Originally shared by Julio Gerchman
Lots of scary findings in Toyota’s electronic throttle control system, linked to the sudden acceleration accidents that happened some years ago.
The article begins with: “The Camry ETCS code was found to have 11,000 global variables”. It gets worse.
http://www.edn.com/design/automotive/4423428/2/Toyota-s-killer-firmware--Bad-design-and-its-consequences
Do you mean the cases that were found out to be insurance fraud?
Also, global variables are the norm in embedded code, because you want everything to have fixed allocation, not dynamic, no matter whether stack or heap. In many languages, that means that local variables are actually a bad thing.
I should also add that it was entirely not that unusual to have an older, less computerized, engine stuck at max rpm (although to be honest, it was equipped with lpg fuel system)