CHP could not explain why the driver waited 20 minutes to turn it off and coast to a stop.
Yesterday afternoon, Monday, March 8, Toyota said it learned of a report that a California Highway Patrol (CHP) unit was dispatched in response to a 911 call from a motorist driving a 2008 Toyota Prius on Interstate 8 in San Diego County.
The Prius driver, James Sikes, 61, 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.
The incident raises questions anew about whether Toyota has the proper fix to cover sticking accelerator pedal or unintended acceleration problems.
A third failure mode, an electronic software issue, has been dismissed out of hand by Toyota as “not possible,” even though complaints continue. This Prius was subject to the floor mat entrapment recall of last fall.
“I pushed the gas pedal to pass a car and it did something kind of funny… it jumped and it just stuck there,” Sikes 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.”
CHP said the Prius reached speeds of more than 90 mph before it was brought under control.
CHP could not explain why the driver waited so long to turn off the ignition, which he ultimately did after about 20 minutes. That’s when the car coasted to a stop.
Toyota has dispatched a “field technical specialist” to San Diego to investigate the report and offer assistance. The Prius will be examined late today or tomorrow as Toyota waits for investigators from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to arrive from Washington.
More than five million Toyota and Lexus vehicles have been recalled in the U.S. for stuck accelerator pedals, or floor map entrapment or faulty brakes.
Every time I read something like this I can only ask Why?
Not why is the car doing this, but why doesn’t the driver take control?
It seems some drivers are just incompetent and incapable of using common sense. They have brakes, they have an emergency brake, they can turn the ignition off, if the accelerator is physically stuck then lift it either with your foot or hand. It may also be possible to take the car out of drive.
No, they instead choose to phone for help and talk to a dispatcher and ignore what they should be doing. The mind boggles!!
DGate:
I asked my very bright, very capable, very safe driver of a daughter, what she would do in this very case.
I explained the situation and the 911 call and what was known. After many questions and observations, she did not come up with the simple turn it off answer either… (And in the case of the Prius such as the one in question with a start/stop button, this isn’t so simple even if you arrive at that course of action.)
So dad, trained in the scientific method with a pilot’s approach to running checklists and troubleshooting trees was:
One, taken aback by his failure to explain possible procedures to his beloved first born.
Two, immediately shifted into problem solving mode and as he started explaining options in such a case.
Three, reminded – yet again – of the pioneering safety researcher Dr. William Hadden’s plea, which as I recall said that a behavioral approach was needed in these areas. More succinctly I recall him putting it thus – being human shouldn’t be a death sentence.
KZ, editor
The start stop button in the Prius will shut the system down if held in for several seconds just like shutting down your computer when it locks up!
Its in the book if drivers will only read it.
Try remembering that, or holding the button down for several seconds – or 1.5 miles at 90 mph…. Oh, and the button doesn’t work as a shut off at lower speeds. This design is a human factors mess.
The point being you don’t let the car reach these speeds! Everybody knows the car starts and stops with the button and if there is a problem that should be the first instinct.
You can make excuses all day long… it’s like saying if you’re heading on a collision course with something do you phone someone for help or yank the steering wheel to avoid smacking into it?
Plain and simple, if you are going to drive, be in control of the vehicle and that means knowing something about it. Seems like we have a lot of drivers today that don’t have a clue and that’s part of the problem in these cases, but it will never be addressed as it’s too easy and more lucrative to blame everyone else.