Runaway 2008 Prius with stuck gas pedal reported in California
summary:
On March 8, 2010, California Highway Patrol assisted a runaway
2008 Blue Toyota Prius when allegedly its gas pedal got stuck while driving on the California Freeway in San Diego County. The 61-year old Prius Driver, James Sikes, used his cell phone to called 911 at about 1:30 Pm after realizing that his Prius accelerator pedal would not easing up after he had passed another vehicle going eastbound on Interstate 8 near La Posta ( near Lake Jennings Park Road/ Flinn Springs). Mr. Sikes reported that his Prius accelerator pedal had jumped while passing the other vehicle and had became stuck in a position. Sikes' Prius reach about 90 mph when the police car arrived about 20 minutes later. The police car drove alongside the Sikes' Prius and used a loudspeaker to instruct Mr Sikes to put the Prius into neutral, apply the brake pedal to the floor, and also to apply the emergency brake. Police officer Todd Niebert said that he could smell Prius brakes burning up and that he saw the Prius brake lights coming on. As the Prius went up an upgrade, the Prius started to decelerated to about 50mph; Sikes then turned off the engine and the Prius coasted to a halt.The Police cruiser then came up front the Prius and blocked it. Toyota has dispatched a field technical specialist to San Diego to investigate this incident.sources