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| Thread ID: 107969 | 2010-03-09 05:10:00 | Run Away Prius | SurferJoe46 (51) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 865278 | 2010-03-09 05:10:00 | I saw this on the evening new here in SoCal --------> A Prius driver calls 911 after accelerating to pass another vehicle on a California freeway and finding that he could not control his car. EL CAJON, California -- A California Highway Patrol officer helped slow a runaway Toyota Prius from 94 mph to a safe stop on Monday after the car's accelerator became stuck on a San Diego County freeway, the CHP said. Prius driver James Sikes called the police emergency dispatcher about 1:30 p.m. after accelerating to pass another vehicle on Interstate 8 near La Posta and finding that he could not control his car, the CHP said. "I pushed the gas pedal to pass a car and it did something kind of funny ... it jumped and it just stuck there," the 61-year-old driver said at a news conference. "As it was going, I was trying the brakes...it wasn't stopping, it wasn't doing anything and it just kept speeding up," Sikes said, adding he could smell the brakes burning he was pressing the pedal so hard. A patrol car pulled alongside the Prius and officers told Sikes over a loudspeaker to push the brake pedal to the floor and apply the emergency brake. "They also got it going on a steep upgrade," said Officer Jesse Udovich. "Between those three things, they got it to slow down." After the car decelerated to about 50 mph, Sikes turned off the engine and coasted to a halt. The officer then maneuvered his car in front of the Prius as a precautionary block, Udovich said. In a statement, Toyota said it has dispatched a field technical specialist to San Diego to investigate the incident. Toyota has recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6 million in the United States -- since last fall because of acceleration problems in multiple models and braking issues in the Prius. Toyota owners have complained of their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration of Toyota vehicles since 2000. One of the crashes claimed the life of a CHP officer last August. Off-duty CHP Officer Mark Saylor was killed along with his wife, her brother and the couple's daughter after their Lexus' accelerator got stuck in La Mesa. The Toyota-manufactured loaner vehicle slammed into a sport utility vehicle at about 100 mp, careened off the freeway, hit an embankment, overturned and burst into flames. Sorry Toyota - it ain't the carpets at all. |
SurferJoe46 (51) | ||
| 865279 | 2010-03-09 05:29:00 | I hope they find the cause of the problem but they should use aircraft engineers to check it out. No wonder the japs came second in ww2 their planes probably got jammed throttles. |
prefect (6291) | ||
| 865280 | 2010-03-09 05:30:00 | Though he at least should have shifted into neutral. Not that it helped all the other people who claim to have done the same thing. SurferJoe, perhaps you can enlighten me on that one. What can cause a car not to shift into neutral when the shifter is moved to that position? Could it only be an electronic fault, or is this actually a normal side effect of WOT? |
george12 (7) | ||
| 865281 | 2010-03-09 06:20:00 | Last week ABC News featured a demonstration by a US engineer of how introducing a short into the control electronics could induce the runaway accelerator problem. Tonight, there was a response from Toyota in which they replicated the problem on a range of Japanese autos, and somehow managed to argue from this that it couldn't be due to Toyota electronics. But this suggests to me that the Japanese auto manufacturers are using a generic design in their accelerator controls, and the particular implementation being used by Toyota is faulty. They seem to be determined to dig themselves deeper in the hole. |
Jayess64 (8703) | ||
| 865282 | 2010-03-09 07:21:00 | Why is it that he just couldn't turn off the engine - surely this cutting edge hybrid car can be shut down to short circuit a problem like this - I find it hard to understand how a mature driver when confronted with a problem like this didn't try to sort it - ie all the brakes and engine shutdown, because this is the advice the police gave him and it worked. | KenESmith (6287) | ||
| 865283 | 2010-03-09 07:25:00 | This reminds me of a joke that circulated in the US years ago - How to kill your mother-in-law and not get charged for murder - "Give her a second hand Toyota" | KenESmith (6287) | ||
| 865284 | 2010-03-09 07:48:00 | Last week ABC News featured a demonstration by a US engineer of how introducing a short into the control electronics could induce the runaway accelerator problem. Yes and I could kill all of you people by sneaking into your houses and transposing the phase and earth wires on the power socket you use for your toaster each morning. |
decibel (11645) | ||
| 865285 | 2010-03-09 08:00:00 | Yes and I could kill all of you people by sneaking into your houses and transposing the phase and earth wires on the power socket you use for your toaster each morning. You think so? Ever tried doing that? |
Jayess64 (8703) | ||
| 865286 | 2010-03-09 08:52:00 | This is only the start of it. All the electronic bullshit they're putting on cars now is a recipe for disaster. You need a mechanical link between you & the important bits such as steering, brakes & throttle. Just wait for it, there's going to be a real good one soon | Phil B (648) | ||
| 865287 | 2010-03-09 08:59:00 | Absolutely agree, recipe for disaster especially when the cars get old. Maybe they could have a system where when you put the brake on it cuts the throttle back to idle with triple redundant backup. |
prefect (6291) | ||
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