Did Toyota Prius Driver Fake Unintended Acceleration?

[JBougie]

http://autos.aol.com/article/prius-driver-scam

Did the driver of a runaway Toyota Prius in San Diego tell the truth when he said his accelerator pedal stuck earlier this week? New evidence is calling the driver's credibility into question, although the real answer will not be entirely clear until Toyota and the NHTSA announce the results of their investigation. Details about the driver, James Sikes, leave many wondering if he had ulterior motives for his claims.

USA Today and Jalopnik.com are directly asking the question as to whether or not he faked the incident, citing previous issues with debt and repeated insurance claims as reason for their doubts.

The reports indicate that prior to his unintended acceleration incident, James Sikes and his wife -- both realtors -- found themselves grappling with California's notorious housing bubble and filed for bankruptcy in 2008. Reports show they have $700,000 in debt to their names. He already had a motor home, Mercedes-Benz automobile and Dodge Truck repossessed in the proceedings with creditors.

Among the creditors to whom he owes payments is Toyota Financial Services. Various reports indicate that Sikes is either current with his payments or behind by five months on the 2008 Toyota Prius involved in this week's incident, which has 7,200 miles on it and is valued at $20,494.

Are All Claims Real?

If everyone who gets into a car accident or gets caught speeding is driving a Toyota, should we assume they're experiencing sudden acceleration? The question is an uncomfortable one: if every incident involving a Toyota could be blamed on the company and not the driver, it gives a free pass (albeit a frightening one) to those who choose to exploit it.

For example, in the first 10 weeks of 2009, there were 272 complaints filed to NHTSA in the U.S. for speed control issues with the Prius, according to Associated Press reports. In all of 2008 there were only 74 and just 8 in 2007.

If Sikes's claims were fake, he played a convincing hand. At the time of the incident, all signs pointed to his experience as being authentic.

"I won't drive that car again, period," he told reporters.

Furthermore, the recording of his 911 call, since released, was evidence of the situation's authenticity; unless Sikes was an actor of the highest order, we can't imagine how he'd fake this incident.

Perhaps even more damaging are reports that Sikes has a long history of items being stolen from him, for which he then filed insurance claims.

Skeptics of Sikes also cite the 911 tape that was released shortly after the incident. During the tape, the dispatcher repeatedly told Sikes to put the car in neutral in order to stop it from accelerating. Sikes did not comply with her instructions or the instructions of the officer on the scene who told him to do the same thing via his public address system as they tore down the highway.

Beyond the call itself, the Associated Press reports that Sikes's car was equipped with a brake override system, something that should have slowed the car down once he stomped on the brake pedal.

Sikes claimed he thought that would "flip the car."

"I've since found out that's not possible, but I had no idea," Sikes told USA Today. "Hopefully, I helped save five to 10 lives because people are now finding out" how to put a moving Prius into neutral.

Until Toyota and the NHTSA release the results of their investigation, there won’t be any real answers.

[Dave]

Beyond the call itself, the Associated Press reports that Sikes's car was equipped with a brake override system, something that should have slowed the car down once he stomped on the brake pedal.

Sikes claimed he thought that would "flip the car."

"I've since found out that's not possible, but I had no idea," Sikes told USA Today. "Hopefully, I helped save five to 10 lives because people are now finding out" how to put a moving Prius into neutral.



This is like an SNL "Weekend Update" punchline.

A man alleging his Prius speeding down a highway, due to unintended acceleration, phoned 911. Police told the man "to stop your car, use the brakes". The man's response: "say what?".


The guy sounds like a complete fucking turd, and I hope he gets exposed for the fraud he is (jail time is a bonus).

[Gideon]

"Hopefully, I helped save five to 10 lives because people are now finding out"

:rolleyes:

I think the only thing that people are finding out is that this man is either incompetent, a liar, or both.

I wonder if he'll be cell mates with balloon boy's dad? :laugh:

[Altitude]

Fraud.

[127.0.0.1]

Fraud.

A) he said he was going so fast he didn't dare shift to neutral
for fear that taking the hand off the wheel, he'd flip the car

1) 2008 prius you can shift with both hands still on wheel, it is very close to
steering wheel

2) he said he reached down to try to pull accelerator up

3) he managed to have a hand free to call 911 and stay on the cell phone.
perhaps it was bluetooth ? so this one......still BS because he would have had
to take a hand off the wheel to initiate the call. easily could have hit neutral

this goes against 1 -and- the reach while driving to get your hands down
to the pedal to try and pull it up is nearly impossible even for a gorilla with
long arms


B) a host of other inconsistencies in his story

FRAUD

C) he will be found out and nailed with a huge fine, possible jailtime

[127.0.0.1]

and what is with this ?

This is helpful. It appears the 'runaway accelerations' are occurring at highway speeds ... 60+ mph. If we're going to have any success at replication, we need to understand the entry conditions.


all the stories are on the highway, or in a parking lot smashing through a building wall. here is why. It is safe to fake this crap on the highway and in parking lots. It is NOT safe to fake this on rural or suburban roads 35-45mph limits with stops signs and turns.

[JBougie]

I wonder if he'll be cell mates with balloon boy's dad? :laugh:

:laugh::laugh::laugh:


This guy was a douche bag. I hope he is found to be a fraud and then maybe Toyota can go after him somehow because that got a HUGE amount of publicity and is NOT helping them right now.

The Prius guy: Ass hat :thumbdown:

[kargoboy]

Wow, I'm glad I saw this...the second I heard about this I thought it was a crock of shit.
I really thought I was the only one!

[silver_echo]

i thought that myself... but i can't bring that up myself because i kinda represent toyota...

[127.0.0.1]

Toyota won't go after him if he is hoaxing. they may make a 'statement' at most.



the feds will go after him

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Douche-bag alert.

[JBougie]

I'm honestly shocked that a newspaper put an article out like this .... I didn't think anyone within the media would try to shed a positive light for Toyota right now.

[silver_echo]

I'm honestly shocked that a newspaper put an article out like this .... I didn't think anyone within the media would try to shed a positive light for Toyota right now.

of course toyota is being picked on right now... we have been on top for a long while, and the camry started selling more than the F-150...

back when the ford/firestone crap came up, they were on top... and did we really hear about any other manufacturer doing any recalls then? nope...


this will all eventually blow over, and toyota will still be on top... there was also a blurb on the national news this morning that the "unintended acceleration" issue was affecting other manufacturers... then they switched straight to a toyota dealer saying "nobody wants to buy these cars..." but they are selling pretty well regardless...

:iono:

[Kioshi]

this will all eventually blow over, and toyota will still be on top...

true, but it does get on my nerves...like today, i went in for the Yaris recall, for the foam padding that could ignite flames..tech said my car was not part of that, even though it is a 2007 model, which took that recall list~

And while all this was going on, some random customer comes up to me and says, "so even your little hatchback was effected by the gas pedal recall?, shows how cheap Toyota has become.." I told him no, my car's fine, and i think most of the cars are, it's just dumb driver's who shouldn't be driving at fault...
Guy got mad and walked off~

[talnlnky]

If this guy does turn out to be a fraud... beyond any doubt to a court.... I wonder if toyota would go after him for slander.... I mean, aren't corporations technically people in the eyes of the law? Speaking false info about a company on such a large scale, and using such damaging claims... oh man. If I were toyota I'd have lawyers already making up a case.


hmmm might be able to hit him up with libel too if the guy has written anything (like e-mail) to any media corporations.... and i'm sure he has.

[eTiMaGo]

squawk squawk the vultures are here...

[sbergman27]

If this guy does turn out to be a fraud... beyond any doubt to a court.... I wonder if toyota would go after him for slander.... I mean, aren't corporations technically people in the eyes of the law?
They could. But they wouldn't. Suing your customers is always dangerous from a PR standpoint. And in this case, it would be very high profile action. I'm sure they wouldn't mind watching the Feds rip Mr. Sikes to pieces, though. And I'm quite sure that Toyota is more than willing to cooperate fully with the authorities to see justice done.

-Steve

[Hershey]

if it's a scam , he needs to be made an example for all those who are currently suing with false allegations or thinking of trying to get on the easy money trail .

[advocate]

It would cost more for Totoya to sue the man than the man has to be taken in the first place. It says he's broke as shit already.

Justice will be served.

[Hershey]

what p*isses me off is these type of people are hurting our trade in values or the selling price . :mad:

[SailDesign]

what p*isses me off is these type of people are hurting our trade in values or the selling price . :mad:

I couldn't care less about the $$ - what pisses me off is that people now look at the Yaris and say "That's the cheapest car built by the company that builds unsafe cars - are you SURE it's a good idea to drive it?" instead "Hey, Cool! A Yaris!"

[MadMax]

Maybe we need to instigate a class action lawsuit against the idiot...

Cheers! M2

[eTiMaGo]

I couldn't care less about the $$ - what pisses me off is that people now look at the Yaris and say "That's the cheapest car built by the company that builds unsafe cars - are you SURE it's a good idea to drive it?" instead "Hey, Cool! A Yaris!"

just tell them "I wish it had intended acceleration :( "

[sqcomp]

I couldn't care less what other people say about my Yaris. I know that it is still made better than the American dogpile that they drive. Besides, I'm not selling mine. I like it too much.

[eTiMaGo]

I couldn't care less what other people say about my Yaris. I know that it is still made better than the American dogpile that they drive. Besides, I'm not selling mine. I like it too much.

well said, sir :)

[sbergman27]

just tell them "I wish it had intended acceleration :( "
I've seen a few pot shots aimed at the Yaris' engine power and performance. Even the mpgomatic.com guy did it in his "50 mpg in a Yaris?" video. But my 1.5L sedan with automatic maintains 75 mph on a 4% - 6% uphill grade just fine when traversing mountain passes in Colorado. The cruise control does periodically go W.O.T. during the ascent. But it doesn't have to hold it there, by any means. The car has way more acceleration for getting *on* a 75 MPH Interstate than I would ever need. So... what more could anyone want? A larger engine would result in significantly higher pumping losses under normal conditions and we wouldn't be getting the impressive fuel economy that we do. Be careful what you wish for.

-Steve

[127.0.0.1]

I've seen a few pot shots aimed at the Yaris' engine power and performance. Even the mpgomatic.com guy did it in his "50 mpg in a Yaris?" video. But my 1.5L sedan with automatic maintains 75 mph on a 4% - 6% uphill grade just fine when traversing mountain passes in Colorado. The cruise control does periodically go W.O.T. during the ascent. But it doesn't have to hold it there, by any means. The car has way more acceleration for getting *on* a 75 MPH Interstate than I would ever need. So... what more could anyone want? A larger engine would result in significantly higher pumping losses under normal conditions and we wouldn't be getting the impressive fuel economy that we do. Be careful what you wish for.

-Steve

agreed. this 1.5 thing has enough grunt to merge from I95s to 128ss any time of the week and thread in-between 5 lanes of idiots at any speed seen at the interchange or ramps and not impede other drivers... , also the same for i95-128/i93 interchange. no problem.

in Mass. get on it and merge or go home. Yaris has no problem.

[yarswiss]

This man has been fully proven a hoax now. Here's the official documents: http://jalopnik.com/5493011/this-memo-proves-the-runaway-prius-was-a-hoax

Beware all claims that the cars are "dangerous". More often then not it is driver error. In this case, it's just an outright lie.

[why?]

we need public executions for this stuff. It would solve so many problems.

[upgradedyaris]

The guy is a disgrace to men. :thumbdown:

Duane

[TRDMarty]

Polygraph test on live TV
He's full of :bs:

[eht13]

This man has been fully proven a hoax now. Here's the official documents: http://jalopnik.com/5493011/this-memo-proves-the-runaway-prius-was-a-hoax

Beware all claims that the cars are "dangerous". More often then not it is driver error. In this case, it's just an outright lie.

And reported on CNN now too: http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/03/14/california.runaway.prius/index.html?hpt=C1

[eht13]

agreed. this 1.5 thing has enough grunt to merge from I95s to 128ss any time of the week and thread in-between 5 lanes of idiots at any speed seen at the interchange or ramps and not impede other drivers... , also the same for i95-128/i93 interchange. no problem.

in Mass. get on it and merge or go home. Yaris has no problem.

Agreed here too. :clap:

[eTiMaGo]

I've seen a few pot shots aimed at the Yaris' engine power and performance. Even the mpgomatic.com guy did it in his "50 mpg in a Yaris?" video. But my 1.5L sedan with automatic maintains 75 mph on a 4% - 6% uphill grade just fine when traversing mountain passes in Colorado. The cruise control does periodically go W.O.T. during the ascent. But it doesn't have to hold it there, by any means. The car has way more acceleration for getting *on* a 75 MPH Interstate than I would ever need. So... what more could anyone want? A larger engine would result in significantly higher pumping losses under normal conditions and we wouldn't be getting the impressive fuel economy that we do. Be careful what you wish for.

-Steve

:D I meant this in jest, playing to non-owners' expectations of the car ;)