Posted on 03/10/2010 6:36:28 AM PST by justlurking
Before he called 911, James Sikes says he reached down with his hand to loosen the "stuck" accelerator on his 2008 Toyota Prius, his other hand on the steering wheel. The pedal didn't move.
"My car can't slow down," he began when a California Highway Patrol dispatcher answered his call.
[...]
During the two 911 calls, Sikes ignored many of the dispatcher's questions, saying later that he had to put his phone on the seat to keep his hands on the wheel.
Leighann Parks, a 24-year-old dispatcher, repeatedly told him to throw the car into neutral but got no answers.
"He was very emotional, you could tell on the line he was panicked," Parks told reporters outside the CHP's El Cajon office. "I could only imagine being in his shoes and being that stressed."
Neibert told Sikes after the CHP caught up with him to shift to neutral but the driver shook his head no. Sikes told reporters he didn't go into neutral because he worried the car would flip.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
“.. turning the ignition off simply shuts the engine down ... something that is inherently obvious to me.”
Gotta be careful with that though. One notch too far and the steering wheel is locked.
If I was worried about my safety, I’d sacrifice the engine.
How in the name of all that’s holy would a car flip if you put it into neutral??
Good grief...
911 ok.
Turning off the ignition doesn't disable your steering. It just requires more effort to turn the wheel.
Now, the engine might blow from the RPMs but can't really get a grip on the flipping concern.
Modern engines have a governor that limits the RPM. But, that's a bogus concern when the alternative is a collision at 50+ mph.
From the start there has been something fishy about this campaign against Toyota. It sounds like something designed to restore GM after its clunker-humiliation. I would like to see some information about any connections of the drivers with the union or political friends of GM.
exactly....I have think the MSM and the gov’t are GUILTY of malpractice for not putting out public service announcements stating that if your car starts accelerating uncontrollably, put the DAMN THING IN NEUTRAL! How stupid can people be to not know this? Something smells to high heaven here. The NTSB and Congress are asking the CEO of Toyota to commit hari kari on live tv in congressional hearings, yet noone in the gov’t has enough sense to think maybe we should try and EDUCATE the public on what to do in case of a stuck accelerator.
This has become more about destroying Toyota than keeping the public safe. If this guy had crashed into another car and killed someone else, I would be all for charging HIM with involuntary manslaughter. Once he was TOLD to put the car in neutral and didn’t, he was liable for anything that hppened after.
“Popping into neutral would cause the engine to over RPM, and potentially destroy the engine - turning the ignition off simply shuts the engine down ... something that is inherently obvious to me.”
If you’re supposedly in fear for you life because your car is out of control, why would you be concerned about hurting the engine? In any case, all modern cars have, at the very least, rev limiters which will prevent the engine from over-revving.
He heard it somewhere, many don’t figure out things or think for themselves, just go on heresay and bad advice.
That explains a lot!
ROFLMAO!
I bet this guy was thinking about his upcoming lawsuit against Toyota prior to this happening.
Including the east coast incident this morning, I’m thinking we have some dissatisfied Prius owners who want their money back.
This is a huge pile of BS.
The Prius owner won $65K in the California lottery. Perhaps his stash was running out.
Escatly...never turn off the engine or you are sure to lose control of power steering and power breaks. No engine, no ‘power’ and a locking steering wheel.
Why didn’t he get another job to make the payments on it rather than pull this stunt to force the dealer to take it back........
I was told by a Freeper that being a hybrid makes a Prius not like other cars and it may not go into neutral. Something about vacuum lines or such. Being a Grandma, I don’t get it. My car would go into neutral.
This whole story smells like Pelosi/Reid/0b0z0 telling us that we need National Health Care to save us.
This was either a 15 minute of fame stunt like the kid that wasn’t in the floating balloon, or this bozo was hired by trial lawyers and Goverment Motors to pull this stunt.
I can tell you from experience (at least in a 1976 Mustang) that turning the ignition switch off while the car is moving is not the best idea. The steering column will lock if you turn the wheel to steer. Scary as all get out at 60 MPH and made future actions taken on the words of "I wonder what will happen if....?" be thought out a LOT more.
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