Toyota Prius Speeds Out of Control on SoCal FWY

I would like to hear this 911 call. If my car was accelerating out of control, and I was actually able to pick up the phone and dial 911...I'm sure there would be a sense of urgency and fear in my voice. I think listening to the 911 call might give a better insight as to whether this was staged or not.

Oh, and how do you steer while reaching under the dash to grab the accelerator pedal?

 

Possible accessory for Toyota to offer with the Prius. Works great of aircraft, so should help out those owners with a runaway Prius.

 

No. the quickest way to stop the Prius is to press the "P" for PARK button.
The car immediately goes onto "N" .... i.e. Neutral and shuts of fuel and ignition to the ICE.It can then coast to a stop, or normal friction braking via the hydraulic brakes will stop the car.

 

"R" does what "P" does during accelleration, except it is intuitive (it's like putting it in neutral from a normal austomatic transmission) and not an ergonomic nightmare button. But use which ever way works best for you to get it into the e-cvt pseudo neutral I hope toyota actually finds and fixes its problems so that drivers will not be blamed for not knowing how to do this.

 

doomed I tell ya . . . DOOMED !

kinda reminds me of GM's Bob Lutz ... "hybrids are just a PR stunt". Years from now, I'll still be quoting Lutz AND malorn. They're so funny.

doomed I tell ya . . . DOOMED !

I'm following malorn's thinking EVERYBODY . . . let's all go buy a Chevy ... tonight! ... I'm begging you all . . . for HIS sake!

.

 

Re: Run Away Prius- Who is James Sikes?

Not sure who this guy is, the google is clogged with news stories. But he did seem to pop up right in prime time, maybe he's a straight shooter, maybe not.

What has James Sikes done for the last 61 years? The past is often a clue to people's present actions.

 

It is kind of ironic.... When all of the Hummer fairy tales were making the rounds, it was fun to debunk then with facts. Now when the baby is showing some possible warts, all of the defensiveness that was attributed to the Hummer fans is coming out - just on the other foot.

 

That seems to have all the same facts, except this odd one:

I wonder if AOL meant to imply that the car accelerated when it was off...

 

And exactly how many incidences of this phenomena has there been? Enough that a full recall and investigation is carried out? Enough to merit a common-or-garden traffic incident making the major news headlines? An important enough event to merit general awareness and comment?

.... ONE CASE!?

Seriously?! The fact that he knew that Toyota accelerator pedals had been an issue and had been to the dealer to be told it didn't affect his car and this is what he claims caused him to be doing 90+mph on the freeway? Coincidence that this appears to be the only case ever?

Sorry folks, but this is BS plain and simple and I, for one, am getting really sick of it - poor innocent people die in awful traffic accidents which were not their fault every single day and their passing goes generally unremarked by the public at large, but when a joe schmo shows gros ineptitude and a spectacular lack of driving ability on a California Freeway it makes headline news just because he's driving a Toyota?

I'm sorry, but I speak as I find and am going to have a little drink and a lie-down in a darkened room.

 

So, Mr. Sikes turns off the car, and then it accelerates again all by itself just before he hits the CHP vehicle in front of him? Where was the CHP officer before the dispatcher called him? How fast was he driving to catch up with the Prius (which was going 90, 94 or 95 mph depending on your news source)?

 

Re: Run Away Prius- Who is James Sikes?

I agree; this would be an interesting investigative report, although the 10 second video-clip and sound byte are soooo much easier.:cheer2:

 

The CHP officers told Sikes to apply the e-brake and press and hold the Stop/Start button until the car stopped accelerating. The Stop/Start button shut down the car and the e-brake slowed it to a stop.

 

Interesting. The cop mentions in the AOL story that he smelled the brakes. So Sikes was applying them, which should have gone to brake override. Unless he was applying the e-brake...

 

And this scenario is the perfect example of why manufacturers have been installing data logging functions in their cars. To separate facts from fairy tales. But Toyota is keeping a big secret with its logged data (to this day even after being excoriated in congressional testimony). Want to bet that the logged data will remain a secret if the Prius actually experienced a sudden acceleration episode?

 

Or, the brake over-ride function is all a fairy tale. I am waiting for the dealer to check out the brake over ride function on my Prius (it doesn't work as advertised), but there are a bunch of recall appointments ahead of me.

 

I haven't tried the brake override function myself. I thought DogFriend's posted video looked pretty good though:

I have tried shifting to Neutral at highway speeds, and a few days ago accidentally found out if you hit the Park button while at freeway speeds, it beeps at you and goes to Neutral (I was reaching for the vent shut-off slider and missed).