Michael Barr is a software expert witness, electrical engineer, and the co-founder and CTO of Barr Group. He has testified as an expert in U.S. federal and state courts in cases involving embedded software, firmware, and safety-critical systems.
The short version: Michael Barr is best known for his testimony in the Toyota unintended acceleration litigation, where his team's review of Toyota's engine control source code contributed to the landmark 2013 Bookout verdict. He is the author of four books on embedded software, the former editor-in-chief of Embedded Systems Design magazine, and a former adjunct professor at the University of Maryland.
The Toyota unintended acceleration testimony
In 2013, in Bookout v. Toyota, Michael testified before an Oklahoma jury about defects his team had identified in the electronic throttle control software of Toyota vehicles. The engagement involved an extended source code review conducted under one of the strictest protective orders in product liability history. The jury's verdict against Toyota was followed by a broad settlement program covering hundreds of similar cases. The matter remains one of the most consequential software product liability cases ever tried, and it is the subject of our detailed case study.
Books and standards
- Programming Embedded Systems in C and C++ (O'Reilly)
- Embedded C Coding Standard (Barr Group)
- Embedded Systems Dictionary (co-authored with Jack Ganssle)
- Creator of the Barr Group Embedded C Coding Standard, used by embedded software teams worldwide to reduce defects in firmware
Teaching and editorial work
Michael served as editor-in-chief of Embedded Systems Design magazine (formerly Embedded Systems Programming) and wrote a popular column for years. He taught operating systems as an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland and has trained thousands of working engineers in embedded software architecture and coding standards through professional courses.
Courtroom qualifications
Michael has been qualified in U.S. and Canadian courts as an expert in computer software, electrical engineering, and satellite TV security and piracy. Before founding Barr Group, he spent more than a decade writing embedded software that has powered millions of products.
Download Michael Barr's expert witness CV (PDF) >
Work with attorneys today
As CTO of Barr Group, Michael leads the engineering side of our expert witness practice: matching attorneys with software and electronics expert witnesses, directing source code reviews, and maintaining the review discipline described across our articles. He writes the articles published under his byline on this site.