While we don't have any technical information provided by an in-depth investigation yet, yesterday's "out of control" Prius story just doesn't pass the smell test. Well, it does, but that aroma is BS.
Let's look at why:
The driver, James Sikes, didn't follow the recently very publicized directions on how to shut off his car and stop the acceleration. He says that he knows about the current Toyota recalls and inquired with his dealership at a recent maintenance check about whether his car was a part of the recall. Yet, according to him, he didn't feel comfortable turning the car off while the car was accelerating to higher speeds. Which leads me to…
He says people were passing him "left and right" while going 90+ MPH, and he was afraid he'd get rear-ended if he turned the car off and suddenly stopped. First of all, I've been on some SoCal interstates and while people drive pretty crazy, it's nothing compared to the NASCAR track that is I-85 in Atlanta and even those people don't pass someone "left and right" who is going over 90 miles per hour.
If he was so worried about getting rear-ended by turning the car off, why does he says he "stood" on the brake pedal to no effect? Hoping that the brakes will kick in and bring the car to a screeching halt has much more dangerous repercussions than turning the car off and moving onto the shoulder.
Mr. Sikes says the accelerator stuck and he couldn't pull it up when he leaned under the steering wheel to do so. But the brake override system in the Prius would have negated the stuck accelerator and slowed the car down normally as you see in the video below.
The driver stated that it all started when he pressed the gas to pass someone and "then the thing just jumped and kept going." Really? We're talking about a 1.5 liter engine here. Anyone who has driven a 2nd Gen Prius would never say the car "jumps" into acceleration. 3rd Gen under PWR mode, maybe, but not the 2nd Gen.
He never tried the emergency brake until the California Highway Patrolman instructed him to do so. Really? It's called an EMERGENCY brake for a reason. Also, as stated by vegasjetskier in the PriusChat Forums, he says the CHP trooper saw the brake lining flying off the car. Again, not likely, but if it did, he would then have next-to-no braking at all when the brake pad metal contacted the brake disc. But then he says that when he added the parking brake the car began to slow. Doesn't the parking brake act on the same rear brake linings that the hydraulic brake system that he was already using does? So the parking brake should have no additional effect.
Again, we don't have any technical details yet, so this post could be totally premature. We'll hopefully know more soon.
