Toyota, CHP Investigate Report of Runaway Prius; Driver Claims Brakes Didn't Work
By Scott Doggett March 9, 2010
The driver of a 2008 Toyota Prius said his car uncontrollably accelerated to more than 90 miles per hour on a San Diego-area freeway before a CHP officer helped him bring the runaway hybrid vehicle under control.
Driver James Sikes, 61, was not injured in the incident that occurred Monday and is but one of a number of claims of unintended acceleration among Priuses that has caused the greatest image crisis in Toyota's history.
The incident occurred in the same county where an off-duty CHP officer and three family members were killed last August in an incident that brought the issue to national attention and led to the first major recall over unintended acceleration.
Sikes said he had received a recall notice to take his car into a Toyota dealership, but when he did, he was told that his car was not on recall lists, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. The automaker recalled the 2004-2009 Prius hybrids due to concerns that loose floor mats may entrap accelerator pedals, causing unintended acceleration.
On Monday afternoon, Sikes overtook another car on Interstate 8 near San Diego, and then the Prius accelerated beyond his control, the highway patrol said. For the next 20 minutes, Sikes sped 30 miles along the freeway, he said.
"I pushed the gas pedal to pass a car and it did something kind of funny," Sikes said at a Monday press conference. "It jumped and it just stuck there. As it was going, I was trying the brakes ... It wasn't stopping."
Sikes called 911 and the highway patrol dispatched Todd Niebert. The trooper pulled alongside the Prius and used his cruiser's loudspeaker to tell Sikes to use the emergency and regular brakes and to turn off the car's engine.
Once the car slowed to around 50 mph, Sikes turned off the car's engine and it rolled to a stop with the trooper's car in front of it. The two cars did not touch, police said.
Toyota said in a statement that it had dispatched a technical specialist to investigate the report and offer assistance.
Toyota has recalled more than 8 million vehicles worldwide for mechanical problems that can cause the accelerator to stick and for the risk that floor mats could trap an accelerator.
Unintended acceleration in Toyota and Lexus vehicles has been linked to at least five U.S. crash deaths since 2007. Authorities are investigating 47 other crash deaths over the past decade.
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A few years ago I had a floor mat stick on my accelerator pedal. I was able to reach down and pull the mat off the pedal and thought little of it until Toyota's recent problems. That car and the one I now drive are stick shifts and I could simply push the clutch down. I've seen the media miss the point many drivers are not familiar with their cars. This was illustrated by the recent Prius incident in San Diego, CA where the driver was afraid to put the car in neutral and took pressure off the brakes when they started to smell (keep pressing till you stop). In Santee, CA where Mark Saylor was driving a Lexus with an over sized floor mat from a SUV. That's not a manufacturing defect it's the dealer putting in the wrong floor mat. Also if Saylor a CHP officer or Ken Collier a Sheriffs deputy killed in an unrelated accident in Santee were unable to maintain control of their vehicles how can civilians be expected to maintain control of their vehicles?
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