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Last week, a Toyota Prius in San Diego, California, reportedly accelerated out of control on a freeway. A day later, another Prius in Harrison, New York, reportedly accelerated out of control across a street and crashed into a wall. First, the San Diego story was called into question by computer evidence from the car, and now the New York story is in doubt as well.
As was reported earlier this week, Toyota’s preliminary findings in the San Diego case found no defect in Jim Sikes’ 2008 Prius, but indicated that data logged by the car’s onboard computer did not match Mr. Sikes’ testimony and called into question the validity of his claim. Now, the second event is also being called into question based on data retrieved from the onboard computer.
To recap, a 56-year-old housekeeper was attempting to pull her 2005 Prius out of a driveway when the car reportedly accelerated out of control across a busy street and into a stone wall, wrecking the car and injuring her knee. The floor mats were ruled out as a cause in the preliminary investigation.
Now, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has released some initial findings from the incident that indicate the incident could have been a case of driver error rather than a defect. According to NHTSA, the data recorder showed that the brakes were not applied and the throttle was open, suggesting to investigators that the driver mistakenly stepped on the gas pedal instead of the brakes. The local police, though, cautioned a rush to judgment.
“It is absolutely premature to make any conclusive determination regarding this investigation, and it’s important to keep in mind that some of the data obtained is simply an instantaneous snapshot of the event and not a streaming video,” Acting Police Chief Anthony Marraccini told Reuters.
The Toyota Prius is not included in the recall of millions of Toyota cars for a faulty gas pedal, but it is covered by an earlier recall on the car’s floor mats. Toyota is refusing to comment on the New York case until the police have finished their investigation.
Toyota and others knew they were having issues and attempted to hide it. All Car Companies should have came forward with a full disclosures of what car were dangerous. Instead of waiting for a huge media blitz and tons of public pressure. I never seen so many car companies GM – NISSAN – TOYOTA – HYUNDAI having recalls all at the same time. I had no idea my car was affected until I looked on http://www.carpedalrecall.com and found I had a bad Anti Lock control unit on my 2008 Pontiac G8 , my co workers Ford Truck had a recall also. So be careful
Toyota and others knew they were having issues and attempted to hide it. All Car Companies should have came forward with a full disclosures of what car were dangerous. Instead of waiting for a huge media blitz and tons of public pressure. I never seen so many car companies GM – NISSAN – TOYOTA – HYUNDAI having recalls all at the same time. I had no idea my car was affected until I looked on http://www.carpedalrecall.com and found I had a bad Anti Lock control unit on my 2008 Pontiac G8 , my co workers Ford Truck had a recall also. So be careful