Me, I'm not buying it, too many lame excuses..... he wouldn't try to shift into neutral cause he didn't want to take his hands off the wheel, YET he admittedly reached down to "pull" the gas pedal up?! AND, he didn't try turning the car off sooner due to some mild interstate curves. AND, the gas pedal, which is nothing more than a hinge and spring with wires, moved on its own. Etc., etc. I believe he just wants on the bandwagon.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2010/03/10/rowlands.runaway.prius.cnn?hpt=T2

I have a feeling anyone that gets into an accident now will lay blame rather than accept responsiblity.

I wondered how long it would take people to fake these issues to get new cars or out of current loans, etc.......

doesn't have the presence of mind to turn the car off, but makes a phone call at 84 MPH?? Just jumping on the the bandwagon in my mind.

what a moron. i dont know what else to say.

actually, i do. here is the problem: drivers in the country are NOT well trained. most people act like driving a car isnt hard or complicated, and most of the time its not. but we should be training drivers for the worst case scenario, not a sunday drive through the park. this guy didnt want to shift to neutral cause he didnt want to steer with one hand? what the hell kind of logic is that? "i'd rather go speeding through this traffic with 2 hands on my wheel than take 5 seconds or less to shift to neutral". great idea. and he said he "kept hitting the brakes". i'm sorry, there is NO WAY a prius is going to overpower the braking system. the braking system is 100% mechanical on those cars, no electronic parts at all (aside from the regen braking and abs, which wont interfere with the brakes opertaion). so he should have bee able to plant two feet on the pedal and get the car stopped. but because he was not well trained, he probably hit the pedal with a normal amount of one-foot pressure, and when that didnt work he gave up. people panic, i get that, and its tough to go through a normal thought process when you are in a panic. but if drivers recieved more extensive training prior to being released on the road, i doubt we would see accidents like this. ok, i'll get off my soap box now.

I think the outcome will be Industry changing...

http://townhall.edmunds.com/direct/view/.f0db60b/30?mktcat=enabler&AID=10364102&PID=3193545&kw=N&synpartner=edmunds&mktid=cj260233

what a moron. i dont know what else to say.

actually, i do. here is the problem: drivers in the country are NOT well trained. most people act like driving a car isnt hard or complicated, and most of the time its not. but we should be training drivers for the worst case scenario, not a sunday drive through the park. this guy didnt want to shift to neutral cause he didnt want to steer with one hand? what the hell kind of logic is that? "i'd rather go speeding through this traffic with 2 hands on my wheel than take 5 seconds or less to shift to neutral". great idea. and he said he "kept hitting the brakes". i'm sorry, there is NO WAY a prius is going to overpower the braking system. the braking system is 100% mechanical on those cars, no electronic parts at all (aside from the regen braking and abs, which wont interfere with the brakes opertaion). so he should have bee able to plant two feet on the pedal and get the car stopped. but because he was not well trained, he probably hit the pedal with a normal amount of one-foot pressure, and when that didnt work he gave up. people panic, i get that, and its tough to go through a normal thought process when you are in a panic. but if drivers recieved more extensive training prior to being released on the road, i doubt we would see accidents like this. ok, i'll get off my soap box now.

AMEN BROTHA!!!

all,

we dont really know what thiss guy was going thru. we dont know his mental state. its real easy to just jump on the "bandwagon" (pun :D) and say he was full of trash, but we were not there. we dont know what happened. the police offer who crashed in the lexus.. he could have turned off the ignition or put the car in neutral.. blah blah... but he didnt... and he was a COP! so did he jump on the bandwagon at the expense of his family???

i dont know if this guy is the real deal or not.. and im not going to worry about it. there was just a lady in NYC (i think today?) who's prius sped up out of her driveway and crashed into a wall deploying the airbags.. what could she have done to prevent that? is she a bandwagoneer also?

most of us here are intelligent and are a little above average since we are on a car site, so it is easy for us to armchair quaterback (always wanted to use that in a sentence) these scenarios and say what we could have done...

hey.. i love you guys so dont kill me! :-)

You're right, but we are all entitled to our own opinions. I look at it this way, from this point on, just about any accident involving a Toyota product is going to be scrutinized. And to be honest, I hate to see this type of incident happen to any company let alone injure or possibly kill someone.

But you have to agree...it seems rather fishy that all these occurences come To light after the high viz recall. Or, just like anything else, has the media sunk it's teeth into this story like a starved pitbull, which has in turn afforded us the opportunity to come to the "bandwagon" conclusion?

Hey Marctron...we still love ya man!

the police officer who crashed in the lexus.. he could have turned off the ignition or put the car in neutral.. blah blah... but he didnt... and he was a COP! so did he jump on the bandwagon at the expense of his family???
That incident happened long before the hoopla, you could say it started it all. There was no bandwagon at that time.

I totally agree, way too many occurences all of a sudden being blamed on the unintended accelleration issue - really makes you wonder about their motives. Also, way too little commen sense being used. I can appreciate panic, but when my hindparts (and my familie's) are at risk I would try anything to keep from getting hurt or killed. I can't for the life of me understand how you can think about calling 911, but can't think about throwing it into neutral, turning off the engine, standing on the brakes janking on the emergency brakes.... i'm really sorry for those people that lost their lives, it sucks and I feel for their loved ones, but some of these other occorences - come on!!

all,

we dont really know what thiss guy was going thru. we dont know his mental state. its real easy to just jump on the "bandwagon" (pun :D) and say he was full of trash, but we were not there. we dont know what happened. the police offer who crashed in the lexus.. he could have turned off the ignition or put the car in neutral.. blah blah... but he didnt... and he was a COP! so did he jump on the bandwagon at the expense of his family???

i dont know if this guy is the real deal or not.. and im not going to worry about it. there was just a lady in NYC (i think today?) who's prius sped up out of her driveway and crashed into a wall deploying the airbags.. what could she have done to prevent that? is she a bandwagoneer also?

most of us here are intelligent and are a little above average since we are on a car site, so it is easy for us to armchair quaterback (always wanted to use that in a sentence) these scenarios and say what we could have done...

hey.. i love you guys so dont kill me! :-)

i see where you are coming from dude, but this guys interview just didnt add up. he said he wouldnt take his hand off the wheel to shift to neutral, but he could make a phone call? and he could "feel the pedal moving". not gonna happen. maybe his car did take off on him, i dont know. but my main point was that if people were better trained behind the wheel this would've been no big deal.

as for the CHP officer, he couldnt shift to neutral because the shifter is electronic. and the only way he couldve turned the ignition off was to hold the start/stop button down for 4 seconds. he didnt know that because the car was a loaner from the lexus dealer while they had his wife's rx330.

I would have taken it off-roading!!

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100311/BUSINESS01/3110324/Increased+Prius+acceleration+complaints+may+be+pro duct+of+psychology

That incident happened long before the hoopla, you could say it started it all. There was no bandwagon at that time.

Absolutely right!

Not only that, both these guys are locals. The CHP officer had every reason to panic if ever there was one! He knew that he had less than 1 mile of freeway left at 100 mph pluss speeds! The best trained (and he was) would panic with family on board in that situation. The other guy, being a local knew he had 1,000's of miles of freeway left and no turns of any mention. Turns sure, but you could take them at 150mph in a semi. I know, I drive these same freeways. First I saw of his "incident" I smelled a rat and after listening to his 911 call it all but confirmed it for me. I'll leave a very small space that his car could have malfunctioned. My question is now, what stoped the engine? The CHP helping to bring the vehicle to a stop? If the excellerator is stuck, bringing the car to a stop doesn't stop the engine. Only turning it off will do that. It'll be interesting to see what the outcome of the investigation will be!

Here's an interesting article about this incident. The media would not show it on Prime time.

http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/12/toyota-autos-hoax-media-opinions-contributors-michael-fumento_2.html

oh man, this guy is amazing. so he filed for bankruptcy, has been all but convicted off insurance fraud in the past, and owned an "adult swing life" website. what an all-star. i knew his story didnt anywhere near add up, what with the "to afraid to move his hands" bullsh!t. i say again, what a moron.

I hope this guy gets what he deserves...several cemented walls, and a couple steel bars he can crash his face into. Better yet, let Toyota use him as a crash test dummy and have him simulate what he was "trying" to do when he couldn't stop the car.


I wouldn't be surprised if more than half of these stories were ways for people to defraud insurance, and remove themselves from their financed vehicles as this guy has proven so.

Does anybody remember the balloon boy? Same kind of hoax! He needs to be fined and do some time! And the lame stream media, boy did they fall for it hook line and sinker. I don't hear them so much right now about this hoaxter, kinda hard to get that egg off of your face.

funny his last name is sikes.. :-)

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/03/12/unintended-acceleration-prius-case-gets-a-twist-involving-debt/

http://www.fancast.com/tv/Saturday-Night-Live/10009/1440547940/Weekend-Getaway/videos?cmpid=FCST_hp_xfinitytv

NSFW...language. Funny $h1+!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ4PtafRB9c

NSFW...language. Funny +!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ4PtafRB9cNOW THAT was some fuuuuunny Shiggity right there! HAhahahahaha!

yes that was extremely funny!! hope it goes viral...

That video was great. Maybe Toyota should include it as part of a interactive drivers manual, and they should leave the profanity in.

By the way, might want to put a warning about the profanity incase your kids are around.

NSFW..... language isn't a warning????? Anywho, I agree with ya, required viewing for all Toyota buyers :)

"40 F-Bombs per gallon". ROFLOL

i live in sd and i called it BS. a wolf in sheep clothing. 94mph..is pretty normal speed (for me anyways :D). The operator keep telling him to put it in neutral, and he just didnt and kept quiet. if he was really panicking he would be screaming his head off. he didnt do any of the suggested direction giving to him. I also heard he was denied service on his prius before this happened. i hope he gets put in jail and serve as an example. But i have to say its great for me with this mass scare that ppl are having. Toyota is offering some great deals. im going to go buy a FJ for my dad this weekend. He always wanted one now its zero finance and im pretty sure i can talk them into throwing in some stuff ;).

An FJ!!!!!! Paaallleeezzeeee! XTerra is way better.

An FJ!!!!!! Paaallleeezzeeee! XTerra is way better.

LOL...i guess but my dad like the FJ :) If it was for me i wouldnt get neither since i have the armada. I would get a Titan to compliment my armada ;)

My daughter want an FJ, she thinks they're "cute". LOL

Follow up to the "incident" that happened the day after

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/03/22/ny.prius.crash.probe/index.html?hpt=T2