Topic: More bad press for Toyota

[sailor723]

http://www.news889.com/news/world/article/33588--highway-patrol-helps-prius-with-stuck-accelerator-coast-to-a-stop-in-san-diego

Can't be good for Toyota....the more stuff like this is reported the more undecided buyers are apt to say "why take a chance however small?" and go with whatever their other option might be.

[Shnak]

But... I thought the Prius didn't have the same pedal assembly than all the other Toyotas being recalled right now? 

[airbalancer]

From the picture it appears the Prius is pre 2010
Why did he wait until the car slowed to 50kph before he shut off the engine?
You would think he would have done that first

[quadzilla]

Why did he wait until the car slowed to 50kph before he shut off the engine?

From the article:

After the car decelerated to about 50 mph (80 kph), Sikes turned off the engine and coasted to a halt.

One thing I still don't understand.....if a person has time to call 911 why don't they have time to just put the car in neutral and cost to the side of the road?

[dougjp]

Ah.....freedom of the press - to bash incessantly. Could this be the world's first nitrous and turbo boosted Prius? Or is it a partly fabricated story?

94 mph!!! - "As it was going, I was trying the brakes...it wasn't stopping, it wasn't doing anything and it just kept speeding up,...smell the brakes burning he was pressing the pedal so hard."- - -  Then - - - " officers told Sikes over a loudspeaker to push the brake pedal to the floor and apply the emergency brake" That and a steep upgrade slowed it down to 50, at which point presumably it was "deemed safe" to put the car in neutral (but never when going faster, I suppose) ! And this after all the press for weeks about "what to do".

OK, so isn't this a prime example of who doesn't belong in the gene pool?   Here we have this "genius" who manages to let his Prius get up to 94 MPH and it takes a cop on a loudspeaker to tell the idiot to hammer the brakes decisively? Hello? And that (along with an upgrade) works? I guess they had lots of time to drive around the territory looking for one of those hills. Imagine how much easier, better and faster THAT "solution" (very hard on the brakes) would have worked when he was going 60 MPH! Not to mention selecting "neutral". What is a Prius's 60 MPH - 95 MPH time? Wouldn't he have had lots of time for a debate with himself about how to use a brake pedal in an emergency? If he had killed someone, would he not have been guilty due to gross negligence and stupidity?

I'm certainly no Toyota supporter, but this whole thing with people NEVER having to be at least partly responsible for their actions and (in)actions because they are idiots and/or brain dead is wearing thin! As is the press not focusing, at least partially, on these people.

[Juke1]

Regardless if the driver is incompetent or not, the fact remains we have yet another runaway Toyota.  Can't skirt around that one. People do not expect such behaviour from their cars.

[tenpenny]

Regardless if the driver is incompetent or not, the fact remains we have yet another runaway Toyota.  Can't skirt around that one. People do not expect such behaviour from their cars.

No, they don't.

However, when my car is going faster than I want it to, I use the brakes at that time, I don't need someone else to tell me what to do.

The press is going to have a field day with every case of 'unintended acceleration' involving Toyotas that they can find.  It's going to hammer Toyota for a couple of years, but they'll recover.

[safristi]

...   ...THE PRESS............... .....................doubt it.....they are on the way out UNINFORMED BLOVIATION...................blame it on "JOURNALISM SKOOLS"...WDF is that!!!...go out research and inform get mutliple confirmation of the "STORY" bring back the olde hacks and drunkards from Fleet street in the 60's...they new the real scoop....
   now it's ALL 1 minute sound bites/headlines no more depth than a Hollywood actors thoughts de jour.................

[carcrazy]

I wonder how long it takes and how safe it is (controllable?) to stop a car at full throttle (presumably) with the brakes when there is no brake override? I’m certain it’s not a pleasant experience for the average driver and certainly not a normal (safe) behavior for any car in the first place.
The good thing about this happening at this point is that the car is still intact, the driver is still alive and there are witnesses (CHP officer). Since Toyota in on the spot, they can no longer dismiss the claim and have no choice but to thoroughly investigate the incident by all means.
It would be interesting to see the outcome of this particular story.

[locutusx]

I'm not sure why everyone is automatically blaming the driver in this case:

I don't know how similar or different the Hybrid Prius is to a manual/auto tranny'ed combustion engine car....

BUT with the "high-tech"-ness of it (much of which was raved about on this very forum) I'm going to say it's possible that the gear selector on the Prius is NOT a mechanical linkage to the transmission (like it is on my 8 year old Acura). Instead, if it's an electronic selector (like the "gas" pedal) then perhaps this is an issue with the engine computer... so you have a gear selector which doesn't do anything when it's changed to "Neutral" and an accelerator pedal which gets stuck at "on" even when you release it. In that case, I can easily see a situation like this happening. And the true culprit could be the car's CPU does not realize it needs to cut engine power (to both the combustion engine and the electric motors)

Of course, someone who's intimately familiar with the Prius' inner workings should probably talk about whether my theory is possible or not...

[footlong58]

You can nit pick all you want about driver capability, etc.

The fact is, Toyota owners aren't capable.  Thats why they buy Toyotas.  They don't know about such things as emergency brakes, neutral, going fast, etc.

The driver could be 100% at fault in the matter.  It won't matter.  It's very very very bad press for Toyota.  Very bad.  You can debate it here on auto enthusiast forums, and we are probably right and sensible about it, but in the real world, 99.9% of Toyota owners and prospective Toyota owners only hear what the media is saying.  They don't know enough about cars to think otherwise.

[locutusx]

I guess it's Toyota's own fault for making "appliances" rather the "cars"... is that what you're saying?

[blur911]

I wonder how long it takes and how safe it is (controllable?) to stop a car at full throttle (presumably) with the brakes when there is no brake override? I’m certain it’s not a pleasant experience for the average driver and certainly not a normal (safe) behavior for any car in the first place.

Car and Driver tested a V6 Camry, it takes 10 feet longer to stop from 60mph with the accelerator floored.  Apparently Toyota owners have very weak leg muscles and  cannot push the brake pedal, well that or they are so busy pushing the gas pedal thinking it's the brake that they get confused and call 911.  

[footlong58]

I guess it's Toyota's own fault for making "appliances" rather the "cars"... is that what you're saying?

Not at all.  The reality is that Toyota is having these problems, driver error or not.  And its snowballed so big, that its common everyday news now, that everyone talks and knows about.  News that you would normally never hear about outside an auto news site.  But its happening.  Thats the facts.  Toyota is in a lot of trouble.  It's too late to blame drivers now, even if it is their fault.

[dougjp]

I blame Watergate, the source of all evil (ie; mainstream media).   

[vdk]

I'm not sure why everyone is automatically blaming the driver in this case:

I don't know how similar or different the Hybrid Prius is to a manual/auto tranny'ed combustion engine car....

BUT with the "high-tech"-ness of it (much of which was raved about on this very forum) I'm going to say it's possible that the gear selector on the Prius is NOT a mechanical linkage to the transmission (like it is on my 8 year old Acura). Instead, if it's an electronic selector (like the "gas" pedal) then perhaps this is an issue with the engine computer... so you have a gear selector which doesn't do anything when it's changed to "Neutral" and an accelerator pedal which gets stuck at "on" even when you release it. In that case, I can easily see a situation like this happening. And the true culprit could be the car's CPU does not realize it needs to cut engine power (to both the combustion engine and the electric motors)

Of course, someone who's intimately familiar with the Prius' inner workings should probably talk about whether my theory is possible or not...

That is correct. So this scenario is possible...

[carcrazy]

I wonder how long it takes and how safe it is (controllable?) to stop a car at full throttle (presumably) with the brakes when there is no brake override? I’m certain it’s not a pleasant experience for the average driver and certainly not a normal (safe) behavior for any car in the first place.

Car and Driver tested a V6 Camry, it takes 10 feet longer to stop from 60mph with the accelerator floored.  

This may partially answer my question, but what if the cars with reported problems do not behave the same as the normal cars? Most likely C/D tested a car that never reportedly experienced SUA.
There is a possibility that some Toyota cars may have issues so the owners may not be at fault in all cases. I think a thorough investigation is in order and finally Toyota is forced to spend the time and resources to do it.
Regardless, like it was said before, no car should accelerate on its own. If this is a feature of Toyota vehicles, it should be advertised as such so the owners are aware before buying the car; otherwise it should be fixed.

[tenpenny]

The fact is, Toyota owners aren't capable.  Thats why they buy Toyotas.  They don't know about such things as emergency brakes, neutral, going fast, etc.

That statement takes the prize.

You're claiming that nobody who buys a Toyota knows anything about cars and driving?

[Winklovic]

You remember Balloon Boy? Say hello to Prius Boy. People will do anything to get on tv.

[footlong58]

The fact is, Toyota owners aren't capable.  Thats why they buy Toyotas.  They don't know about such things as emergency brakes, neutral, going fast, etc.

That statement takes the prize.

You're claiming that nobody who buys a Toyota knows anything about cars and driving?

How do you explain that Toyota owners with the problem, are so dumbfounded when faced with the scenario to simply turn off the car, hit the ebrake, or put it into neutral?


I think most people would agree that ebrakes and transmissions and going fast and defensive driving aren't priorities on Toyota shoppers lists...