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<p>I agree this story sounds fishy, but Toyota offers an option of built-in hands free cell phone capability. So it’s entirely possible that he had both hands on the wheel and was still able to talk on a cell phone. That part doesn’t necessarily sound fishy. But the whole episode does have the feel of somebody staging a fake incident designed to generate big headlines and big settlements.</p>
<p>It is an interesting coincidence.</p>
<p>Heard a discussion that this man has had some major financial difficulties and appeared on a reality TV show where he won over 50K. Shades of balloon boy!!! The police are investigating if he did the same thing for the same reason…</p>
<p>Don’t know about the guy in San Diego but an awful lot of posters here seem overeager to exonerate Toyota. It sounds to me like there could be some real problems with their cars. </p>
<p>We have a case here in Saint Paul where a few years ago, well before the recent flurry of publicity about sudden acceleration in Toyotas, a man driving a Toyota came off a freeway where he had been driving a legal 55 mph, then suddenly and inexplicably accelerated while on the exit ramp into an intersection against a red light, broadsiding another car and killing several of its passengers. The driver of the Toyota had no drugs or alcohol in his system, was driving with his pregnant wife, 4-year-old son, and father, and had no previous traffic citations. Road conditions were dry, visibility was excellent. He told the police at the scene that the car just inexplicably accelerated on its own, and that he applied the brake as hard as he could but the car wouldn’t slow down or stop. His story never wavered through subsequent questioning while in police custody and on the witness stand, and his wife and father, passengers in his car who fortunately survived the crash, backed him up. But the police didn’t believe him, the prosecutor didn’t believe him, and the jury didn’t believe him. They had never heard of a vehicle accelerating by itself and not responding to brakes, and the state’s expert witness testified it was impossible. The guy was convicted of careless driving and vehicular manslaughter, a felony. He’s now in prison. Several of the jurors now think they may have made a terrible mistake.</p>
<p>I can’t prove the guy was innocent. But it makes you shudder to think a guy MIGHT be serving a felony term in prison because of Toyota’s error. Makes you shudder to think it could be you. And because those deaths are officially attributed to driver error, they almost certainly don’t show up in the official number of deaths currently attributed to sudden acceleration in Toyotas. No telling how many similar stories might be out there.</p>
<p>We’ll be hearing a lot more about this. As far as I’m concerned, the jury is still out on the extent of the problem and Toyota’s culpability—though unfortunately, the jury’s not out for the Saint Paul man watching all this unfold from a prison cell. But in the meantime, I wouldn’t be so quick to rush to Toyota’s defense.</p>
<p>^^^Wow…that’s a wild story. Makes you think that poor guy in prison IS innocent…I hope he will try an appeal.
This is all very confusing. I have a Lexus RX that may be affected because it has the electronic throttle (with no fail safe braking). Not feeling real good right now…in fact I’m thinking of moving on to a different car. In any case, I THINK i know what to do in case something weird happens. Put it in neutral, apply heavy brake pressure and turn off the engine as a last resort. Wow…would that be scary though.
Anyway, I STILL think that there are those who will take advantage of this situation with hokey stories…designed to get at money somehow. It’s the dark side of human nature. It can be hard to tell who is a leech. A history of leeching is a clue though…</p>
<p>I think there’s a difference between a sudden acceleration problem and a prolonged acceleration issue. </p>
<p>If you are driving a car in traffic and there is a sudden acceleration, it is very likely that you will plow into the car in front of you before you have any time to react. (Same for brake failure – by the time you realize there’s a problem, it’s too late to prevent the crash)</p>
<p>But 10 minutes? 20 minutes? I don’t even buy the concept of the situation lasting for more than 5-7 minutes. There is an array of options to slow the car, including: shifting the car into neutral, shutting off the engine, regular brake, emergency brake, steering the car onto rough surface (such as road shoulder) or uphill grade, etc. </p>
<p>I was in a car with an acceleration issue many years ago when I was about 20. (FWIW, it was a Chevy). At the time I was in college and had access to a fleet of university cars that I could use for transportation to & from a volunteer position in a neighboring city. I was very happy one day when I was given a very new car to drive, but very quickly discovered that when I took my foot off the accelerator the car would continue to accelerate rather than slowing down. Nothing was life threatening, however – the car still came to a stop when I braked – and I immediately returned the car and reported the problem. I didn’t have a clue as to what was wrong – but the point is that, even though I was a young and very inexperienced driver, it was easy enough for me to maintain control over the car. So I also have a hard time with the extended, runaway car scenario. I think it takes about 40 seconds at most to realize something is wrong, and then mentally you are going to start weighing options and taking action. Also, it takes a while for a car to accelerate from, say, 50 mph to 90 mph – unless you are already speeding, you are going to notice there’s a problem and start to take some action while the acceleration and corresponding speed is more manageable. </p>
<p>I can see it being a very huge and scary problem in heavy traffic or an an area with a lot of obstacles. If you can’t pull over or switch lanes, then you’ve got a big problem – cutting the engine might slow you down, but it might also get you rear ended. </p>
<p>But 23 minutes on a road that is clear enough to allow a CHP vehicle to pull up beside him? I just don’t buy it.</p>
<p>Just because I posted the link and the fact that I don’t believe this particular guy, doesn’t mean I don’t believe there is a legitimate problem with some cars. We were just about to buy a RAV4, but are holding off until they find the source of the problem.</p>
<p>^^Same here. I’m not looking to exonerate Toyota. I think they’ve got some real problems on their hands. But that doesn’t prove that this particular guy isn’t trying to run a scam.</p>
<p>I feel the same as toledo and coureur.</p>
<p>The discussion on Prius forums is suspicious because no one else has reported this happening and the Prius has a brake override system. If you press hard on both pedals, then the engine slows its revs down to about 1400. So, since the car was accelerating and the person was supposedly holding down the brakes, then that invokes the idea that another entire system failed, which starts to get harder to believe. The forums say the officer smelled brakes, but that could mean the guy was pressing the brakes lightly for a while while holding down the gas. If he actually jammed on the brake, the override system would also have needed to fail.</p>
<p>(I have a 2010 Prius. Love it.)</p>
<p>From [Prius</a> Recall: Runaway Prius Story Of Owner James Sikes’ Questioned In New Report](<a href=“HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost”>HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost)</p>
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