After the car decelerated to about 50 mph, Sikes turned off the engine and coasted to a halt.

EVER HEARD OF NEUTRAL??



EL CAJON, Calif. – 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 911 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."

[COLOR:RED]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 mph, careened off the freeway, hit an embankment, overturned and burst into flames

Computer controled cars

Why dont these people just put the damn things in nuetral or turn off the ignition when the TPS keeps accelerating?

Yes, the gentleman was on Fox News this morning. I agree with JD Miller: Turn the ignition off, put the car in neutral and work the brakes.

I heard on Fox that the cars couldn't be shut off, or taken out of drive and put into neutral. In addition, the brakes plus the emergency brake isn't sufficient to overcome the power of the engine.

Just what I heard.
Shotgun

gee i've got a toyota 1961 FJ25 landcruiser - do you think that might be on the recall list?

quote:

I heard on Fox that the cars couldn't be shut off, or taken out of drive and put into neutral. In addition, the brakes plus the emergency brake isn't sufficient to overcome the power of the engine.

Thats false, KFI radio had several Prius drivers call in and they had them test putting it in neutral while accelerating and it worked

All these crap is because cars dont have mechanical throttle cables nowadays, its all Thottle position sensors(TPS) or (APPS) accelerator pedal position sensor and computers.
The more sensors they design and put on cars, the more money the can make on parts when the crappy sensors go out and your check engine light goes on, but nothing is actually wrong mechanicaly with the engine, its just some stupid sensor that burned out

From seeing the all Obama stickers on the Prius's around here I'm thinking it might not be such a bad thing.....

quote:

Originally posted by crowrifle:
From seeing the all Obama stickers on the Prius's around here I'm thinking it might not be such a bad thing.....

I don't know about that. I consider people with Obama stickers on their cars to be morons. Judging from the Prius incident, that seems to be the case. All the moron had to do was turn the ignition switch off. How hard is that!

quote:

Originally posted by craigster: All the moron had to do was turn the ignition switch off. How hard is that!

The prius doesnt have an ignition switch.It has a push button,so you might push it,but not got any action.
Same deal for the gear shift.It looks like a joy stick,that returns to center after you push it one way or another to select which gear you want.

It would be like a power window switch that dont work.

As a side note,I have seen people not able to unlock their car door when the remote doesnt work.I said,"how about the key?"That works.

The recent Prius case in CA seems to have a strong smell !! Listen to the 911 tapes as the operator tells him what to do and there's no response.It's said that he also filed frivolus lawsuits in the past. I think more than one of the recent cases involves 15 minutes of fame or trying to make a fast buck !

I heard a report one time and one time only on a local news radio station here that stated even some american made cas have the same problem.same station 30 mins later same recorder news minus the bite about american car I wa wondering how much of this car emergency is due to goverment ownership of the other car companys