Runaway Prius 911 Call Released - Listen here

Ah, OK. Thanks for explaining.

 

Anyone else notice how the 911 dispatchers are *laughing* about
the whole thing right at the end before the audio goes silent??
.
_H*

 

Sure, your hypothesis would show that he was stopped on the side of the road,with his foot on the brake and then slammed on the accelerator. It is possible

 

This whole episode stinks. I wish people would learn to read their owners manuals before they drive. I drive a 2006 prius, and have tried to duplicate what allegedly happened to this driver:
At 65mph, I floored the throttle and accelerated to about 75mph. Leaving my foot down on the gas, I sat on the brakes. The car began to slow down, but not very much. I then pressed and held the POWER button. In about 3 seconds, the engine shut down, and I came to a rather sudden stop, still braking. I never even had to engage the emergency brake. While I was slowing down, I still had brakes, and steering. Once the power was shut down, the steering was quite "heavy", which is to be expected, without power-assist.
I live in the SAN area, and drive I-8 regularly in my 2006 Prius. I-8 is a modern, major interstate. I could drive 90+ mph all day on that road without compromising safety, if the road was dry (it was) and the traffic was light(in that area, it almost always is light). There are no sharp curves anywhere along that stretch. The only thing to watch out for out there is the Highway Patrol radar.

Without jumping to conclusions, I do believe there's more to this story than what we have been provided, especially after listening to the 911 call.

 

Another way to burn the brakes is to shift back and forth from D to N, braking while in N.

Tom

 

Or if he was moving, just so he pressed the brake before pressing the accelerator. Actually, he might have done this by accident. I have used the hill holder feature many times without realizing that this was a special feature in the car's computer.

My car is an awful lot like his. I REALLY want to know what, if anything, went wrong with it. If this whole thing was staged, I hope they make a really big stink. My fear is that Sikes will be branded as stupid and the whole thing will fizzle with everyone still mumbling what they have been saying all along.

 

It won't surprise me that this guy wants to get rid of this car and he is using this to do so.

 

Many reported Toyota Prius problems are psychological, experts say | Business | Dallas B...

 

Really? When I try it the nose dives and the car scares the crap out of me slowing down so fast. I wasn't even trying to brake hard. But the car slowed VERY fast with no accelerative force at all, ICE not revving. I kept the throttle and brake down until the car stopped, THEN the engine began to rev up in "force charge" mode.

- D

 

Question - can't the investigators figure out if he was lying or not? There's gotta be some kind of 'black box' in the Prius to know if and when his foot was on the accelerator, brakes, etc.

I too have a suspicion he's lying. And I hope he is. There's nothing I want more than to see this guy pay.

 

No, there is not. There is an event recorder that will log a few seconds of data when the air bags deploy, but it isn't useful for something like this.

Tom

 

Pile of BS, great big one.

 

Anyone who does not know how to shift to Neutral, shut off the engine, or use the brakes correctly in an emergency should not have a license to drive.

 

First, if you're not really "standing on the brakes" you can easily wear it down with the accelerator pedal depressed with light engagement of the brakes and cause it to "smoke". Most telling to me is that this idea of "driver too panicked to react properly" is nearly bogus. Not only does this guy have the presence of mind to dial 911 (as others have pointed out), but (and I could be wrong here) he apparently dialed it TWICE. At some point in the recording they lose connection, and it sounds like he or the 911 operator called him again. So he's ok driving and answering the phone the 2nd time or dialing 9-1-1. Later on you hear DTMF (tones used by the cell phone for dialing) and they sound suspiciously like 9-9-1-1 (but I'm not sure - perhaps someone else can confirm as DTMF is a standard).

This guy has fraud written all over him.

 

Because everything is larger, bigger and greater in America -- roads, too!

 

I don't understand why he would call 911 and then not communicate for 20-some minutes. 911 is there to help which means providing them with the required information, communicating and acting. He answered location questions by providing call box numbers but did not respond to the put your car in neutral question, pretending not to hear it. It seems like sikes is the type of person who would listen only to a male 911 operator giving him instructions that included calling him an idiot. Kudos to the 911 operator for staying on the call and being patient.

 

Who knows where the true is ?

 

But not a gallon :cheer2::cheer2::focus:

 

These things should be explained to each owner before it leaves the dealer the first time (all over the world) or must be written on 'an important page' in the owner manual BUT how many read it ?
The result is a lot of owners drive them Prius without knowing it.

 

the 911 operator told him to hold it for 5 seconds so it does not matter if he red it or not.