Just finished reading an AP article written by Elliot Spagat about the Toyota Prius that James Sikes claimed had suffered from unintended acceleration on a California highway. It was an interesting read to say the least!
According to the report investigators from Toyota and the federal government could not replicate the problem. Also reported was that the back up system that is supposed to return the engine to idle speed when the brake and gas pedals are pressed at the same time worked as designed.
Wonder how Sikes could drive with the gas and brake pedals depressed and hit over 90 miles an hour with the engine at idle speeds? Seems kind of fishy to me!
Another interesting item in the article was not that the front brake pads had been worn away, but looked like they had worn away from being appied intermittently. Would it have taken Mr. Sikes 20 minutes of highway driving and intermittent brake application to wear out the front brakes? Sounds plausible to me. Once the trooper showed up he put the car in neutral and shut the engine off. Yep, it took a whole 20 minutes to do something the 911 operator told him to do 20 minutes earlier. IMHO this guy was out to capitalize on Toyota’s recall and planned the entire event.
If you have time to do some additional research on the web you might come across a story about Mr. James Sikes is behind on payments to Toyota for the lease of his Prius. I don’t know if these stories are true or not, or if they are the same gentleman, but if they are, they open up a whole new can of worms. Did Mr. Sikes want to get out from under the lease payments by staging the runaway Prius event? Who really knows what the truth is except Mr. Sikes. If he did stage this event he should be prosecuted to the maximum extent provided by the law. Endangering other drivers and the trooper that responded to his call is not something to be taken lightly. I only hope that this was not a publicity stunt, but have my doubts.
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