Highway patrolman helps terrified driver who claims his Toyota was subject to recall before it accelerated on its own, reaching speeds of up to 94 mph on a Calif. freeway.
OK...
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.
Why didn't the cop tell the guy to PUT THE FUCKER IN NEUTRAL?
After the car decelerated to about 50 mph, Sikes turned off the engine and coasted to a halt.
So why didn't he try that in the first place?
Ai yi yi.
Oh, and the comments are great. For instance:
the good news about this PRIUS issue is that it will help weed out the liberals from normal people
Popular Mechanics has a great video that shows an affected Toyota can still stop from highway speeds using the brake even if you have the throttle wide open. They also demonstrate what you should do if your car starts accelerating out of control. Which is a simple one step process, put the car in neutral. Shutting it off is a last resort, because you lose the power assist for brakes and steering.
Why didn't the cop tell the guy to put it in neutral?
Because either the cop didn't think of it, or he thought the driver was such an idiot, he'd wind up putting it in reverse.
Lots of commenters think the guy is scamming.
I wouldn't be surprised.
Putting it in reverse would definitely do the trick, though :-) I remember riding with a friend back in high school who was trying to be all cool and shit by manually-shifting his automatic...and he missed D, went through N, and hit R.
That car (mid-70's Olds Delta 88) stopped damn near on a dime, and laid some amazing rubber in the process.
Best as I recall, he never tried that trick again :-)
I'm surprised your friend didn't lose his transmission that day. Although his Olds was probably made of the same indestructible stuff as my '74 Monte Carlo.
I was beginning to think I was the only person in the world who knew the trick of putting the car in neutral. I mention it and I get blank stares from people. One person said, "That would blow the engine wouldn't it?"
Rich, I was surprised, too :-) But he drove that car for another year or so and it was still running when he got rid of it.
Tom: I could see the engine hitting high RPMs and possibly blowing, but in a situation like that, who cares?
I was just thinking: What actually drives the Prius? Does it have some kind of double-drive system where the gas engine is directly-connected to the drive train as well as the electric motors?
Seems like putting an electric vehicle in neutral would cut off power to the electric motors, but I honestly don't know what the power train for a Prius looks like.
In the Popular Mechanics demo video, with the throttle pegged and the transmission dropped to neutral, the engine ran at the maximum speed the injection computer would allow. So it wouldn't blow the engine.
The most interesting thing I've seen on the net, is someone had a list of the number of sudden unintended acceleration complaints that are reported to the government every year. It has showed a steady decline for the last 10 years.
It's bullshit. The guy is dirty and Fox has the scoop.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,589090,00.html
Yep, I figured from the beginning that it was mostly a fabrication. It just didn't add up.