Data Puts Another Prius Crash in Question

Toyota Hysteria is being debunked by the evidence. I’m sure Government Motors is very disappointed.

CBS News report;

The "black box" data from a 2005 Toyota Prius that crashed in suburban New York March 9 showed that the driver did not apply the brakes as claimed.

A female housekeeper in Harrison, N.Y. had told police that she had been easing her employer's car out of the driveway when it took off on its own, crashing into a wall across the street.

On Wednesday, investigators from Toyota and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration - treating the case as another potential example of dangerous "unintended acceleration" that has plagued certain Toyota models - inspected the car.

But on Thursday a NHTSA spokesman, speaking to CBS News Radio's John Hartge, said that the car's event data recorder "indicated there was no application of the brakes and the throttle was fully open."

The car's front end was smashed in, its hood bent upward; it had a broken bumper and headlight, a flat tire and heavy scratches around its Toyota logo, but the driver was not hurt. "This car was preserved well, and it's the best evidence so far, I believe, that anybody's had an opportunity to evaluate," Harrison Police Department Capt. Anthony Marraccini said.
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Via CBS News

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James Sykes Runaway Prius Driver Hit Gas & Brakes 250 Times

Has anybody checked Sykes’s bank account for any deposits coming from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave?
I’m just saying.

The New York Post reports:

Engineers from Toyota and the National Highway Safety Administration yesterday cast serious doubt on a San Diego man's claim that his Prius took him on an uncontrollable 94-mph ride -- after determining that he alternately pressed the gas and brake pedals 250 times in rapid succession.

A diagnostic examination of the 2008 car failed to support James Sikes' insistence that his accelerator was stuck for the 20-minute ride outside San Diego.

"The data from the diagnostics test indicated that the accelerator and the brake had been rapidly pressed, alternately back and forth, 250 times," said Mike Michels, vice president of corporate communications for Toyota Motor Sales USA.

Plus, the brake damage was inconsistent with Sikes' story. Toyota said two days of tests on the car last week revealed that there was severe wear and damage on the front brakes from overheating but that the rear brakes and the parking brake were in good condition.

James Sikes -- a 61-year-old, heavily-in-debt owner of a swingers' club -- transfixed the nation with his 911 call last Monday, claiming that he couldn't stop his Prius as it careered along a highway.

"So far, we have not been able to find anything to explain the incident that Mr. Sikes reported," said NHTSA spokeswoman Karen Aldana.
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Via New York Post

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