Runaway Toyota Prius stopped by US highway patrol [View All]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/mar/09/runaway-toyota-prius-stopped

Runaway Toyota Prius stopped by US highway patrol
• Driver called officers on mobile phone as car reached speeds of 94mph
• Toyota sends specialist to investigate the incident

Graeme Wearden
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 9 March 2010 08.52 GMT


Toyota's safety crisis deepened further last night when police officers in California were called to stop a runaway Prius that was accelerating out of control on a busy highway.

The driver, 61 year-old James Sikes, called Highway Patrol officers on his mobile phone after the 2008 Prius suddenly began to accelerate of its own accord while he was driving down the Interstate 8 freeway outside San Diego. The vehicle reached speeds of 94mph during the incident, which lasted more than 20 minutes.

Sikes said the accelerator pedal was stuck, and that the car would not stop even though he was pressing the brake with all his force.

"I pushed the gas pedal to pass a car, and it just did something kind of funny … and it just stuck there," Sikes told a news conference outside a Highway Patrol office following the incident. "As I was going, I was trying the brakes … and it just kept speeding up."


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