WebDriver: Change event not firing

So I believe I have found out my problem. I will fully admit this was PEBKAC. I had forgotten that WebDriver has issues if the browser window is not in active focus on the machine (which is still weird to me). When I was debugging the problem, I was using my editor to step through the code. By running the code normally and without removing focus from the browser, the events fire as expected using all three solutions (tab, click-away, and javascript).

I have an example project showing all three methods, however I am a major noob with git and github and am having problems delivering the project. Once i figure that out, I will share the project with you all.

EDIT: Got the example code up on GitHub (https://github.com/loesak/knockout.webdriver.change.event.test). You can either start the project as a webapp in a server and run the test manually or you can run the tests via maven (mvn clean install). I didn't put a whole lot of effort into getting this to work robustly so it is assuming you have Firefox installed and port 0808 8080 is open.

EDIT: Fixed stated port number

So I have found a way to work around this issue for now, but by far do I believe this is the correct solution. This does break my rule about not using jQuery, however I feel this is okay for me as KnockoutJS requires jQuery be loaded. There's probably a plain ol' JavaScript way of doing this. I have tested this with FireFox, Safari, and PhantomJS. I assume it will work just as well in Chrome. I give no promises for Internet Explorer.

I am NOT going to mark this answer as the correct answer. The correct solution should be through WebDriver browsers firing the proper events. Only when I believe this is not possible through WebDriver will I mark this as the correct answer.

// find element in question
WebElement input = this.element.findElement(By.className("controls"))
                               .findElement(By.tagName("input"));

// click it to fire focus event
input.click();

// erase any existing value
for (int i = 0; i < input.getAttribute("value").length(); i++) {
    input.sendKeys(Keys.BACK_SPACE);
}

// enter in desired text
input.sendKeys(text);

// fire on change event (WebDriver SHOULD DO THIS)
((JavascriptExecutor) driver).executeScript(
        "$(arguments[0]).change(); return true;"
    , input);

// click away to fire blur event
driver.findElement(By.tagName("body")).click();