Runaway Prius Hoax?
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The federal government and Toyota are questioning whether or not a 2008 Toyota Prius really sped down a San Diego freeway topping speeds of 90 MPH last Monday afternoon after investigators with the embattled automaker and government transportation officials were unable to make the car speed out of control as its owner, James Sikes, said it did on the California freeway last week.
The federal government said Monday that it cannot explain the alleged sudden high-speed acceleration that caused the Prius to race out of control for 30 miles before Sikes was able to come to a stop with the help of a California Highway Patrol officer.
In a statement Monday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that it continues to investigate but adds “we may never know exactly what happened with this car.”
In the past six weeks, Toyota has recalled millions of cars because of floor mats that can snag gas pedals or accelerators that can sometimes stick. Sikes’ car was covered by the floor mat recall, but not the one for sticky accelerators. He later told reporters that he tried to slam on the gas pedal during his terrifying ride, but claimed it didn’t “move at all.”
Written by Castina on March 15th, 2010 | Tagged as: Popular Culture
On March 14th 2010, DK wrote:
Of course the government and Toyota doesn't know why it happened, if they did, they would have a fix for it.
As an Embedded Software Engineer I know that when you have an intermittent software bug you don't reboot the system when it is in the failed state (i.e. turn the car off and you're back to square one, impossible to recreate)
You can't drive the car a few time after that and claim everything is fine, doesnt work that way, and anyone that think it does should not be in the business of building cars.
As for the brakes being applied intermittently, isnt that what ABS does?
On March 15th 2010, sal monella wrote:
I can't believe people are still debating this. I knew it was a fraud from the first time I heard the tape. Who would believe you could stay on the phone for 23 Minutes supposedly at full throttle and not try to shift gears ,shut the car off , SOMETHING!!!!!!!! Then when the police show up the brakes miraculously work as does the shut of button….PLEAAAAASE!!!!!!!!
Then when you learn this guy's history ,it's a slam dunk!!