Toyota Prius Speeds Out of Control on SoCal FWY

yeah, this is all really true, why I think Toyota should just refund everyones money, and scrap all of their defective/evil cars, then you could take your paritally refunded Toyota money and buy a Government Motors POS car, yeah, thats what the outcome of all of this should be, those evil conspiring japanase trying to kill all of us hard working americans, those b------s still trying to get even with us for whooping their a----s in WW II.

Pllllleeeasssse. If you think I am serious, I have a bridge with your name on it in Brooklyn, really, it's a great deal

Yeah, I think I'm going to have an "uncontrolled acceleration event" so I can buy a different model - I think it will have to happen closer to the release of the Nissan Leaf though

 

No ... it shuts the ICE off, AND goes to neutral.

.

 

If someone wants a vanilla car then they should buy a vanilla car. Yes, the Prius has a different interface but people learn it and continue with their lives. The Prius is not the only car out there that is different.

 

The real story is...

"I pushed the gas pedal to pass a car and it did something kind of funny ... it jumped and it just stuck there," Sikes said at a news conference."

"Mr. Sikes says the accelerator stuck and he couldn't pull it up when he leaned under the steering wheel to do so."

"The driver, James Sikes, didn't follow the recently very publicized directions on how to shut off his car and stop the acceleration."

"He says people were passing him "left and right" while going 90+ MPH, and he was afraid he'd get rear-ended if he turned the car off and suddenly stopped."

What frakking Freeway was he on, and maybe he should switch the speed readout back to MPH instead of kMph....


For the naysayers...

Real Speak, I tromped the gas pedal so hard I broke it, and now so I don't look so frakking stupid, I will just blame Toyota and ignore my own incompetence!!!!

Oh by the way I forgot to RTFM, so I could not make a informed decision about neutral, and or 3 sec on the Power button.

 

Or shift to R or N or press the power button, although the last one takes three seconds.

Tom

 

Re: TV Tease - CHP stops runaway Prius

too funny...!!

 

Another old geezer that should be on the bus than a Prius. I hear San Diego has a really nice fleet of New Flyer, NABI, and Gillig clean diesel and hybrid buses he could have been a passenger on...

 

23 days until Nissan Leaf Pricing Month

 

Re: TV Tease - CHP stops runaway Prius

[quote Originally Posted by jimtompkins
If this guy could dial 911 on his phone while managing his runaway Prius maby he just needs a new app. for his phone "STOP MY PRIUS".
[/quote]

If that is true, then he should be nailed for using the cell phone without pulling over to the side of the road!

 

It doesn't seem like it from my experiments. I posted this at TiVo Community (you'll need an account at TC to see the post) which I believe was before Toyota said our Priuses have a form of brake override:

bwilson4web posted a video (don't know the URL) of brake + throttle at highway speeds on his 3rd gen (2010) and there was some ICE surging and the ICE fighting the brakes on the way down. But, he had no trouble slowing down w/both applied.

 

Doesn't California have a hands-free policy?

 

Not in a case of emergency.

 

Toyota explained how their brake override system works. In part;
"The feature has sophisticated control logic intended to eliminate undesirable or inappropriate activation and is designed to be imperceptible. In certain driving conditions, unnecessary activation of brake override would create an inconvenient or even unsafe situation.

For example, the brake override feature does not operate if the brake pedal is depressed before the accelerator pedal. This logic allows for vehicles starting on a steep a hill to safely accelerate without rolling backwards, otherwise known as a hill start.

Toyota engineers have carefully calibrated the system control logic to prevent the system from interfering with efforts to free a vehicle by rocking it to gain traction in snow or mud. Since some drivers prefer to brake with the left foot, the system also recognizes this as an intentional action by the driver and will allow the accelerator to function normally."

Maybe since the driver took his foot off the gas, the system did not recognize the gas pedal as being down before the brake. Maybe if he would have kept his foot on the gas and hit the brake it would have worked.

 

The whole is very fishy. It happens "now", on a California Highway and not in some EU or non US country, on a busy and known interstate, right now that there is all this media buzz about Toyota (BTW the Prius 2nd gen did not have an accelerator recall) - very, very fishy to me. And the guy did not try to put the car in Neutral (why???) or turn it off (why???) and yet he managed to call the police, that, as a pure coincidence had a patrol already close by....
I wonder how much did GM pay this guy to have this happen....yes, I am seeing conspiracy here.
If it happened in EU, or Japan, or Australia, or in some side road in the US (any state except CA would have been more meaningful - CA is where the most Prius attention is) and on the 3rd gen, then I would believe it and start to be "scared". Especially if it was told that the guy tried to put neutral and did not work or the car would not switch off. Both things that he did not do.
Who gave the driver's license to this guy, anyway??? that can call the police at 90mph?? and what, only 90mph? if the car accelerates by itself at full blast, it should reach the max of 180km/h = 111mph. 90mph is the normal speed of a car on any highway in EU!!!
The whole story is *SO* fishy.

 

More likely he is lying. It is not believable that he didn't have a safe place to pull to the side and stop and was worried about being rear-ended if he turned off the car during that entire 30 mile journey into the boonies.

 

Re: TV Tease - CHP stops runaway Prius

I bet he had Bluetooth, and it still WORKED! That's legal in California ...

 

I agree. This reminds me of the witch hunts that occurred when one of the town elders was discovered on the far side of town, missing his pants. Either this is the work of a Toyota witch (media witch hunt) or this guy was covering for what he was doing out in the boonies going 93 MPH. Do you think this excuse will work for me the next time I am followed by a police officer while speeding. But officer, I have been trying to stop for the last 30 miles; the gas pedal was stuck. A real investigative reporter would explore where he was going and why he might have a reason to blame the car.

 

Re: TV Tease - CHP stops runaway Prius

Leave this poor guy's dental hygiene out of it. He has enough problems without personal attacks.



Tom

 

Yes but according to the article the Prius was a 2008, no dynamic radar cruise control was available.

 

From CNN news, not only did he manage to call 911 at full-blast acceleration but at one point, Sikes said he reached down to try to pull the accelerator up, but it "stayed right where it was."

WOW! He got to show us how to do it, this is better than professional stunt!

I think the State should 'recall' his driver license first, while Toyota is examining his car for potential fraud.