Toyota Prius Speeds Out of Control on SoCal FWY

Re: TV Tease - CHP stops runaway Prius

Going to neutral takes less than three seconds. Mine shifts to neutral in one to two seconds maximum. Has anyone actually timed this?

 

Re: TV Tease - CHP stops runaway Prius

Sorry Rokeby you're wrong, I just went and tested it with a stop watch. It is indeed just under one second that you have to hold the selector for to get "N".

 

I sure would like to see a photo of the accelerator. If it flipped out to the normal idle position ... hummmmm . . .

Bob Wilson

 

Re: Run Away Prius

I think it's true. According to the patrolman, he saw the brake lights on and smelled the brakes burning. The driver didn't want to turn the car off at 90mph and lose steering. I don't think he knew how to put the car in neutral. Toyota has to get to the bottom of this. I don't believe the "fix" they were doing is really the solution.

 

Re: When will Toyota get it right?

When will people start assuming responsibility for their errors or stop trying to make money through lawsuits.

 

Re: TV Tease - CHP stops runaway Prius

Hi Doobs. I'm not sure about what happens when you use the power off button, but I know for certain that using the "park button" the car wont go into park over about 3 to 5 mph, it goes into neutral instead.

Shifting into neutral is the quickest method and is safe (you definitly don't lose power steering). It is true that if you shift into neutral (or shut off the ICE) above 62 MPH it may cause MG1 to spin faster than it's design limit of 10,000 rpm. Under an emergency situation though I'd take my chances on damaging MG1 rather than losing my life.

Given that as soon as you shift to "N" under this emergency situation you are going to want to rapidly slow down, then say you shifted to "N" at 75 mph then you'd probably only be over-speeding mg1 for a few seconds and chances are it would survive. Anyway, if you want to test it as part of an "emergency drill" then definitely you should only do it under 60 mph. If on the otherhand it is "for real", then to save your life you should do it no matter what the speed.

 

Re: When will Toyota get it right?

the police officer has already stated that he smelled burning brakes (I saw the interview)....I don't know how that can be faked if the throttle is supposedly cut by braking....

 

Personally, I'm reserving judgement on this one until all facts are in. Just hope that Toyota is all over this one. I saw the NBC news report, interview with the driver, and a couple other media blitzes. It seems many pertinent facts are vague. But during the interview - the CHP officer mentioned that as he approached the Prius speeding he could smell burning brakes.

Whatever the facts or cause - another nail in Toyota unfortunately. I've kind of suspected that this uninten accel issue may very well be much more complex than the current "fixes". If it is a very intermittent electronic or EMI... oh oh. Oh oh including most other manufacturers. And a retrofit program for the override accelerator system will probably be demanded by NHTSA. Toyota is really in a box on this one. Much of it self inflicted IMO.

 

Re: When will Toyota get it right?

Perhaps that topic is for another thread?
You should start a discussion in the non-Prius section.

 

I haven't smelled this amount of BS in a looooooong time. The driver will get what is coming to him. A couple years in jail.

 

Re: When will Toyota get it right?

The officer on the scene said, during his interview, that he could smell the brakes. While the driver might be a numpty, I think he had a legitimate issue.

He is a numpty, however, in the fact that he said he tried the button and finally got it to shut down. Haven't they told us REPEATEDLY to just put it in neutral?

 

Re: When will Toyota get it right?

Watch daytime tv and you'll see it's a futile battle. Every fourth commercial is an ambulance chaser. The other three include pharmaceuticals, weight loss, household products. TV tells us we're not at fault and if we're willing to pay, someone else has a solution. Sad.

 

Re: When will Toyota get it right?

Maybe he had that Gilbert guy rig his electronics before he went out on the road for his drive......

 

I know you are as biased for toyota as I am against toyota, but I think this is really reaching a critical mass for toyota. If Toyota has any inkling that there may be an electronic problem involved in any of this, they need to act right now. What happens if last night's prius does not have a happy ending and it is all caught on recorder and by a news chopper. It is just a matter of time before it happens.

 

Re: When will Toyota get it right?

The officer would have smelled brakes that over heated because the guy was speeding and tried to stop when he saw the cop. The whole thing is a hoax. It is the case of the speeder thinking of how he could get out of a ticket. What a loser.

 

Is it possible that he could have been gunning the throttle, while ONLY giving the brakes a "healthy" press (his word). This means that the car would still be going 90, and burning the brakes. And when he says "healthy", he means pressing the brakes enough to smoke, but not really stop the car.

I could be wrong, but is this scenario possible? That way, the smell of brakes would be everywhere, and it would be circumstantial evidence to say he his brakes were truly being used.

 

How is a newschopper going to capture what a driver/fraudulent person is doing to manipulate the throttle and and brakes? huh?!

Im not sure what you and "Priusfan" are doing on this forum. Umm, it's for fans of Pirus, not detractors. If you dont like Prius, start up an anti-Prius forum, and stop being a buzzkill around here.

 

Re: Run Away Prius

I wouldn't doubt this one at all -- not as a conspiracy by an attorney or the CHP, but by a driver who saw gold at the end of the rainbow as a plaintiff. After all, at bare minimum, he'll expect Toyota to fork over some significant $ just to get it settled.

The absence of throttle override makes me wonder if he was on the gas pedal the whole time.

 

How come 911 does not tell people to put their cars in Neutral?

 

So you are sure it was fraudulent? Was he stepping on the throttle and the brakes going 90 mph?



Video: California man says Prius accelerated out of control