Ron Schenone

Driver Hits 94 MPH In A Runaway Toyota Prius… He Was Told His Car Was OK!

Posted by on Mar 9, 2010 | 23 Comments

A California driver reported that his Toyota Prius took off a reached a speed of 94m.p.h. before a C.H.P. officer help him to stop the runaway vehicle.The C.H.P. officer confirmed that when he caught up with the Toyota Prius he could smell burning brakes as the driver tried to hopelessly stop the car. But what is really disturbing about this incident was that the owner had had the car into a Toyota dealership and was told his car was not part of the recall and was O.K. On one T.V. interview the man who had his Toyota Prius towed back to the dealership stated ‘I am not driving that car again’.

Who could blame the man. I can only imagine the shock of  having a car take off on its own, after you were told everything is O.K. with the vehicle. I am not sure that ‘pissed’ can even describe what I would be feeling. But what is also aggravating an already dangerous situation, is that this incident just adds to the loss of confidence that the public has in Toyota. First it was the floor mats, now a sticking pedal, and some claim it is faulty electronics.

It just adds more fuel to the fire of incidents such as this one:

The latest incident in California was a chilling echo of the incident last August where off-duty California Highway Patrol Officer Mark Saylor was killed along with his wife, her brother and the Saylors’ 13-year-old daughter when the accelerator of the Lexus ES350 they were in got stuck.

Minutes later, the Toyota-manufactured vehicle slammed into the back of a sport utility vehicle at about 100mph, veered off the freeway, overturned and burst into flames. All four family members died.

Not knowing to much about the Prius, this comment helped understand how the shifter is different:

On the prius its a lot harder to shift the car while in motion because it doesn’t have a regular PRNDL shifter like most cars. It is completely electronic just like the ignition is a start button. If you move the shifter you feel any clicks like you are used to feeling in a regular car. They build in safety programing for accidental touching of the shifter just like the start button requires a 3 second hold before the car will shut off.
Just a lesson on how electronics DO NOT necessarily make things better.

Interesting. This could explain why the driver was reluctant to try placing the car in neutral. It also explains why it took him three times before he was finally able to shut off the engine.

I also think what is annoying are the smug remarks some people are making on how they would handle the situation. Have some compassion people. It is a scary and live threatening situation that some people may just panic and loss their ability to act or respond to.

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Comment source

  • leftystrat

    Cars have `black boxes’. Wouldn’t it be interesting to know what they have to say?

    • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

      Hi leftystrat,
      That is another problem with Toyota. Apparently their black boxes either record little data or no data about this issue. Some are saying Toyota did this to hid the problem.
      I don’t have a clue if this is a fact or not.

  • http://www.stareclips.com/?prius StareClips.com

    He shouldn’t have been speeding.

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  • Ted Bruner

    What ever happened – as in the old daze of hanging linkages – to throwing in the clutch or putting the transmission into neutral??? I still drive a Toyota and would never be silly enough to think that brakes, alone, could stop a runaway engine.
    What ever happened to real drivers’ training???

  • Bruce

    It’s easy to second guess when it ain’t you! You can plan it over in your mind all you want but in actual circumstances – well, it probably won’t go down in the way you expected. The main thing, in this case, is no one got hurt and this brought even more attention to this crazy situation.

    I have a 2007 Tundra which is on the recall list for the accelerator problem but I’m not taking it in until they actually figure out what the problem is. It has not exhibited any of the traits of a defective accelerator, so I ain’t too worried. I also got a notice about my floor mats. They said to remove them and they would get back to us when they figured out what to do – nary another word on that one. Oh, and Toyota just announced it was expanding its recall of the 2000-2003 Tundras for rusted out frames! How much more can this company withstand before it has to get a bailout from Congress? (Yes, I know it’s a foreign company, what’s your point?)

    The thing that ticks me me off the most (personally) is I paid a premium for this truck for the great resell value. Got taken on that one, didn’t I? I love my awesome Tundra but it’s going to be my first and last Toyota! Gonna be real interesting to see how or if Toyota survives this fiasco.

    • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

      Hi Bruce,
      That is another issue. How is Toyota going to make up for the loss in value.
      Who in their right mind would even want a Toyota after this huge mess. Toyota
      has lost their credibility as far as I am concerned.

  • http://www.lightstream-media.com Mel Minitor

    This past Oct. my wife was in her 2009 Camby and ran off the road to not rear end the driver in front of her… We had removed the floor mat on the drivers side… The highway patrol charged her ‘too fast for conditions’, she was doing 45 mph and could not stop the car… it was totaled with less than 3,000 miles… we took a $5,000 loss on the car and we found what we thought was full insurance coverage was not… it did not cover the drivers medical.

    Wtih 2 witnesses on her behalf the highway patrolman would not listen… now it is to court to fight the charges on the ticket and to deal with Toyota.
    I wonder how many other people had accidents prior to Toyota’s announcement, that was charged in the wrong, when it was the fault of the car?

    • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

      Hello Mel,
      I sincerely hope that you and others who were cited or blamed for accidents beyond their control are able to get the matter
      resolved. There are now allegations that Toyota knew about these problems and kept it hidden. This is going to go on for years
      until the truth is learned.
      Best regards, Ron

  • http://screwgogreen.com Mike

    I say if you are going to drive the car PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD learn how to shut it off. All cars could have had something like this happen. Toyota is todays focal point of course. Take the car out of gear maybe just might be smart…you know the car has an issue you took it to a deal because it MIGHT have an issue. Even if the car was ok to drive according to a human being I would think the very least someone would do is evaluate WHAT THE HECK WOULD I DO IF the car started to speed up instead of slowing……..call the police and tell them its not slowing might have saved his life but not thinking about what to do before hand may have also cause him so serious common sense kudo’s. PUSH the button and take it out of gear at the same time…..blow it up Toyota will give ya another!!! Sigh…..common sense earth saving yuppies….got to love fad cars huh?

  • Bill

    “Learn How to Shut It Off” Obviously you don’t own a Prius. It is completely electronic. You can’t ‘shift’ it into neutral. You can’t ‘turn it off’ like with a key. You can’t “unstick” the ‘gas pedal’. None of these are mechanical. If the car takes off on it’s own all you can do is try to use the mechanical parking brake and hope the car stops before your brakes burn out.

    • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

      Bill,
      No one read what I said about the Prius being a different kind of car.
      Thanks for reinforcing the point.

  • http://www.uspassportnow.com/ Grace

    toyota must be loving this

  • http://screwgogreen.com Mike

    Differant does not mean impossible…if you buy something different please by all means accept it being different instead of making it sound impossible. I have been in the cars I have seen its ability to be put out of gear it is different not impossible! It shifts by electronics not by the throttle or any other means so I have done a test and shifted the car out of gear during acceleration and guss what it goes out of gear….sure it is done electronically but it shifts out of gear! I have pressed the button also with the car on the highway and guess what it turns off. Ignorance is the fuel feeding this whole story. Keep spatting the its not my fault I am not able to think syndrom. Powering down the car BTW does take away power steering which of course could cause some one to have an accident again because they never had to actually steer a car without it.

  • http://screwgogreen.com Mike

    Ron,
    Just for the record. The man stated his car was checked and said not to be a problem. FACT Toyota does not have a recal list even made yet!!!! The Prius recal has NOT started!! No dealer could have checked any list known to man for something that does not exist. This guy claims to have recived a letter on a car that has not even gone to recall yet! headlines read toyota will issue a recall (this does not mean it is done).

    • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

      Hi Mike,
      I should of explained this further. He brought his Prius into Toyota and was told his vehicle was not part of the recall and that his vehicle was fine.

  • James

    I do have a Toyota and it has over 261,000 miles on it. I’ve never had a problem. Of course my car is has a manual transmission, manual steering, manual windows and locks. The only that has power is the brakes.

  • Stomp

    I’ll prefaces this with – I’ve Been a Mechanic for over 25 Years and I work on these Priuses as CA Gov Agency is required to have 10% alternative Fuel Vehicles.

    The Prius is Very much different than other Cars. There is No Key for the ignition – Computer Controlled, To Start and turn it off is a Button, Computer controlled. The Shift selector is Computer controlled, the Gas Pedal is computer controlled as well.

    And the Black Box you talk about, well the Dealerships are able access some and Most of the data for diagnostics but there is data they cant access, Only the Manufacturer.

    My Gut tells me it’s the data and electronics. Other makes are having similar issues, the ones with electronic throttles, Heck there is some that have electronic steering

    I’d much rather have mechanical throttle cables and not have the computer control so much. Kinda hard to re-boot while doing 70+ on the freeway.

    • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

      Hi Stomp,
      Thank you for the explanation.
      Regards, Ron

  • Anthony

    There is one single answer to any question about stopping a runaway vehicle. Brakes. Unless you have neglected to do routine maintenance on your vehicle, they will always stop a vehicle at wide open throttle. Or you could just let your car accelerated for a while…then you can be on TV. If you ask me, it sounds like a good excuse to get away with speeding in front of a police officer.

  • Anthony

    As for allegations that Toyota “knew there were problems”…Do some research on other auto manufactures before sharing opinions about such things…(GM fires, Ford fires, Dodge brakes, Honda airbags…the list goes on)

  • iamthepush

    Anthony, while I think the driver is trying to defraud someone, try going 90 Mph in your car and then step on the brake while pressing on gas peddle, its going to slow down for a sec then after the pads heat up, they’re toast.