Police stop runaway Toyota Prius in California
March 8th, 2010A Toyota Prius accelerated out of control on a busy California freeway on Monday before police intervened to bring the vehicle to a standstill, police said.
James Sikes, 61, was driving on the busy Interstate 8 freeway outside San Diego when he noticed his car was starting to accelerate of its own accord, the California Highway Patrol said.
The terrified motorist was helpless as the car hurtled out of control along the road at speeds more than 90 miles per hour.
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does the guy work for a rival auto manufacturer lol?
If i had a toyota i would speed my ass off and then claim accelerator malfunction
The ONLY thing that prevented this clown from putting his car into neutral was common sense. If he was able to pull out his cell phone and dial 911 he certainly would have had no problem putting his car into neutral. In a society where frivolous lawsuits are supported I am absolutely certain there have been more than a few Americans who have thought to fake a runaway situation with their Toyotas so they can sue and get money for nothing. Each and every one of these cases should be investigated by a party NOT related to the US government OR Toyota. If it is proven that someone fabricated a false runaway situation THEY should be charged accordingly. Speeding, reckless endangerment, public mischief and whatever else they can throw at them. For that matter, in cases where fraud is proven on the part of the driver Toyota should sue THEM for damage to their reputation. Sadly I don’t think this is how this ridiculous witch hunt will play out. The bottom line is that every car manufacturer in the world has problems. No technology is perfect. There may be a few isolated cases of unintended acceleration but I think this situation is blown way out of proportion.
What really bewildered me was that this Prius driver did not want to put the car into neutral fearing that the car will flip. I mean, where did this guy get his driver education from? How will a car flip when it’s in neutral?
Now, I’m not a Toyota fanboy (in fact, I have no brand loyalty whatsoever), and maybe there indeed are problems with the drive-by-wire throttles, but I seriously think a lack of proper driver education may play a big part in incidents like this one.