Toyota on Sikes' Runaway Prius: We're Not Buying It

Toyota on Sikes' Runaway Prius: We're Not Buying It

By Michelle Krebs March 15, 2010

James Sikes said last week the accelerator on his 2008 Toyota Prius hybrid-electric vehicle stuck open and the car took him prisoner on a 20-minute high-speed run on a San Diego freeway.

After examining and testing Sikes' Prius for two days, Toyota Motor Corp. engineers effectively are saying, "No sell."

Sikes' account of the event, in which he said his Prius accelerated of its own accord to speeds as high as 94 mph, has come under increasing skepticism in the week since it was reported, initially by Sikes himself calling 911. Now Toyota's investigation results -- although some will brand them as anything but unbiased -- add more doubt regarding Sikes' credibility.

"While a final report is not yet complete, there are strong indications that the driver's account of the event is inconsistent with the findings of the preliminary analysis," Toyota said in a press conference Monday.

Toyota engineers tried to replicate the conditions of the event, even driving the same route Sikes used. Investigators from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, working alongside Toyota's personnel, also have indicated they so far have not been able to get Sikes' Prius to repeat the reported malfunctions.

In addition to saying the Prius' engine management system shows no diagnostic trouble codes and that the accelerator pedal itself appears to be functioning normally, downloaded data indicate "numerous, rapidly repeated on-and-off applications of both the accelerator and the brake pedals."

Sikes claimed to be "standing" on the brake pedal in an attempt to slow the car, but Toyota said Monday the Prius' brakes were applied 250 times during the approximately 23-minute event, for an average of less than every six seconds.

Toyota's investigation also found the transmission selector and button for the ignition both to be functioning normally. Sikes was advised over his cell phone to shift the transmission into neutral and also to depress the ignition button as methods to stop. The car finally was slowed when a California Highway Patrol officer arrived and bullhorned advice from his moving cruiser.

Toyota also said the Prius' front brakes were replaced and the car was driven to purposely abuse the new brakes with continuous light application in order to overheat them, but they still were able to bring the car to a halt.

Finally and potentially most damaging to Sikes' account, Toyota's investigators said the Prius' designed-in powertrain protection feature, which in effect operates as a brake-override, was functioning properly. The system will cut engine power if it sees the accelerator is depressed more than 50 percent and the brake pedal is being simultaneously applied.

"Toyota engineers believe that it would be extremely difficult for the Prius to be driven at a continuous high speed with more than light brake-pedal pressure, and that the assertion that the vehicle could not be stopped with the brakes is fundamentally inconsistent with basic vehicle design and the investigation observations," the company concluded in its release. -- Bill Visnic, Senior Editor

Michelle Krebs:  is Editor-in-Chief of AutoObserver.com. Follow @AutoObserver on Twitter.