wolfmanjeffrey
-
Posts
4 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Forums
Articles
Gallery
Events
Store
Collections
Posts posted by wolfmanjeffrey
-
-
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.
On the Lexus ES350, the car's normal neutral position on the shifter will not shift the vehicle into neutral at speed. There is a "gate" or position that will, but it is not marked and not intuitive. Chances are this is similar on the Prius. The driver in this incident and the ES350 incident both likely attempted to put their vehicles into neutral unsuccessfully.
The driver of the Prius was likely applying brakes the entire time, which is why he didn't accelerate above 90mph. It wasn't until the officer instructed him to apply the brakes and emergency brake together that he was able to decelerate the car to 50mph. It was probably at this time that it was explained to the driver that the stop-start button must be held down for several seconds to shut down the vehicle (if it is like the ES350 that is -just pushing it will not shut the car off when the car is at speed). Some reports say that the driver was too scared to attempt turning the vehicle off due to a potential loss of steering.
-
1
-
-
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.
once again...
-
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.
California officer helps driver stop his runaway Toyota
BY NATHAN OLIVAREZ-GILES
LOS ANGELES TIMES
LOS ANGELES — The driver of a Toyota Prius who called 911 on Monday to report his accelerator was stuck finally got the car stopped after about half hour with the help of the California Highway Patrol, law officers said.
“He was reaching speeds over 90 miles per hour,” CHP Officer Larry Landeros said of the driver, James Sikes.
A Toyota spokesman on Monday evening said the company was sending a representative to investigate the cause of the incident, which took place on Interstate 8 in San Diego County.
The cell phone call from the driver of the blue 2008 Prius came at about 1:30 p.m.
“He was driving near the La Posta Indian Reservation when he called 911 and said his gas pedal was stuck,” Landeros said.
Sikes, who was eastbound, told the emergency operator that “the car seemed to accelerate on its own after he passed another car,” Landeros said.
A CHP patrol car caught up to the Prius about 20 minutes later and used a loud speaker to tell the driver to apply his emergency brake in tandem with the brake pedal to slow down the car, Landeros said.
Once the Prius’ speed dropped to about 50 miles per hour, Sikes turned off the engine and was able to coast to a stop, the officer said.
Landeros didn’t know why the driver waited until then to turn off the engine, but the officer speculated that Sikes feared losing control due to a loss of power steering.
The CHP officer drove the patrol car in front of Sikes’ Prius in case it would be needed to act as a brake. But that wasn’t necessary and the two cars never touched while moving, Landeros said.
Sikes could not be reached for comment. No one was hurt in the incident, the CHP said.
Toyota has recalled millions of cars because of reports of unintended acceleration problems.
“We’re sending a field technical specialist to San Diego to investigate the car and find out what happened,” Toyota spokesman Brian Lyons said Monday evening.
“We won’t be able to comment on what any possible problems with the car were until we take a look at the car.”
Sudden unintended acceleration has allegedly been the cause of 56 fatal accidents involving Toyotas in the U.S., going back as far as 2004.
The Prius that Sikes was driving was one of more than 4 million Toyota models recalled in November due to the reported acceleration problems, but the company was unsure if Sikes took his car into a Toyota dealer, Lyons said.
link:
Jalopnik: Out-of-Control Toyota Prius Stopped By California Patrol Car
in Toyota
Posted
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.