I'm trying to stay out of this. But I remember when my Chevy Cavalier decided to accelerate on its own. Luckily the mighty pushrod 4 it had made as much horsepower as a riding mower and was a bit easier to control. When that happened it drove me to have vehicles with manual transmission for the next 25 years. Now that I'm disabled I can't drive a stick anymore and it really bugs me.
Remember when the Toyota went out of control with the California Highway cop at the wheel and ended up getting killed? The question that absolutely no one asked was- What would have happened if the car had a manual transmission? I can answer that: The engine may have wrecked but so what? No one would have been hurt.
Remember, when we talk about how things are computer controlled, the computer does nothing. It's some nameless programmer who you never met, isn't in the car, never faced the situation you're in but has made all the driving and control decisions for you.
Kevin, I'm glad your story had a reasonably happy ending. But what could you have done if the car had an automatic transmission? Toyota had set theirs up so it wouldn't go into neutral "to protect the drivetrain". Just wonderful. Not all of these controls are bad. But blind acceptance of controls the driver is only dimly aware of? No, I don't like it.
-Tom