thejason said:

That's what I thought when I first heard the story about Toyota, but I guess people freak when it happens and just don't think.

Shyra said:

hmmm...I dont buy freaking out for miles and miles...sudden acceleration and wrecking within a few seconds is believable....sudden accelaration, weaving in and out of traffic, calling 911 and "standing" on the brakes for miles on end...not so much...

Shyra said:

thejason said:

that's how you drive in Chicago and Miami!

like they said the driver in the Lexus was a cop, in fact I do believe he was a highway patrol cop, and supposedly he was very knowledgeable about cars, so if just putting the car in neutral was a fix, he would have done it. Very sad story.

my camry is getting ready to do this to me, I'm sure of it

it wouldn't start last week, yet this week is acting as if nothing happened

2 pages YET nobody even commented on the bigger issue


THE MAN WAS DRIVING A PRIUS!


are they even sure he had testicles?

bboy87 said:

and

BklynBabe said:

putting the car in neutral IS is the fix, period....a disengaged transmission at high rpms or speed will damage the engine if the accelerator is truly stuck but it will slow and stop...and in some vehicles, it may not even damage the engine because some models have rev limiters that don't allow engines to maintain high rpms with the transmission disengaged...

it's not nearly as sinister or difficult as some would have us believe...

like I said, sudden acceleration and a sudden accident is believable...uncontrolled acceleration for 30 miles while talking with 911 and dodging traffic isn't...there was alot of control going on in that situation, inlcluding control of the car if you ask me...I've called bullshit on this particular story since day one...

thejason said:

I never beleived it either.

I think he's lying along with whole bunch of other folks just takin advantage of the situation.

thejason said:

Really??? I don't see how/why he could fake that, especially after calling 911 and the helicopters got involved. Besides, do we KNOW that he didn't try to put in neutral and couldn't? And what about the highway patrolman who died with his family? Like BklynBabe said, if it was that easy why didn't he do this or why didn't it work? I dunno, the Prius driver sounded scared and panicked and like he was concentrating on controlling the car and getting the brakes to work.

SCNDLS said:

That was horrible to listen to. I should have never let curiosity get me to go to youtube. I actually drive a Lexus, but an older one from 1995. I haven't had a ny problems yet..knock on wood.

SilverlakePhil said:

That was so sad. That's the guy who was a highway patrol officer. A few weeks after that 4 people died in a Toyota near where I live.

SCNDLS said:

all we KNOW is his side of the story since we weren't in the car with him...but if he had tried to put it in neutral, the car would have slowed...and unless his transmissin is faulty as well, then he could have put it in neutral...and obviously his transmission was just fine because the car was hauling ass down the road

but in the whole scheme of things, I don't really care, I'm gonna go find a boob thread...

thejason said:

But how do you explain the fact that the brakes were destroyed down to the rotors. Doesn't that indicate that he was trying to stop? How is it possible to burn through brake pads and rotors without stopping the car?

SCNDLS said:

how do we know what condition his brakes were in before he 'suddenly accelerated'?? one could assume that he did a lil' brake riding before the event...or could even assume that the brake pads were worn before from general use...so certainly it's just as easy to assume that riding them at accelerated speeds will create an issue....

brakes appplied or ridden at high speeds wears them out, even new pads...ask anybody that races...and you don't have to be standing on them to cause damage...

to me, this particular situation reeks of a planned event...he may have sounded panicked on the phone...but for a panicked person, he maintained great fucking control of an out of control situation...

I understand Toyota has issues, so I'm not defending them but this deal is fishy...

damn, you can't pull out the key? LONG LIVE STICK SHIFTS! Unless the car is in gear it aint goin nowhere.

I remember years ago a young woman who was driving a Volkswagen Jetta had that out of control acceleration. Her car accelerated up to 90mph and she maintained control until she was able to get into a grassy median and the car finally stopped. The state troopers said the only thing that saved her was her driving ability and the fact that she was able to steer the car to safety. I don't remember what was wrong with the car,

thejason said:

It would be really easy to find out when the last time was he had his brakes changed. You could see the smoke coming from the wheels in some of the video I saw and the trooper said he heard them squeeling. I still don't understand how you can apply that much pressure to a brake pedal and the car does not stop unless there's something wrong.

Regardless, I'm not willing to say this guy lied based solely on Toyota not being able to reproduce the situation in their testing. They still don't know what's causing the acceleration. And electrical problems are hard to reproduce. Who hasn't had a problem with their car, take it to the mechanic, and not be able to reproduce it. The shit happens. Not to mention that more than 60 cars have reportedly had the acceleration problem AFTER getting the "fix" that was supposed to correct the problem.

Shyra said:

In this case, I chalked up his unresponsiveness to focusing on the road and avoiding hitting other cars.
Plus he had a handheld cell phone and couldn't hold it and steer at the same time. So I think he didn't even have the phone up to his ear when the 911 operater was telling him what to do. You can hear him fumbling for the phone sometimes.


[Edited 3/16/10 11:32am]

Typical company response. Would u expect anything else?

Oh damn, well it seems, that the Prius ALSO has a braking problem that is software-related that Toyota knows about but STILL has not officially recalled.

thejason said:

Ya, the second I saw this story I thought something was not quite right.

thejason said:

Could you not drive with one foot on the brake and one on the accelerator? Would that not make it go, but also have the lights on and create some smoke/smell?

I dunno, that's why I ask.

JustErin said:

of course you could...
you don't have to fully apply the brakes to wear pads or rotors at high speeds...and like I said earlier, theres no way to be sure he didn't do some brake riding before the incident to create wear...
I don't know if the guy is lying or not....but Toyota has every reason to question this particular situation...it's not like they're crying foul on every report of sudden accleration, but they are on this one and I can see why...

thejason said:

Couple this with dude having declared bankruptcy in '08 and being like 700K in debt and I think questioning the validity of the claim is appropriate.

I'm not saying that people in financial trouble can't be in a legit situation but I think you're right to question their motives.

thejason said:

So, when you press on both the gas AND brake pedals the car can still move forward like you're not pressing the brake at all?

Could he have used the emergency brake? (I remember learning how to use that in driver's ed as a last resort type of thing.)

SCNDLS said:

there's a huge difference in riding the brake and standing on the brake...it doesn't take much pressure to engage the brakes and brake light...we've all been behind that person that rides their breaks going down the road, haven't we...?
so yeah, you can press both and move...
[Edited 3/16/10 15:00pm]