Did Bankrupt Runaway Prius Driver Fake "Unintended Acceleration?"

Agreed. This guy smells very fishy to me, and I hope he gets investigated with a microscope.

Tom

 

He probably staged it, but anonymous tipsters don't help prove that if the claim of being behind in payments on the Prius later turns out to be false information.
Any false claims against him make people feel more sympathetic towards him.

 

"shift to neutral and brake without pumping." Wow, that is a great note to put on the dash, I might put one on mine for kicks. Perhaps the note would have been more helpful to him if it had read "To stop the car remove foot from accelerator, then push brake pedal."
"do not push the accelerator to stop!" Since when has being a doctor been a guarantee that you have common sense or coordination?

 

Actually, the story is that this retired doctor put the car in reverse and it suddenly accelerated up to 35-40 mph in a parking lot, glanced off one car, jumped the curb and went through some shrubbery. I don't believe he's dishonest, just wrong. It really is a pet peeve of mine when someone confuses lying and being wrong. Even moving forward (according to Car and Driver) it takes 1320 feet for a Prius to go from 0-81 mph. And that's with both the ICE and the electric motor working, not just the latter.

 

The best part of that story is he had that note on the dash telling him what to do....but instead he says he pushed the brake with BOTH feet to stop it.

What I do find most amazing are all these stories are coming out now...within months of each other. What are the chances of 2 Prius' (both in the same country) having problems within a day of each other? And yet, I've never heard of any run away Prius' here in Canada (there could be and if so correct me please) where in BC almost ALL taxi's are Prius'...never mind the rest of Canada, or the world.
As someone already stated on PC, all Prius' are built in the same factory.

 

I will only touch upon this guy's story in reference to manufacturing and it's proccesses as an engineer - although I am not an industrial/factory engineer. Defects are a matter of course in any manufacturer's calculations from a bad computer, to a bad seat covering or even a crack in the plastic dashboard.
However, in reference to sudden acceleration and the brake-override, let me just bring to question the original concept of the Prius - "to save gas" yes? And as part of "gas saving measures" it had some new feature to cut off the engine when you are idle for more than a few seconds. I can not find the proper references, but I recall reading something about brakes, speed below 40mph, and idling to x-secs. I would imagine that braking would be a key to detecting when to regenerate power.
This is some speculation and I had thought about it ever since the 1st gen prius - that certain cost savings circuit designs would have to be defaulted to release acceleration before regeneration could take place. But this is speculation and is purely only food for thought. My main point, again, is for people to think about the original concept of the Prius - "to save gas" and "not burn gas" which to my mind, would mean to use the accelerator as little as possible while still getting to where you're going within a decent amount of time.

My Two Cents.

 

i don't think it was rude at all. everyone has a right to there opinion, before, during and after the investigation. as do you. many people feel there is a conspiracy going on. this guy certainly looks guilty. time may or may not tell. there may never be a final solution.

 

I must assume that Sikes is not an expert on mass, vector forces, accelerating factors, braking effects, etc. So how could he make this so called analytical decision based on nothing that the car is going to flip if put in N. To top it off he was in a panic mode and supposedly had heart problems. As for being 5 monthe behind in Prius pmts??? I would think his car would be repossesed after three months. I believe niether side.

 

I wish my Prius could go 40mph in reverse. The most it could go is maybe 20? I do not know. Within a week Sikes is gonna be toast. I have no pity for the putz.

 

If this whole thing is staged, Toyota ought to sue the person involved out of existence (and sue ABC along the way, too). I dislike cheap publicity stunts like this.

 

Regarding the case of the MN doctor who reported the incident in reverse--my understanding is, in reverse, only the electric motor is engaged, not the ICE. Am I mistaken? Also, if the thing was really going 35+, my guess is the damage would be a lot worse.

Note that I'm not calling this guy a liar or anything, just asking a technical question.

 

All of the reversing torque comes from MG2. The ICE can come on and provide power, but it still goes through MG2.

If you want the technical details, what happens in reverse is that the ICE mechanically tries to move the car forward, but also spins MG1 as a generator. The power from MG1 goes to MG2, which moves the car forward, despite the ICE fighting against it.

Tom