyebrow to the spectre of malfeasance. That he's rocking an offshore handle is not helping matters.
 
boyoboy said:
if you read the article yamaha acknowledged non linear throttle from CLOSED TO 1/4 THROTTLE. In first gear that would be more than a choppy throttle.

non linear means INSTANTLY.
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Maybe my comprehension needs some work, but this issue happens when moving at 18 - 37mph and riders experience jerkiness when they get back on the throttle between closed to 1/4 throttle thus creating the jerk.

Non-linear does not mean instantly - more just not at the same rate/degree as before.

Non-linear: designating or involving an equation whose terms are not of the first degree.


Another question to be asked is if the original owner of the bike was notified of this recall.
His lawyer said: "In fact, a previous owner of the motorcycle had taken the bike into a Yamaha dealership in response to a 2014 recall involving headlamps, and the dealership did not advise him of the availability of the new software related to the throttle risk"

BUT, the recall notice was sent to dealers in Sept of 2014 (nearing the end of the year). Perhaps the previous owner fixed the headlight earlier in the year when the recall wasn't released?

Recall notices don't get sent out to subsequent buyers of the bike do they...?
 
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This is precisely where a pie chart would be of no use. Time to bust out the xy axis.
 
The article poses more questions than answers and provide's only indirectly what Yamaha knew or did not.

Smoothing out throttle vs. bike exploding under you uncontrollably ... yeah, ok, almost the same thing, right??
 
PLau said:
Maybe my comprehension needs some work, but this issue happens when moving at 18 - 37mph and riders experience jerkiness when they get back on the throttle between closed to 1/4 throttle thus creating the jerk.

Non-linear does not mean instantly - more just not at the same rate/degree as before.

Non-linear: designating or involving an equation whose terms are not of the first degree.


Another question to be asked is if the original owner of the bike was notified of this recall.
His lawyer said: "[FONT=&]In fact, a previous owner of the motorcycle had taken the bike into a Yamaha dealership in response to a 2014 recall involving headlamps, and the dealership did not advise him of the availability of the new software related to the throttle risk"

[/FONT]BUT, the recall notice was sent to dealers in Sept of 2014 (nearing the end of the year). Perhaps the previous owner fixed the headlight earlier in the year when the recall wasn't released?

Recall notices don't get sent out to subsequent buyers of the bike do they...?
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Yes you are correct, it is better said as - " a technical term for 'uncontrolled,'"
 
Yamahas have always been known to have touchy throttles, but now because it's drive by wire and there's a way to reduce its twitchiness it's described as a killer flaw.

He'll probably win though.
 
boyoboy said:
if you read the article yamaha acknowledged non linear throttle from CLOSED TO 1/4 THROTTLE. In first gear that would be more than a choppy throttle.

non linear means INSTANTLY.
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No, it doesn't. In this context it simply means an incremental input delta to a control system results in more (or less) output delta than that produced by an input delta of equal magnitude applied elsewhere in the operating regime of the system.

response_normal.png


Many cars nowadays have non-linear throttles that give a large amount of tip-in response just off-idle to give the illusion of more torque/power. Elsewhere in their operating regimes the throttle response is more muted and damped, often to give smoother performance during light cruise.

I think Yamaha's early FZ-09 efforts had ill-tuned throttle response maps that gave snatchy, jerky performance but the bike wasn't "dangerous" to the thousands and thousands that bought and reviewed it, just tedious and perhaps not for noobs.
 
mxs said:
The article poses more questions than answers and provide's only indirectly what Yamaha knew or did not.

Smoothing out throttle vs. bike exploding under you uncontrollably ... yeah, ok, almost the same thing, right??
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When your throttle starts changing position from closed to 1/4 throttle without any input from the rider, - and yamaha knew that from complaints, acknowledged it, and issued a fix, they are obligated to have fixed this on all bikes. When yamaha TOLD DEALERS NOT TO TELL FZ09 owners - they opened the door to liability

What I do not understand, other than from a dollars perspective, is why didn't they fix all the bikes when they knew of the problem - uncontrolled acceleration is no small issue ..

Yamaha also had problems with the r3, but different, and issued notices to r3 owners not to ride their bikes until fixed. but with the FZ09 not only didn't they warn owners - they TOLD DEALERS, IN WRITING, not tell the owners about it. Not right.
 
Blackfin said:
No, it doesn't. In this context it simply means an incremental input delta to a control system results in more (or less) output delta than that produced by an input delta of equal magnitude applied elsewhere in the operating regime of the system.

response_normal.png


Many cars nowadays have non-linear throttles that give a large amount of tip-in response just off-idle to give the illusion of more torque/power. Elsewhere in their operating regimes the throttle response is more muted and damped, often to give smoother performance during light cruise.

I think Yamaha's early FZ-09 efforts had ill-tuned throttle response maps that gave snatchy, jerky performance but the bike wasn't "dangerous" to the thousands and thousands that bought and reviewed it, just tedious and perhaps not for noobs.
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"not for noobs" says it all. its a control issue
 
boyoboy said:
When your throttle starts changing position from closed to 1/4 throttle without any input from the rider
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Unless I'm mistaken, that's not the issue with FZ-09 throttles though. It's more than a small throttle input is met with a somewhat exaggerated throttle plate opening; these aren't the same thing.

If the plaintiff had been approaching an intersection with the throttle closed, in gear and the throttle plates suddenly went to 1/4-open even though the wrist-control was still closed, that's definitely an unintended acceleration & a throttle malfunction. But that's not what Ive heard about early FZ-09 throttles; instead it's just been that they're "overeager".

He was doing a "slow turn" in a parking lot. I wonder if he was actually practicing wheelies on his hooligan-bike and lost it...
 
boyoboy said:
"not for noobs" says it all. its a control issue
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The FZ-09 is not intended for new riders. I have an FZ8 and its owners manual states that explicitly; I imagine the '09 has some similar verbiage in its manual.

The tuning of the throttle response map is indeed a control issue. The question is whether it was dangerous in its 2014 guise. I don't think that case has been made yet.
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