While it is true that the power of brakes exceeds the power of the engine, you are forgetting about brake fade (from heat). Brakes lose stopping power quickly as they heat up. I know a thing or two about this because auto racing is my hobby. Believe me, heat-related brake failure is a real problem and it's scary as hell when it happens.

Car & Driver magazine just did a very good test and analysis of the "Runaway Toyota" problem. In a nutshell, if the problem happens at low speed it is fairly easy to stop the car (the stopping distance increases slightly). However, at high speed, the brakes fade prior to stopping and the car does not stop. Interestingly, most drive-by-wire systems have a fail-safe that detects acceleration during braking and cuts fuel to the engine just enough to slow it down while leaving it running enough to keep power steering functional. That's what Toyota should do as well. A firmware patch.

Ciao

What power do we have against natural oligopolies? Where else are you going to go? Should you just get along without the internet? Or iTunes?

This is a classic case of where government regulation is appropriate. Monopolies and oligopolies never police themselves. Why would they? That doesn't increase profit.

Competition is great! But until we have some broadband competition in America, government involvement is essential.