Prius driver leads police on high speed chase

I don't know why you want to infer things when you don't know the facts about this incident. There are too may possibilities. Maybe his Prius was modified with the speed governor disabled. Why just automatically assume the reporting is wrong?

 

Because I have dealt with newspapers and police before.

Please take the energy to ask the police spokesman about modifications and how they knew it went 120 mph. I will mail you a check for $50 if you can get the police to legitimately substanciate 120 mph on the prius.

 

Again, cops report the speed they go at, not make guesses about the speed the perpetrator's car could go or not go.

 

In my state the police catch speeders traveling in the opposite direction, I think to avoid allegations of entrapment. I presume it means the radar also knows the cop car speed.

 

Prius driver leads police on high speed chase | news10.net

No problem if they were saying the chasing deputies were going 120 mph, that is believable, but bad. They should just be radioing ahead, but the article seems to be falsely claiming it about the Prius. The fact that it was a prius really has nothing to do with this story, but again, my problem is with the claim, and that goes to the reporting.

 

It may be that a previous owner made the modification. It is an early Gen II, 2004 or 2005 Prius (look at the tail lights).

 

I recently saw the headline "Shots fired at the Capitol" which is a true story, but one in which all the shots were by Police.
Shots fired at Capitol

Driver killed after car chase from White House to Capitol - The Washington Post

I do not doubt that speeds of 120 MPH were achieved in this chase, even if the Prius has a top speed of 104 to 115. It was not the only car in the chase.

So far as I am aware the only way to 'defeat' the top speed limit is to mount over sized tires. I invite anyone to document any other way. ("my brother's wife's cousin's coworker did it, I don't know how" is not documentation)
The land speed record holding Prius used 26 inch diameter tires, stock is 24

Got Hybrid? - Sport - Car and Driver

 

I was more impressed with the fine detective work by CHiPs.
"....Metcalf was visibly under the influence of an unknown substance and was tested by drug recognition experts."

Experts? Just walk out on the streets of California. Weed dispensaries are in more locations than McDonalds and Burger King locations combined in California. I wonder which one it was...

Obviously the cops must have had some influencing drugs too if they think it was 120 mph achieved in the chase.

 

Another Prius Speeding story in the news today.

This one from Canada...Taxi doing 101 mph.

 

This Gen III hits 194 km/hr= 120.5 mph; Autobahn Topspeed Prius - YouTube

 

Yes, gen III has a different mg1, mg2, psd, gearing from mg2 to axle, so toyota limited the speed at a higher level as these components could handle it. I don't think anyone here thinks the 105 mph (or slightly higher) toyota limit on the gen II is too slow, especially given its suspension and tires, the number is fine.

The problem is with reporting that the car went as fast as they did. The driver being on drugs and flashing a gun is bad enough. Does it matter if he was going 90mph of 160mph. In my mind it does. If you are reporting that he was going faster than he was, there may be other errors in the reporting to sensationalize it. Anyway he was a very bad man if the story is correct.

1) Waving Gun at random motorists
2) Reckless Driving (too fast for conditions, too fast for car)
3) Driving under the influence of drugs
4) Driving on a suspended license.

Why is the prius in the headline? I really don't know, but if you are going to put it there, at least limit the exaggeration of speed to something that is not electronically limited.

 

Maybe the speed was just estimated just to make it "newsworthy"? without it there is no story! Police pulls cars over all day. On a slow newsday, just what is needed.

 

I have been asked several times about how fast a Prius will go. My answer has been "Fast enough to get the attention of the guy with the blue flashing lights."

 

"...all the news that fits, We print!"
I'm thinking that either LEO or the newsies whiffed the story, and I'm leaning towards the newsies, since they have a congressional approval rating.
105....115.....120, hey who says accuracy is all that important???

I'm thinking that in addition to stuffing bigger tires into the wheel wells you could probably spoof the VSS input to the ECU to make the dizzy-wizz computer think that the vehicle is traveling at more Prius-like speeds.
Many vehicles have aftermarket "power programmers" that will defeat the electronic speed limiter. I'm not really surprised that they're not common for Priuses, but you probably can find where somebody has done it.
They race lawn tractors.
Priuses shouldn't be that much tougher.

Many of my friends are surprised to hear that a healthy G3 will go 110+mph (from what I've been told ) which means that you can actually outrun most OEM pickemuptrucks, since they're generally speed limited to < 100mph.
Just imagine challenging your buddy's $60,000 420BHP, 6.2 litre Ford Raptor to a road race on the interstate and beating him.

Just remember the words OEM and MOST before you go challenging your buddies in the trucknutz crowd for a grudge match though, because removing the speed limiter is quite easy and commonly done in the truck comminuty....AND there are OEM mounts that are capable of much more than 112 mph

 

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Cockpit error.

 

I also remember reading top speed of 104 mpg for the G2 Prius, but I do not know if that was under specified conditions or an absolute speed limit. Will the car automatically brake if it hits 104 mph going downhill ?

 

Doubtful, but the fuel will be cut-off and therein lies the problem. On a 7% grade you'd be able to gain speed though most grades like that aren't engineered for that kind of speed. The again, neither was the Prius

 

OK, then I am curious if a Prius started the downhill at 104 mph in neutral, how steep does the grade have to be to continue to gain speed. Anybody have the power equation handy ?

 

The cats out of the bag now. No longer will police look at my speeding Prius and say "Naa, that can't be right!?".

 

How about downhill?