NHTSA can't duplicate runaway Prius report, investigation continues

Consumer Reports News: March 15, 2010 03:01 PM

Today, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released a statement on the ongoing investigation into an incident in Southern California last week, when a driver reported his Toyota Prius was accelerating out of control. Toyota will be announcing its initial findings later this afternoon.

James Sikes placed a call to 9-1-1, saying his accelerator was stuck and he was reportedly driving more than 90 mph for about 20 minutes on the call. He said he was standing on the brakes and couldn't get the car to slow down.

NHTSA states:

Our engineers have evaluated Mr. Sikes' Prius and recreated the drive that Mr. Sikes took. We obtained a copy of the diagnostic data that was read at the Toyota dealership and we are still reviewing that data to better understand what occurred with the car. So far, we have not been able to find anything to explain the incident that Mr. Sikes reported.

Further, the Prius is equipped with a system that detects simultaneous brake and accelerator pedal applications. When the brake applications are moderate or greater, the system will close the throttle allowing the vehicle to slow down and stop. The system on Mr. Sikes' Prius worked during our engineers' test drive.

We also observed that there was very little left of the car's brakes. The inboard front brake pads were completely gone and the outboard front pads were down to approximately 2 - 2.5 mm. The rotors were damaged.

We would caution people that our work continues and that we may never know exactly what happened with this car.

Read: " More questions raised on Toyota Prius sudden acceleration cases."

—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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NHTSA can't duplicate runaway Prius report, investigation continues

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