More questions raised on Toyota Prius sudden acceleration cases

Following two unintended acceleration cases involving Toyota Prius hybrids earlier this week, reports have begun to emerge questioning the credibility of the San Diego event that we reported on Tuesday.

On Monday, James Sikes made a 9-1-1 call reporting that he couldn't slow down his Prius. During the 23-minute call, the Prius would exceed 90 miles per hour on the I-8 outside of San Diego. Since then, the situation has been been questioned, as has the driver's character. Recent reports claim Sikes had declared bankruptcy in 2008 and was five months behind on payments for the Prius. (See Jalopnik and Forbes.)

Other reports say he refused to put the car in Neutral when the 9-1-1 operator instructed him to do so. On the 9-1-1 call, Sikes said he was afraid the car would flip. Toyota told Fox News that it finds the incident "baffling" and Sr. Vice President Don Esmond said he can't understand how Sikes's 2008 Prius, which was equipped with brake override software, could fail to slow down. 

We can't ascertain the veracity of Sikes's claim, but can say that putting your car in neutral will not cause it to flip.

More news is coming out on the other case, reported Tuesday afternoon in which a woman's Prius accelerated out of her driveway, across a street, and hit a rock wall. Local police in Harrison, New York, where the incident occurred, say they have asked for Toyota's assistance in recovering data from the Prius's event data recorder. They say that Toyota has refused. Toyota, meanwhile, says it is trying to recover the car to investigate, but Harrison police are refusing to release it. The woman suffered minor injuries in the event.

The cases point out the difficulty in determining the cause of unintended acceleration, much less finding a solution. Since the issue was thrust into the national spotlight, after a San Diego crash in August, hundreds more consumers have reported past incidents to the government, raising the death toll from six to dozens.

What we do know is that unintended acceleration events do happen and are not isolated strictly to Toyota vehicles. We also know that stepping firmly on the brakes and putting the car in Neutral will allow you to bring the car to a safe stop.

—Eric Evarts

Be sure to follow Consumer Reports Cars blog (RSS) and Twitter (@CRcars) to keep up with the latest information and advice, also see our unintended acceleration guide.

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