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 ...
Let’s see how fast he lawyers up.
That will be the tell.
Is Toyota recalling cars worldwide?
Power steering and power brakes work just fine when the engine is turned off. They are just harder to turn or apply.
Is it possible he thought he wouldn’t be able to “control the car” if it were in neutral. One can still steer in neutral, though. Maybe he wasn’t thinking...
Afraid that the car would flip if he shifted into neutral? I am more than skeptical of this. The media is taking this guy’s word as the Gospel and putting the burden of proof on Toyota.
I had a ‘79 Oldsmobile get stuck in cruise control and wouldn’t shut off when I hit the brake, so I slipped it into neutral and shut the engine off. While it was coasting, I turned on the flashers. Then I restarted and everything was fine. Why it happened, I never found out. Never happened again.
Sure, the wheel fought me a bit as expected at first, but I was in heavy traffic and fully understood that in the video game of life, you only get ONE MAN. I was determined to survive and not do any harm to anyone else either.
I think most people would have done the same. Have people gotten stupider over the years?
You’re asking Prius drivers to use common sense?
New cars have governors on them to avoid over revving. It is not an issue at all.
LOL!
Don’t all cars now have a computer “brain” which records incidents, errors, and speed?
Why haven’t we heard about this?
What did the dealer find when looking at the data?
This whole thing stinks like global warming.
oen wonders why he didn’t do certain things that t trained person should have considered, but I’m amazed that these cars keep going haywire, and yet people have the time to make call phone calles, etc..
and nobody shifts to neutral, shuts of the key, etc..
Could this be an elaborite ruse to avoid a speeding ticket?
The Prius will shift into neutral just fine. All of the accessories are electrically powered anyway (including the power steering, air conditioning, etc.) because the engine automatically shuts down when stopped at intersections.
The car's computer controls:
the accelerator,
the brakes,
the engine,
the transmission,
everything is “fly-by-wire”
If it's a computer problem, like other articles I've read maintain, what's to say that the computer won't allow you to manually shift to neutral? That could be the case since the computer monitors the engine RPM and would know that a shift to neutral at that engine speed could destroy the engine. If you try to turn off the engine you might lock the steering wheel (that magnificent government mandated anti-theft device from the late 60’s) and then be unable to control where the car goes (bad thing at 100 MPH).
Toyota first said it was the floor mats, but I read of one family who died after running into a lake because of uncontrolled acceleration. Where were the floor mats? Investigators found them in the trunk. Next Toyota said to have shims installed in the accelerator assembly to tighten the return spring. And there have been stuck accelerators AFTER that fix.
Years ago I had a 1989 Dodge (Mitsubishi) Colt. One morning while driving to work the check engine light came on and the engine died. Graveyard dead. Nothing wrong with the engine, it was the damned computer. Part was going to cost more than the car was worth.
I much prefer my classic air-cooled VW beetle. The only electronics on it is the stereo. I have total control of my car, no stupid computer “interfacing” the driver with the machine.
BTW, I am an electronics technician by trade.
Smelling large rodent! What better way to trade one in at a nice above market profit.
Check this out (posted on Drudge):
http://radio.woai.com/cc-common/news/sections/newsarticle.html?feed=119078&article=6855247
I think the story smells. I’m wondering if it will come out later that he’s just trying to capitalize on Toyota problems.
Taking the guy’s story at face value, one thing becomes painfully obvious.
Witness: The guy is supposedly in a car that is accelerating in an out of control manner. He chooses to call 911 (government) to help him with his problem. If the guy is able to place a phone call to 911 while driving an out of control car, he’s darn well able to take a few moments to think and then figure out a way out of his problem.
But no, he’s an indoctrinated liberal who expects government to take care of him.
Needs his hand held
With or w/o pwr. breaks(or beeks).
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