Why the "Out of Control" Prius Driver Is Full of It

There have been much more than questions posed in this thread alone.

 

No, I am not kidding. I do like my Prius. It is the best car I have ever owned and I will never buy a non-hybrid or non-EV again. As a car company, I like Toyota because it made the Prius. Your claim that "it has come to light on this board that James Sikes is a fraud" is simply not true, and is as much of a stretch of reality as "the cop car had to pull in front of Sykes and slow the Prius down"... a false notion that was spread by many media outlets when this story was still fresh.

If this situation was in fact fraudulent, I believe that such a label should be placed only after a thorough investigation is completed and input from independent third party (people who don't care about Toyota as a company) professionals is considered. As you pointed out… myself, yourself, or (most likely) the people bashing Sykes on this forum are not independent, because we are Toyota loving Prius enthusiasts.

Does it piss me off a bit? Yes. What pisses me off specifically is the relative amount of negative press that Toyota gets regarding automobile malfunctions in comparison to other auto manufacturers. While we are talking about being pissed off, it also pisses me off that Toyota made a lot of cars with potentially dangerous accelerator pedals. This problem, thankfully, has been addressed by the company, and that makes me less pissed off. What also pisses me off is the fact that people on this forum are saying that because Sikes went through a bankrupsy, was a real estate agent, and has an unconventional sexual lifestyle, that means that he "must" have cooked up this entire incident for personal gain.

I am not defending, nor advocating, nor approving of any of Sikes' past choices... but I am asking those reading this to focus the discussion more on the incident on hand, the "Runaway Prius", and not him as a person.

As a forum, we are united because we have a common interest: the Toyota Prius. If some entity tries to unjustly put down the Prius through whatever means, we should respond not by sinking to their level and put down that entity, but rather by bringing forth the truth about why the Prius is a great car, which I truly believe it is.

 

At the same time, there have also been genuine, valid questions that have been raised as well. Therefore you cannot paint the entire forum with such a broad brush, using incendiary terms like "lynching".

Just sayin'

 

I'm not sure *why* I've continued to wade through this entire
thread, which is up to 31 noisy pages by now, but maybe it's
got a hint of that "trainwreck" character to it... just a couple
of corrections:
.
djasonw: the size of the physical brakes has nothing to do with
regen. Regen is done by the larger of the two motors in the
transaxle; the wheel brakes are pretty normal for this size car.
C'mon, you know better.
.
apriusfan: there will be no EDR data because there was no collision.
.
There are numerous other factual errors about how the car works
sprinkled throughout this and the far too many other threads, but
I'll be F*ed if I'm going to waste any more time hunting them down
one by one. The info is all out there, anyone who's uncertain should
go find it *before* pontificating to anyone else about how a Prius
works. Oh, and whoever was saying the pedal uses pots: that's only
in the '01 - '03, everything since uses a pair of hall-effect sensors
and a conditioning circuit built right into the pedal assembly. But
google for "big hand syndrome", you'll find it entertaining.
.
_H*

 

Re: Sikes says he has no plans to sue Toyota

Oh, I see now, pointless lynching is OK. Got it!

 

Re: Sikes says he has no plans to sue Toyota

Yes stop the lynching of Sikes!!!!

Sikes made a factual claim about what happened to his car. His claim is one that may have important legal and financial effects on him, Toyota and others. Because sometimes people do not tell the truth, or at best, they misstate facts, intelligent people will typically seek other information in order to assist them in assessing the truth the statements in question.

Someone posted information about Sikes' bankruptcy filings and his corporate registration -- that information is from public government filings.

Posting that information is just like lynching!

("Lynching", by the way, is killing, usually hanging, someone in order to punish -- not the victim-- but people from his race or other group.)

Stop trying to intimidate bankrupt swinging corvette lovers with the lynching of Sikes!!

apruisfan, if you don't find the public information about Sikes' bankruptcy filings and corporate activities useful, feel free to post other information that you do find useful in assessing the veracity of Sikes' claim.

 

That was my bad, probably. Just careless wording explaining the pedal position sensor.

Tom

 

Re: Sikes says he has no plans to sue Toyota

The ERD is not going to give us anything where airbags are not deployed or so I've read. Even where airbags are deployed in an accident, people will believe what they want to believe. In example, if Mr. Sikes had run into someone, the accelerator pedal would have been depressed according to his story. Was this because he put his foot on it, or because it sank to the floor? Mr. Kane and Mr. Nader (the former used to work for the latter, just like Ms. Claybrooke who was Carter's NHTSA administrator) would say the latter because they believe or want to believe (whether they know it or not) that Toyota is an evil empire. Mr. Nader just hates corporations. If the brake pedal was also down to the floor, that doesn't prove anything either.

While Toyota has a lot riding on this issue, their loss is going to be proportionally a lot less than the plaintiffs' (including Mr. Sikes), attorneys' and Mr. Kane's proportional gain. Does that mean any of the above are totally guilty or guilt-free? Nope, it just means skepticism is due the claims on both sides.

 

Anyone notice the tags on this thread? "driver, full, out of control, prius" makes it sound like you shouldn't drive a Prius on a full stomach. ;-)

 

Not to pile on or anything like that, but this is quite revealing:

http://www.thecollegedriver.com/posts/940-California-runaway-Prius-may-be-Hoax-driver-bankrupt-late-on-car-payments

 

Re: Sikes says he has no plans to sue Toyota

FACTUAL? And you know this is true because ....? Based upon his extremely questionable past (facts which the MEDIA dug up, not PriusChat members), it is extremely possible that Mr. Sikes claims are a complete fabrication and publicity stunt.

There have been other famous publicity stunts lately, and I don't need to retell them here. I just want to point out that Mr. Sikes fits the perfect profile of a habitual liar and fraud. We're not convicting him, just pointing out some incredible character issues that ought to be investigated.

Trial lawyers do this all the time. It is absolutely legal and credible to consider the CHARACTER of a plaintiff, defendant, or witness.

We're all just considering the character of this individual in relation to the likelihood that he staged a massive publicity stunt and defamation stunt against a wounded dog (Toyota).

 

IF it is true that he leased his Prius and the car has only 7200 miles on it and is 5 months behind on payment, it is quite possible that this car was not leased to be used as a primary transportation vehicle.

It makes one wonder whether he intended to make ANY payment on this thing at all from the very beginning.

Also, if the guy carries a cell phone around in the car but has no handsfree BT, then the only time he can legally make a call is during an emergency. What are the chances that he'd never made any non-emergency call in his Prius before? But if his Prius is indeed equipped with BT, then why did he have to drop the phone (twice) during the 911 call?

 

I initially suspected the same thing myself, then I looked more closely at the numbers. The 7200 mile ODO reading was reported in 2008 on a 2008 model car, which is a typical amount of driving. Could have been his regular car. The news articles I saw reported he was driving a 2008 Prius.

Also, you can legally use a cellphone in a moving vehicle if you use its speakerphone function. I have to do this since I don't have Bluetooth.

It should be investigated whether he had a BT-equipped Prius.

I hope the NHTSA investigators dust for fingerprints on his accelerator pedal. (do they even have the capability of doing that?) I was a little miffed when I heard that the CHP officers said that their investigation is over, as if they completely took Mr. Sikes' word for everything he said and supposedly did. If they find no fingerprints, well then that's one uncovered lie.

 

Thanks Dr. Fusco for expressing the point, I was about to make, so clearly! Also, why haven't the "BIG THREE" been held to the same standards during these difficult times for Toyota. After all, Ford has recalled it's Fusion & Milan Hybrids for the same brake issues & Honda has recalled one million older models for exploding airbags. Has the media sensationalized these??

 

The media is a business. Sensationalism is their business model.

 

You likely could not dust for prints on the pedal. Dusting for prints and getting usable returns is much more rare in real life than it seems from TV.

 

The Sikes' real estate business has 3 listings including 2 in Chula Vista. That would probably indicate he doesn't drive the 90 miles from Jacumba to San Diego every day. I would guess he leased the car for commuting, not because he loves Prius'.

 

Actually, "emergency brake" is a misnomer. It is never officially called an emergency brake, but a parking brake. It's purpose is to keep the car from rolling while parked -- not to stop you in an emergency.

Anyone who's forgotten to take it off after picking up their car from a maintenance visit knows just how well a fully-engaged parking brake works. You can still drive, but with extra effort and abrupt deceleration. It feels like there's something wrong with your fuel pump, until you notice the brake lever up and do a facepalm.

The point of the parking brake (or "hand brake") is to provide a locking application of brakes on the rear wheels to prevent rolling. This is particularly important in manual transmissions, which don't have the "park" position that automatics do. It doesn't even apply more force on the brakes than the foot pedal does, it just does it in a way that has to be deliberately released. Also, it doesn't engage the front brakes, which is less than useful for stopping power in a modern front-wheel-drive car.

All in all... I really wonder if he actually pulled the parking brake when the cop told him to; the result should have been little more than a long strip of rubber until he wore down and blew a rear tire (and then he would have been REALLY screwed).

 

I tested it at slow speeds ~25mph) and light-moderate brake/gas pedal pressure this morning - couldn't tell that the gas cut out at all, but the car sure slowed down in a hurry.

As long as you aren't holding the phone, then yes. See way too many people around here thinking that they can talk and drive while holding the phone in front of their face while they are going 10mph slower than the rest of traffic and can't stay in their lane.