It’s fairly clear that the Toyota Prius braking system problems are software related and to do with the interaction between the ABS and the regenerative system that recovers energy from braking. Whether this was a software fault or a specification fault isn’t clear but it reveals that when we add complexity to a system, we are likely to run into problems. Toyota are being rightly criticised for this (and, for sure, they have handled the problem badly) but they are being innovative and an inevitable part of the price of innovation is that problems will occur.
We need to remember this if and when we are tempted to be judgemental about software faults.
Thoughts on software and systems engineering 