Why the "Out of Control" Prius Driver Is Full of It

Don't be so quick to second guess the basic validity of his story. Just because he didn't use the emergency brake, didn't try to put the car into neutral and didn't try to power it off doesn't mean that he didn't experience unintended acceleration in his vehicle.

 

I knew this guy was a fake. Did anyone catch this article about Mr. Sikes?

"Man at Wheel of 'Out-of-Control' Prius Has Troubled Financial Past"
www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,589090,00.html

Don't waste your time trying to determine why his Prius couldn't stop. I think he thought this was his opportunity to cash in.

Dave

 

At one point, when the Prius was still new technology and new to the U.S. market, there were all manner of arguments that were lodged against the Prius. Things like the environmental burden to manufacture the Prius' battery pack come to mind. Another one was the risk of electrocution for first responders who would be responding to an accident involving the Prius; remember that one? Most were discussed in threads on PC. The approach that was taken back then was to focus on the facts. For each argument against the Prius, the facts were developed and presented in a rational, logical approach. From a factual, logical examination of each claim that was lodged against the Prius, the truth was found, and in every instance that I can remember, the argument against the Prius was exposed as being specious. Eventually, the false arguments stopped.

Fast forward to the present, and there is a collective defensiveness about any bad press for Toyota and specifically, the Prius. Now, when a story about Prius sudden acceleration is posted, the person who experienced the event is savaged. Go and assassinate the person's character in hopes of intimidating other individuals from reporting similar experiences. In that regard (intimidation) I believe my lynching characterization is fair. Lynching in the South was used as a tool to intimidate blacks from pursuing their civil rights; intimidation is being used today (and reveled in by many on this board) to keep people from going public with their experiences. Calling Sikes 'pond scum' doesn't do anything about what Sikes' experienced.

For my part, if I attacked a PC member for making a post that I thought was not in search of the truth of the episode of sudden acceleration, I am offering my apologies. But no apologies are being offered to those who have directly or indirectly participated in attempts to attack Sikes' character absent proof of malicious intent on Sikes' part.

I realize that PC as a business faces something of a conflict - the forum has to balance a number of competing demands, but it would seem that the truth is the best long-term guide. It worked once; it can work again.

EDIT: The 2 posts immediately above this post are a perfect illustration of the challenge facing the Prius community - one says in effect let the facts come out; the other says that Sikes is working a financial angle.

 

Refusing to put the car into neutral, power off, or use the emergency brake is the perfect reason to be quick to second guess the basic validity of his story.

 

The following link on Forbes is a well-written story by a reporter who is not on the media bandwagon.

Toyota Hybrid Horror Hoax - Forbes.com

He didn't present all the questionable observations on Mr. Sikes (such as wearing the Corvette jacket), but he did hit upon the big ones. Very refreshing to see such a well-written, logical argument. Makes you wonder why not a single member of the mainstream media picked up on any of these clues until two or three days afterward. Because the mainstream media is in full attack mode against Toyota (because it sells more advertising) and the inertia is too great to overcome.

 

Well this guy is a jacket wearing member of a Corvette club and he can't pull himself together to stop a Prius after like 25 minutes? This proves that the Corvette is a chick car and most of the people that drive them are posers.

 

In this instance, the mainstream media is beginning to show skepticism about Mr. Sikes' alleged experiences including USA Today and Forbes that I've seen. If he did experience what he said he did, then it's a shame that his closet is full of skeletons. His tale may well hamper the investigation into the phenomenon. Even bad people experience bad things, but it raises the level of skepticism for a lot of people.

It may not have been your intention, but every post I've seen appears to be based on your assumption that Toyota is lying and no one suing Toyota or wanting a new vehicle (from Toyota!) has ever lied, exaggerated or simply been wrong about SUA. That makes everyone else seem defensive.

I bought my first Toyota in 2008. If a Detroit auto maker had a comparable model I might have gone that route. My next car may be a LEAF. Well, the next one I buy anyway (I'm soon going to inherit a 63 Pontiac Bonneville 4dr hardtop). I'm no apologist for Toyota. So far so good but then I've never had a serious (expensive!) problem with any of my Ford GM or AMC vehicles. I do have a problem with people who jump to conclusions based on what they hear or read in the media. It tends to make it more difficult to get to the real answer for one thing. I learned a long time ago that just because B follows A doesn't mean that A caused B.

 

Like I said before, I'm still cheesed that the mainstream media, including my beloved NPR, believed Sikes in toto, implying that the car was faulty, rather than just laying out the facts as they were at the time.

The alleged capture of American al-Qa'ida operative Adam Gadahn was met with with enthusiasm, until it was discovered that oops, not him. Same here. I try to remember this: initial reporting is always, always wrong.

 

Are you crazy? It costs no where near that to go through the classroom and "behind the wheel" training to get a motorcycle license.

The costs are about $250 and there is about 5 hours of classroom and 10 hours of "behind the wheel" training.

Not to mention, that the courses are optional. You are free to show up to the DMV, take the written course and riding test for a nominal fee.

 

I don't have a motorcycle classification on my drivers license. The number that I posted was based on a quick conversation about 5 years ago. You are posting $250. Take the $250 number. Are you advocating that any prospective Prius/hybrid driver be required to have a hybrid operator classification restriction on their drivers license?

 

Hey I did the flip to neutral trick today three times while driving at highway speed AND I didn't flip the car! Yeah!

 

No, but I'd certain advocate that ALL drivers be required to take that $250 driver's ed/training course which would include hybrid training. Even if the course cost 10x that I'd still be for it. It's way too easy to get a license and there are way too many poorly trained drivers on the roads.

 

And the truth is:
* Sikes filed bankruptcy
* Sikes runs an adult swingers website
* Sikes' press appearances are not plausible
* Sikes' report that he thought Neutral would flip the car is not plausible
* Sikes' report that he couldn't hold the phone just when the 911 operator was telling him to hold down the power button is not plausible

All these *truths* about Sikes suggest his story is not plausible.

What *truths* do you have that suggest his story is plausible?

 

I thought this was interesting from german-way.com

They go on to note that after 2013, German drivers will go to the EU drivers license with similar requirements.

 

wow what the hell is wrong with these run away priuses ?

 

Apart from the hybrid training (because hybrids weren't even a gleam in anyone's minds eye when I first got my drivers license), when I was in high school, there was a program that included a semester's worth of classroom coursework followed by I think 4 weeks of actual behind-the-wheel practice driving before you could apply for a drivers license at age 16. It worked for me; I have not had a single accident where I was the at fault party and I have been driving for just shy of 40 years.

 

How about a response to your suggestive truths?

When does filing for BK make you a liar?
When does running an adult swingers site make you a liar?
When does Sikes' report that he thought Neutral would flip the car make him a liar? The last I checked, being un-informed doesn't rise to perjury unless you are providing testimony under oath that you know to be false.
Not giving a plausible press conference doesn't make you a liar. I wonder how you would respond to having a bunch of microphones stuck in your face? Paparazzi were probably going through his garbage the morning of the presser.
"Sikes' report that he couldn't hold the phone just when the 911 operator was telling him to hold down the power button is not plausible." And why is that? Perhaps your cell phone doesn't have a speaker phone capability? But just because your phone doesn't have speaker phone capability, doesn't mean that other cellular phones don't have speaker phone capability. I know for a fact that my CrackBerry has speaker phone capability; I have even used the speakerphone function on more than one occasion.

 

AOL seems to be re-cycling the USAToday and Jalopnik stories.

It will be interesting to see what NHTSA and Toyota have to say.

 

If there is no recording function to the Toyota EDR, that is a crying shame. I will provide a counterpoint to what you are posting for reference.

In 2005, I was leasing a new Volvo S60R. At around 6,000 miles, I was noticing really bad mileage (if memory serves, the EPA numbers for the car were 16 City and 22 Highway; I was seeing actual calculated results of 13 City and 16 Highway). I raised a fuss with the dealer and they in turn raised a fuss with Volvo corporate. Finally there was a meeting at the dealer with the Volvo regional technical manager.

The net of the meeting was that the Volvo rep could not come up with a reason for why the car was getting such bad mileage. The proposed action plan was to send the log files off to Sweden for analysis. I was warned that if I had made any changes to the car (as in performance tuning), the log files would show it (via higher turbo pressure readings) and my warranty would be voided. I was fine with the warning as the car was box stock and so we commenced sending the log files off to Sweden. Each Friday I would stop at the dealer and they would retrieve the log files from the car and e-mail them off to Sweden.

The analysis results were eye-popping. They would know when I was 'punching' the go pedal and hitting the brakes (and how hard I was hitting the brakes). They knew when I was driving on the highway and when I was driving a city cycle. And, and, and. The analysis continued for 2 weeks with really no consensus about why the bad mileage. I was about to start lemon law proceedings when at around 7,500 miles, the mileage improved to a little better than the EPA ratings for the car. The consensus opinion was that the engine was going through a break-in process and during the break-in process, the mileage was off. I couldn't disprove the claim, and since it seemed to fit with the facts, I accepted it.

That was the state of the art in 2005. If Toyota has elected to provide a less robust logging function in 2007 and 2009/2010, then shame on them and they are reaping their rewards, as a more robust data logging function could actually prove the presence of operator error.