Feds to probe cause of runaway Prius in California

[Kawiski]

EL CAJON, Calif. – The government sent investigators Tuesday to examine a Prius that sped out of control on a California freeway, and Toyota said it wanted to interview the driver as the besieged automaker dealt with a high-profile new headache that raised questions about the safety of its beloved hybrid.

A day after state troopers (CHP) helped the car slow to a stop and its driver to emerge unharmed, Toyota could shed no new light on what might have gone wrong. The Prius is not part of Toyota's vast recall of gas pedals that can become stuck, but it is covered by an earlier recall of floor mats that can catch the accelerator.

The freeway incident happened at the worst possible time for Toyota — just hours after it invited reporters Monday to hear experts insist that electronic flaws could not cause cars to speed out of control under real driving conditions.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration sent two investigators to examine the car, a government spokeswoman said. Toyota Motor Corp. spokesman Brian Lyons said the automaker is sending three of its own technicians to investigate.

Sikes told authorities he was driving on Interstate 8 outside San Diego when the accelerator became stuck. He said the car reached 94 mph before a trooper, calling out instructions from a megaphone, helped him slow down and turn off the engine.

A pair of 911 calls spanning 23 minutes recounted the harrowing experience. In the audio released Tuesday, Sikes sounds panicked at times as he tells a dispatcher about a stuck accelerator. The dispatcher, Leighann Parks, repeatedly tells Sikes to throw the car into neutral and turn off the ignition. Sikes often didn't respond to her instructions.

"My car can't slow down," Sikes tells her. At one point, Parks asks if he had put the car into neutral, and Sikes responds, "I'm trying to control the car!"

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Theories for "Who is this driver?"
> This guy is a disgruntled ex-Toyota employee.
> Or possibly a sucide volunteer secretly paid by either GM, Ford, ?
> Sucidal unhappy husband
> Wanted fame & $$ (from Toyota).

Questions
> This is the 2nd run-away Toyota incident less than a year in San Diego county. Is there some kind of radioactive signal messing up ONLY Toyota ECUs in the area?
> Toyota has performed over 8.5 million recall repairs worldwide (in U.S. about 6 millions). Why has the run-away been reported only in the U.S.?
> In order to shift the gear to N from D in Prius, do you have to press on the brake while trying to shift? Not on my Sonata.
> How many seconds did it take from 0-94 mph?

[FIRE0021]

yea theres something fishy theres only about one place that you could go 94 mph for more then 10 miles and thats between sanclemnte and o side this also suposadly hapened dureing rush hour i just dont see how. also why not just turn off the car or take it out of drive not verry hard. and a prius can actaully go 94mph ?

[pirate33]

I heard on the news yesterday he said turning off the car was not an option due to the power steering would not work and he needed to control the turning of the car cuz the area was curvy ...can't put it in neutral cuz he is trying to control the car .....come on this whole story is BS!

[Lou]

Originally Posted by pirate33

I heard on the news yesterday he said turning off the car was not an option due to the power steering would not work and he needed to control the turning of the car cuz the area was curvy ...can't put it in neutral cuz he is trying to control the car .....come on this whole story is BS!

The prius actually has a push start button. By holding the button down for 5 seconds, it will turn off the ignition. The power steering will go out but it can still be steered but with just more effort.

If this happened to me my first reaction is put the gear in neutral.
if that dont work turn off the ignition. if that dont work hit both brakes and emergency brakes. if that dont work i'll look for a big semi truck and hit it from behind to slow me down. once he feels me hit him, he will slow down his truck and in turn slow me down. His brakes are much stronger....

Something does smell fishy in his story...

[Governator]

I would not be surprised to see those fraudulent cases popping up, there is a shyster Lawyer sitting behind every bush.
What gets me so most is the fact nobody puts the car in Neutral?????

[postfacility]

Originally Posted by Governator

I would not be surprised to see those fraudulent cases popping up, there is a shyster Lawyer sitting behind every bush.
What gets me so most is the fact nobody puts the car in Neutral?????

Agree and all along I felt this guy is just making all this up. We will see the outcome soon. I have a Prius and easily put it in neutral on the freeway as a test.

[Kawiski]

Originally Posted by postfacility

Agree and all along I felt this guy is just making all this up. We will see the outcome soon. I have a Prius and easily put it in neutral on the freeway as a test.

That's what I thought on Prius, shifting easily into N while driving.

Yea, that driver is a full of BS. The 911 dispatcher kept yelling at him on the phone "SHFIT INTO NEUTRAL!" over and over, but that guy didn't do it (didn't even try), and didn't not say anything whether he could or could not shift during the news press interview either.

This guy won a $55K lottery in 2006 and he's a known life-long lottery player according to the news. So, he knows how good free (almost) money smells.

[Kawiski]

At the news conference after the incident...

When asked why he didn't simply put the car in neutral, Sikes responded: "You had to be there. I might go into reverse. I didn't know if the car would flip. I had no idea how it would react."


Who is James Sikes? An article says...

He is a victim or a scam artist with financial motivation. According to the piece, Sikes filed for bankruptcy in 2008 and is in debt for $700,000 thanks to the toileting real estate market. He’s also reportedly slipped behind on his Prius payments which is about $500 per month.

Well, what do you smell here?

[rlovebk]

I'm sure his Prius has the same push-button start-stop button my Lexus GS300 has. If you hold it in for more than 5 seconds it will turn the car off. Safety feature. Not lottery (optional) equipment.