Runaway Prius

Did anyone else notice this in the most recent Toyota incident?

"Neibert told Sikes after the CHP caught up with him to shift to neutral but the driver shook his head no. Sikes told reporters he didn't go into neutral because he worried the car would flip."

That whole incident sounds like scam to me. Guy drives a Prius, stomps on the pedal, calls the po-po, whole thing is recorded, sues TMC and "wins the lottery."

I feel the same way.

Saw another one on the news this morning - woman was exiting a driveway and sudden, unintended acceleration caused her Prius to fly across the street and smash through a rock wall. Sounds just like an incident I witnesses 20 years ago in college when I was a pizza delivery guy - the 2 old ladies (had to be mid-70s) who owned the consignment shop next door went to leave one afternoon. As soon as the K car starte I could hear the motor banging off the rev limiter, and sure enough, the driver managed to pop it into reverse. The looks on their faces were priceless, as the car flew backwards out of the parking lot, across a busy street just grazing the front bumper of a fellow delivery guy, and slamming into a car parked in the lot across the way, forcing that into a second car and then a third car. No doubt the driver had the gas floored instead of the brake - I'd bet a dollar that's what happened with this lady too. Scary part - the cops let the old bitty drive away!

I'm still on the fence. On the one hand he drove around for 20 minutes at "WOT" and refused certain directions to stop. On the other, he claims he tried to pull the gas pedal up and the car did reek of brakes. I'm going to wait for the real truth to come out before I bash the guy or Toyota or both.

I have shifted into neutral from WOT and your car does indeed immediately flip over. All car, not just the Prius. Please, do not try this yourself.

I'm still a little skeptical. Seems he didn't do anything except call 911. Then when the police told him what to do, he was able to stop the car. Or maybe it was just brain fade , Or not.

P71 wrote: I'm still on the fence. On the one hand he drove around for 20 minutes at "WOT" and refused certain directions to stop. On the other, he claims he tried to pull the gas pedal up and the car did reek of brakes. I'm going to wait for the real truth to come out before I bash the guy or Toyota or both.

The Prius will not reek of brakes unless at last 3 systems all went awol all at the same moment.

Possible. But highly unlikely.

I've put my hand flat on a rotor of a Prius that had just run Deal's Gap at a very fast clip (i had a hard time staying with him), and didn't get burned. Courtesy of one of the systems.

Yeah, it will reek of brakes if you put one foot on the gas all the way and one on the brake just enough to have the lights on and cook the brakes, then drive around for 20 minutes like that, while talking on the cell phone. Be sure to get on national media with your incident so your thief, I mean lawyer, can make a big sensational case out of it. Won't put it in neutral. Yeah. Maybe he's just too stoopid to drive, too.

I'm pretty much with you Hess. There's still a reasonable doubt, but once somebody says the car was fine this guy should be locked up for fraud.

Dr. Hess wrote: Yeah, it will reek of brakes if you put one foot on the gas all the way and one on the brake just enough to have the lights on and cook the brakes, then drive around for 20 minutes like that, while talking on the cell phone. Be sure to get on national media with your incident so your thief, I mean lawyer, can make a big sensational case out of it. Won't put it in neutral. Yeah. Maybe he's just too stoopid to drive, too.

Dr Hess = Tuna55, in this case - again

Prius ownership is the ultimate and final abdication of having any involvement in the driving process, and the myriad Prius operators in the DC Metro are among the worst examples of "drivers" I've ever seen.

These are people for whom maintaining a 55 mph speed limit while keeping the car between the door handles is pushing the boundaries of their skill. I imagine an interstate highway at 70 mph looks to them about like T4 at Summit Point looks to me at about 100 when I'm doing it w/o braking. They're terrified, all the time and have absolutely no sense of how any of the controls influence what the car does. They're cavemen seeing fire for the first time.

It surprises me not at all that they'd catch the hysteria.

Why does this put me in mind of the flu-shot-running-backwards-woman?

I guess considering that a few other drivers of Toyotas "eventually" flipped COULD have scared this guy. But really, if you are afraid of flipping your car, but NOT afraid of ramming into something at the 94 MPH+ this guy was travelling at....how did he manage to get out of bed.

BTW, my sister has a Prius that looks like the one in this news story....I almost started laughing at the idea that it could POSSIBLY reach and sustain 90 MPH.

pigeon wrote: Saw another one on the news this morning - woman was exiting a driveway and sudden, unintended acceleration caused her Prius to fly across the street and smash through a rock wall.

Or... "crap... I can't make my car payment... how do get rid of this things?"

motomoron wrote: Prius ownership is the ultimate and final abdication of having any involvement in the driving process, and the myriad Prius operators in the DC Metro are among the worst examples of "drivers" I've ever seen. These are people for whom maintaining a 55 mph speed limit while keeping the car between the door handles is pushing the boundaries of their skill. I imagine an interstate highway at 70 mph looks to them about like T4 at Summit Point looks to me at about 100 when I'm doing it w/o braking. They're terrified, all the time and have absolutely no sense of how any of the controls influence what the car does. They're cavemen seeing fire for the first time. It surprises me not at all that they'd catch the hysteria.

in my experience they are often some of the most passive-aggressive drivers on the road too.

WilberM3 wrote:

motomoron wrote: Prius ownership is the ultimate and final abdication of having any involvement in the driving process, and the myriad Prius operators in the DC Metro are among the worst examples of "drivers" I've ever seen. These are people for whom maintaining a 55 mph speed limit while keeping the car between the door handles is pushing the boundaries of their skill. I imagine an interstate highway at 70 mph looks to them about like T4 at Summit Point looks to me at about 100 when I'm doing it w/o braking. They're terrified, all the time and have absolutely no sense of how any of the controls influence what the car does. They're cavemen seeing fire for the first time. It surprises me not at all that they'd catch the hysteria.

in my experience they are often some of the most passive-aggressive drivers on the road too.

Egostistical as well. Hey, genius. That Prius that you passed me in going 85mph isn't getting any better fuel mileage than my 8 year old Korean crapbox going 70.

Otto_Maddox wrote: Did anyone else notice this in the most recent Toyota incident? "Neibert told Sikes after the CHP caught up with him to shift to neutral but the driver shook his head no. Sikes told reporters he didn't go into neutral because he worried the car would flip."

I am not making any judgements about his honesty. Assuming he's not trying to pull something, it sounds to me like he was scared. In 25 years of asking the question what makes smart people do stupid things, fear is the most pervasive and insidious shortcut to stupid that I have found.

Type Q wrote: fear is the most pervasive and insidious shortcut to stupid that I have found.

quotable

pinchvalve wrote: I have shifted into neutral from WOT and your car does indeed immediately flip over. All car, not just the Prius. Please, do not try this yourself.

Does your car spin when you "top out" or is that just an Eclipse thing?

Shawn

Lesley wrote: Why does this put me in mind of the flu-shot-running-backwards-woman?

????? I thought I was up on all the latest media weirdness but I musta missed that one. 'Splain, please.

New twist to the story. On TTAC, a staff guy posted in the comments that the Prius driver has a swingers club in his name. I have no idea what his has to do with anything, but it is more interesting than talking about Toyotas.

Jensenman wrote:

Lesley wrote: Why does this put me in mind of the flu-shot-running-backwards-woman?

????? I thought I was up on all the latest media weirdness but I musta missed that one. 'Splain, please.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5ZWhELqnlA

Or....(this nasty, but hilarious)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHwILZQY6r0&feature=related

Otto_Maddox wrote: ...New twist to the story. On TTAC, a staff guy posted in the comments that the Prius driver has a swingers club in his name....

I believe that means he likes to drive other peoples cars and doesn't mind if someone drives his.

Silly Prius owners......