Runaway Prius: Unintended Acceleration or Relaxed Cruise Control?
Jim Sykes and his runaway Prius
There’s a lot of hullabaloo about a Prius in San Diego, CA that supposedly lost control and drove for 30 miles. Of course, the news media is eating this up assuming its as part of the larger global Toyota recall of nearly 8 million vehicles but this particular car was not affected. Even if it were affected the car would have been going faster than it was. If it was so wildly out-of-control, why couldn’t it reach its max speed? Oh, and the Prius isn’t a muscle car so the brakes would have been plenty strong enough to overcome the torque from the engine. It wasn’t a case of unintended acceleration it was simply an excuse to speed… or get Jimmy out of his lease.
Jimmy Sykes’ 2008 Toyota Prius was covered under the floor mat recall, whereas the floor mat could get lodged under the pedal causing temporary pedal entrapment but was *not* affected by the pedal-specific issue, the very issue Jimmy described in his “15-minutes” press conference. The pedal-specific issue, which replicates the closest issue that anyone could assume would carry a car for 30 miles… wouldn’t actually carry a car for 30 miles. The pedal could have easily been lightly or even heavily tapped at any point during the 30-mile joy-ride to become dislodged, thus ending his spectacle and “15 minutes.”
Aspects of Jimmy’s story make sense, I’m sad to say, like admitting he was on the phone to a 911 operator; I’ll buy that. The fishiest part of the whole story was his speed. He remarked the ordeal began when he depressed the accelerator to pass another vehicle, presumably to the floor, and the pedal “did something kinda funny.” Or, more believably, he pressed “Cruise Control: On.” Or “Resume.” Because if the car were truly “out-of-control” the speed wouldn’t have been so casual. Let me explain. The CHP fighter-pilot, I mean officer, who escorted Jimmy back down to Earth from his high-speed rampage reported only 94MPH showing on his highly-calibrated Ford Police Interceptor speedometer… a little Internet research shows the Prius’ max speed is 99MPH, so the Prius was capable of going faster but Jimmy didn’t think to set cruise that fast. The second-gen Prius was, at the time, the most aerodynamic production vehicle sold in the United States with a drag coefficient of 0.26 tying only the Mercedes S-class from 2006 suggesting the car is capable of a lot faster than 99MPH but is electronically limited for the sake of various mechanical components.
As a reader of this Cars.vc, you know the Prius isn’t a particularly powerful car. Over 10 seconds to 60MPH and a net horsepower figure (combining both the electric motor and gas engine) as 110HP won’t impress. However, the nearly 300 lb-ft of torque is another story because Jimmy claims to have tried the brakes to no avail and just adds onto this great, stinky pile. Although the CHP officer smelled (no pun intended) the brakes when they came to a stop the brakes on the car were probably not used to the fullest potential until the end of the journey. In other words, sure he pressed them but likely just enough to have the lights come on and turn off the cruise control. The Prius’ brakes, standard automotive brakes, are two pads at each wheel squeezing a piece of spinning steel and are plenty strong enough to overcome the 300 lb-ft of torque the combined hybrid engine would have been producing (assuming it was at peak the entire journey, none-the-less) and could have brought the car to a halt. Or at least slowed it down. Or they would have caught fire (no joke) after 30 miles.
Jimmy’s story just doesn’t add up and its sad to see someone try to exploit a potentiality serious situation. Over 3 million Toyota cars sold worldwide were alone affected by the faulty pedal design and Jimmy’s Prius wasn’t part of it. However, on the outside chance that the pedal did become entraped, the electronics in the pedal failed, Jimmy had set cruise control at 99MPH instead of just 90-94MPH, and the brakes had failed, a perfect storm if you will, this story may have been believable. Its just not though because his story of “unintended acceleration” doesn’t add up so it looks like Jimmy’s not gonna be able to get out of his lease payments after all. One commenter online wrote: “I thought at first it was probably the father of the balloon boy taking the octo-mom on a date.”
Why do you think? Was it just a show? When his story is proven false, will he be charged with perjury AND get sued for slander by Toyota?
