The thing that I don't get is that this guy did not even try to put it in neutral. He said he was not familiar with this type of transmission and he didn't want to try and figure it out while the car was speeding. Also, I beleive on our Insights, that the steering wheel does not lock until the key is removed. Not sure if that is the case on the Prius.
Seems like this is becoming more and more of a case of a stupid person behind the wheel.
Granted, something may have happened to make the car accelerate uncontrollably, but for him not to put it in neutral (and not even try), and to not have tried using both brakes and the emergency brake (which is how he stopped), is just getting ridiculous. I thought at first the trooper used the squad car to stop the guy, but he just told him to pull the e-brake.
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My wife does 80% of the driving, I get my fix on the weekends...
In the late 80s Chevrolet came out with the new design for the Chevy Caprice, and were used by many police depts. Often when you were on an emergency call, and had a long distance to travel, you would fly up to an intersection, brake with your left foot, sometimes drop in to L to slow the tank down. Many times if you had your foot on the accelerator, at the same time, the car would turn off, and there you sat, in the intersection, siren blaring etc. Gm had many complaints, and fixed it eventually, it was a software problem, This I know for a fact, because I was one of the folks who spent a week at the GM proving grounds, in Mich. with the engineers. I keep an open mind to all possibilities, when it comes to mans inventions, including fraud.
I seriously doubt that any high-speed Prius unintended acceleration issues would be fraudulently enacted by the drivers. Too risky. Maybe the drivers reacted poorly or inadequately under the circumstances, but it's hard to fault these drivers – many of them older – for not thinking clearly in a panic situation. Regardless of how these drivers reacted, the underlying problem has not changed. The focus must still remain firmly on Toyota, rather than on drivers. They must bear the greatest burden of proof, and there is significant evidence that there has been at least some degree of coverup, possibly many years in the doing. Cars must be literally and figuratively as 'foolproof' as possible, and Toyota has lagged here. Also, we have not seen anywhere near the volume of unintended acceleration issues with other makes, which points to the greatest common link being Toyota, not its drivers, and not other car manufacturers, generally speaking.
I seriously doubt that any high-speed Prius unintended acceleration issues would be fraudulently enacted by the drivers. Too risky. Maybe the drivers reacted poorly or inadequately under the circumstances, but it's hard to fault these drivers – many of them older – for not thinking clearly in a panic situation. Regardless of how these drivers reacted, the underlying problem has not changed. The focus must still remain firmly on Toyota, rather than on drivers. They must bear the greatest burden of proof, and there is significant evidence that there has been at least some degree of coverup, possibly many years in the doing. Cars must be literally and figuratively as 'foolproof' as possible, and Toyota has lagged here. Also, we have not seen anywhere near the volume of unintended acceleration issues with other makes, which points to the greatest common link being Toyota, not its drivers, and not other car manufacturers, generally speaking.
I personally witnessed a Pontiac Fiero with a stuck accelerator. It was at an autocross and resulted in a crash that damaged four vehicles (including the Fiero which was totaled). Luckily the driver had only minor injuries. I'm still waiting for that recall...
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Ok I'll shorten the list :
Current Vehicles:
2010 Insight
2007 Fit Sport MANUAL
2010 Honda NT700V Deauville
"NHTSA's veil of secrecy is now being lifted," according to congressman Darryl Issa's office. Meanwhile, there are suspicions of fraud in at least one recent case under investigation. Bottom line – regardless of the truth, it's hellish for Toyota to have this matter linger, and linger, and linger. The drama will keep getting, well... er, more dramatic. Politicians will want to hang their hats on this one. And what GM executive doesn't want retribution for other-world inroads into their turf? Imagine the forces at work to exploit Toyota's woes... consumers, politicians, executives... everyone! (Except Toyota and Toyoda, of course.) We may not see the end of this topic for months, or years.
"When Toyota was asked by the AP to explain what exactly its recorders do collect, a company statement said Thursday that the devices record data from five seconds before until two seconds after an air bag is deployed in a crash."
So is that data retained when the car is turned off and still be there? Things that make you go hummmmmm.
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