California Prius driver goes on a wild ride
One man's four-cylinder Toyota Prius reached 90 mph before he was able to get the car to slow down with the assistance of a California Highway Patrol officer.
By Melissa Hincha-OwnbyTue, Mar 09 2010 at 11:10 AM EST
Photo: infrogmation /Flickr Californian Jim Sikes, owner of a 2008 Toyota Prius, went on a wild ride yesterday despite already having the recall work performed on his vehicle. As he was driving on Interstate 8 near San Diego, his accelerator stuck. Sikes quickly began to apply the brakes in a firm and consistent manner, as Toyota has instructed, but the car continued to speed up.
Ultimately, this four-cylinder, eco-friendly Prius went up to 90 mph, and Sikes was scared. He called 911 and unfortunately none of the suggestions from the 911 operator worked. Eventually, a California Highway Patrol (CHP) officer was dispatched to help avert potential catastrophe. The portion of Interstate 8 that Sikes was traveling on is hilly and curvy, not a place that is easy to navigate at 90 mph.
Thankfully, the CHP officer was able to provide a new tactic to Sikes via the officer’s public address system — use the brake and the emergency brake at the same time. This worked well enough to slow the vehicle down to about 50 mph, which allowed Sikes to turn off the car and let it coast to a stop. As a precautionary measure, the CHP officer parked his car immediately in front of the runaway Prius.
Although this story ended well for Sikes, it raises new concerns about Prius recalls. Sikes had already taken his 2008 Toyota Prius in for the recall work and was told that it wasn’t on the list. If the dealer was correct in stating that his vehicle wasn’t on the official recall list, this is bad news for Toyota. There may be even more affected vehicles out there than originally thought.
For more information about which Toyota vehicles are affected by these recalls, visit the official Toyota Recall Information website.
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Comments
Mary Mattlage
04/02/2010 14:44 PM
My husband and I have a 2007 Prius. Both of us have experienced this exceleration problem. We took it to be serviced, had to pay $120 and leave the car for half a day. They found nothing, did nothing! As we both know this happened, we are afraid to drive the car. We are paying a lot for a car which we can't use, can't sell! This is not a brake pedal problem, but must be the computer. I was able to stop the "zooming" by putting the car into neutral, but I was on 101 freeway at the time and.... More
Phil Signet
03/09/2010 16:13 PM
....is why this guy just didn't put his car into Neutral...thats *way* easier than all of this brake business....
