wolfmanjeffrey

Why would a car manufacture prevent you from having the ability to shift into neutral at speed? Reverse is locked out yes, but neutral would just create a potentl safety problem.

Actually if you think about it, the brake pedal applies both the front AND the rear breaks stimulatingly. Pulling the emergency break just keeps the rear brakes from releasing, they use the same mechanism for both normal breaking and as a parking brake.

I don’t see how two (2) safety systems (brakes and shifting into neutral) can fail simultaneously. The NTSB should be investigating this if this TRULY happened. I personally thing the driver doesn’t know how to operate his car properly. Besides, the radio traffic is just relaying what the driver is telling the officer, he is not in the car with him to make sure he is not making a mistake and shifting into B and not neutral. If they can prove this wasn’t a case of driver ignorance, then every prius owner on the road should be instructed to park there vehicles and have it inspected.

I have some issue with this out of control clam on this particular instance. One of the BIGEST problems ANY car manufacture is going to have with some drivers is this: they simply don’t have any common sense in how to deal with emergencies. This driver (and unfortunately the one of the San Diego Lexus crash a few months ago) both failed to simple put the car in neutral (not that they couldn’t, they just didn’t think to do it). If the accelerator WAS stuck, most of the Toyota cars this has happened to have accelerated to well over 110 miles an hour and in a mater of minutes on WOT (wide open throttle). This incident lasted 30 minutes at a maximum speed of 90 miles an hour. The prius is capable of going faster then that at WOT. Additionally almost every car made to day, the brakes have the ability to stop the vehicle even against the engines power, if you REALY put pressure on them (with both feet if necessary). You can stop most any car if you know what to do, but I think most drivers that have this problems simply don’t know what to do nor d o they know there vehicles limitations (like driving on wet roads, i.e. Los Angeles drivers)  There is also the possibility that this also might have been a publicity stunt.