- Toyota says it can't re-create a driver's dramatic account of a runaway 2008 Prius.
- Toyota went on to offer an eight-point refutation of the driver's claims.
- NHTSA also said earlier that its safety investigators have found no evidence to support or disprove the driver's claims.
SAN DIEGO — Treading carefully in what could be seen as a case of Goliath taking off after David, Toyota on Monday surgically picked apart a driver's dramatic account of his runaway Prius. Toyota scrupulously avoided a personal attack against James Sikes, who grabbed national headlines and later was accused by some of faking his story of a runaway Prius on March 8.
"There are strong indications that the driver's account of the event is inconsistent with the findings of the preliminary analysis," said Toyota in statement that was noteworthy for its dispassionate tone.
The Japanese automaker, which has been bruised by the fallout from its massive recalls, said its engineers not only put Sikes' 2008 Prius through two days of rigorous testing but also retraced his "reported driving route, taking into account driving time and accounts from the 911 recording."
Toyota hedged a bit in its statement, noting that "a final report is not yet complete."
Toyota also pointed out that investigators from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, as well as a congressional staff member, were also present during the testing of this Prius. NHTSA said earlier that its safety investigators have found no evidence to support or disprove Sikes' claims about unintended acceleration in his Prius.
The case of the runaway Prius in San Diego is the most high-profile example in a string of highly publicized incidents this month involving Toyotas.
Sikes claimed that his Prius surged out of control for about 20 minutes while police dispatched a patrol car to help him stop the car. It is unclear whether Toyota will offer reports on each case of unintended acceleration in its vehicles. In New York, Senator Charles Schumer has said that he wants to see Toyota move to probe the cause of an accident in his state involving a Toyota Prius with what may have been a stuck accelerator pedal. Toyota said it has sent investigators to look into that accident in Harrison, New York.
In the Sikes case, Toyota offered an eight-point refutation of the driver's claims.
"Toyota engineers believe that it would be extremely difficult for the Prius to be driven at a continuous high speed with more than light brake-pedal pressure, and that the assertion that the vehicle could not be stopped with the brakes is fundamentally inconsistent with basic vehicle design and the investigation observations," Toyota said.
It said the Prius' accelerator pedal was tested and found to be "working normally with no mechanical binding or friction." The car's front brakes also "showed severe wear and damage from overheating," Toyota noted in its report. It said a Toyota carpeted floor mat of the correct type for the vehicle was installed "but not secured to the retention hooks." However, "it was not found to be interfering or even touching the accelerator pedal," Toyota said.
During the incident on March 8, the 911 operator repeatedly told Sikes to shift the car into Neutral and turn off the power button. "The push-button power switch worked normally and shut the vehicle off when depressed for three seconds as the 911 operator advised Mr. Sikes to do," Toyota said.
It also said the shift lever also worked normally and Neutral could be selected. It also found "no diagnostic trouble codes" in the power management computer.
Toyota said it replaced the front brakes of the Prius during testing and that the brakes were then "purposely abused by continuous light application in order to overheat them.... The vehicle could be safely stopped by means of the brake pedal, even when overheated," Toyota said.
Toyota's careful refutation of the claims of Sikes comes against a backdrop of growing legal claims against the automaker. In addition to pending class-action lawsuits, Toyota also faces a probe by the Securities and Exchange Commission and a criminal investigation by federal prosecutors. A Southern California prosecutor filed the first consumer protection lawsuit against Toyota late last week, claiming it had engaged in "fraud" by hiding evidence of dangerous vehicle defects.
Inside Line says: Toyota stops short of calling James Sikes a fraud but insists it cannot duplicate his experience. — Anita Lienert, Correspondent
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swiftmove says:
07:26 PM, 03/27/2010
it's ture that the recall effect toyota but toyota Prius Wagon is in pipe line
2011 Toyota Prius Wagon Rendering and infomation
reports say that Toyota is considering building a Prius wagon start selling from march 2011 in Japan
Toyota's joint venture with Japanese electronics makers Panasonic Corp. should enable them to develop affordability of the lithium-ion batteries for cars. Little is mentioned about the charging spec of thePrius wagon/SUV. It could be a rechargeable or a plug-in battery system or a conventional hybrid-system.
Base on 2010 Toyota Prius III the Prius wagon expect to get 100 mm. longer than nomal Toyota Prius III,
Toyota Prius Wagon start selling from march 2011 in Japan
readmore http://autoten.com/2010/03/11/2011-toyota-prius-wagon-rendering-and-infomation/
atenza94546 says:
01:58 PM, 03/27/2010
If the drive bu wire has problem the recall should cover all the Airlines, Cruise Ship, Train.
What is not drive by wire for those examples??
How come no one mention the millennium bug. Maybe its happen after 10 years into year 2000 ???
Or blame it on the George W. Bush for not finding out Toyota defects earlier ???
flwind says:
11:46 AM, 03/16/2010
20 minutes of driving @90mph in Southern Cali traffic and he never ran into another car? Sign him up for Nascar! This alone raised the bullshit flag for me. Then, how convenient that this guy's car goes crazy at the peak of the whole Toyota thing. That to me is highly suspicious. I smell another balloon boy here.
charlesb says:
10:50 AM, 03/16/2010
I figured this guy for somebody after his "15 minutes of fame" the first time I read his account. Toyota has problems with their drive by wire and I think all the mechanical issues (mat trapping, excess friction, ect) are just a smoke screen. I don't think Toyota has a clue how to solve the problem though and that is why they are in "do something" mode.
69johnny says:
09:18 AM, 03/16/2010
His story is very hard to believe..I also doubt in a cramped little car like that a person could reach down and grab the gas or break pedal with their hand unless he's some kind of contortionist..
while holding the phone, going 90 miles an hour, and both hands on the wheel??
Guess he's an octopus too..
Remember Balloon Boy? ? It ain't worth it Sikes..
tbone85 says:
08:32 AM, 03/16/2010
hot_sauce, I'm not making an argument that he's telling the truth or not. I'm simply saying that Toyota would be wise to investigate how customers are interacting with some of the new systems in their cars given the issues they now face. Audi by being late in acknowledging the slightly different pedal arrangement almost saw their brand destroyed in the U.S. I'd be more swayed if this was a rental, because I remember the first time I used a power on/off button and did not find it intuitive--simply because it was outside the paradigm of my experience. This issue may very well not apply to this case, but I think it bears some consderation by the manufacturers.
The additional questions that you've raised on the brakes also flow into my question: something happened to the brakes that doesn't fit the current explanations. Your explanation seems plausible, but I think a definitive determination on how the brakes played out in this is in everyone's best interest. It looks like Toyota's effort was more geared toward punching holes in the story in a passive-aggressive manner than in figuring out if this was a complete hoax or if their engineering played some role in this or other events.
creeper says:
08:09 AM, 03/16/2010
@bswopes: they replaced the brakes before testing to ensure enough pad wear was there to safely stop the car during the test. had they not replaced the already spent pads, there wouldn't have been anything to stop the vehicle, thus skewing the results. so they put pads on to approximate the conditions during the incident, then applied them lightly to heat them up and were still able to stop the car.
IMO anybody who doesn't know how to operate the basic systems of their car should not be driving it. in sikes's case, he has had the car for 3+ years and hasn't figured out how it works? really?
aston_dbs says:
08:02 AM, 03/16/2010
The argument that Sikes "was afraid to put it into neutral because he thought he might put it in reverse and flip the car" is just nonsense...
Again, an ignorant part for Sikes (or anybody who doesn't know).
If the car is IN motion, the transmission system is designed to 'block' the shift from N to R (and P).
You can ONLY shift from N to R (or P) if you are stop.
Most people here in America drives everyday, yet they don't know how the car operates?
jepontiac says:
01:36 AM, 03/16/2010
I find it interesting that Toyota still is only looking the pedal design to explain unintended acceleration. They made that a big point in this explanation, "It said the Prius' accelerator pedal was tested and found to be 'working normally with no mechanical binding or friction.'" Okay but we have all had doubts as to whether or not the pedals had an issue anyways. Also, they said there were no diagnosic codes. They did not mention the balck box data which would be separate data from diagnostic codes. Toyota is hiding something here. There are still things they have conveniently left out.
arock says:
08:45 PM, 03/15/2010
could this happen, nice imagination though!!!