VIDEO: Runaway Prius In Arizona: Driver Says He Was Standing On Brake, Toyota Says "Driver Error"

Chuck Schmeiser says he was a doubter when it came to unintended acceleration until two months ago, when he says he almost killed a parking attendant as his car lurched forward and he couldn't stop it.

He had it towed to a dealer, Toyota flew in an inspector who said it was driver error, and Chuck sold the car and bought a Honda (a new Insight, also a hybrid).

Solve Unintended Acceleration, Win One Million Dollars

The California Highway Patrol (at least in one case) says floor mats. Toyota says gas pedals...a university professor says electronics (but Toyota says it couldn't work the way he says in real life)...the feds say maybe radiation from outer space, Jim "Runaway Prius" Sikes said the brakes don't work (but Toyota and the feds' investigation said otherwise) and at least one driver says demonic possession.

So what's really causing unintended acceleration? Find the cause, prove it and get rich. As in a million dollars. Edmunds.com is running the contest. Details here.

Gentle reminder: Most fully-investigated cases have shown drivers were standing on the gas when they thought they were on the brake.

NASA To Help Investigate Unintended Acceleration

Gee, maybe it is rocket science.

Despite decades of experience and data indicating that the vast majority of unintended acceleration incidents fully investigated end up being cases of drivers standing on the gas instead of the brake, the Obama administration has decided to launch not one, but two investigations...one by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) with the help of The National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) and the other by The National Academy of Sciences...to get to the bottom of the unintended acceleration incidents that have been plaguing Toyota and other manufacturers.

How long? 15 months.

How much? $3 million.

Full story from The Detroit News.

Toyota Death Toll: 102

The Los Angeles Times says its review of public records indicates 102 people have been killed in Toyota vehicle accidents linked to unintended acceleration.

Two things to remember when reading the piece: One, that the number of reports increases when a problem is reported and many of those reports are later found to be unrelated to the problem. And two, that in the vast majority of cases fully investigated where a cause can be found, unintended acceleration incidents end up being a case of drivers standing on the gas pedal when they believe (and have reported, if they survived) they were standing on the brake.

Full story from the Times here.

Consumer Reports Demonstrates Stopping Distance Difference With Brake Override

Brake override cuts the gas when you apply a certain amount of pressure on the brake. There's a push to make it mandatory, thinking that it will help end cases of unintended acceleration. Never mind that most of those cases thus far have shown that the drivers weren't on the brake at all, but instead standing on the gas pedal.

Well, Consumer Reports says whether your acceleration is unintended or not, brake override cuts the stopping distance of your car...which is a good thing.

And, because they know we worry...CR also says brake override won't affect "enthusiast driving".

Unanimous: Harrison, NY PD Agrees: Driver Error, Not Unintended Acceleration

The one on the right is the gas pedal. The one on the left is the brake pedal. The chief of the Harrison, New York Police Department says, yep...the 55 year old woman who crashed her Toyota Prius hybrid into a stone wall two weeks ago...the one he said couldn't have been driver error at the time.....was, well, driver error, the most common cause of fully investigated unintended acceleration incidents.

Captain Anthony Marracccini says his department's investigation confirms what Toyota and the NHTSA's found...that the throttle was wide-open at the time of impact...with no sign of any application of the brake.

AP story via The Detroit News here. Conversations among Prius drivers on the PriusChat forums.

Harrison, NY Police To Announce "Runaway Prius" Findings This Afternoon

Yes, we know...in fact, we told you on Friday...the NHTSA says the 55-year old woman whose Prius crashed into a wall in the NYC suburb had her foot on the gas, not the brake.

But instead of saying..."yeah...what the feds say....", the Harrison PD plans to announce their own findings this afternoon. It should be interesting, given that the police chief started by ruling out driver error at the scene two weeks ago, then amended his position to a definite maybe last week, before the NHTSA announced the results of its investigation.

The PriusChat forums are talking about it here.

UPDATE: NY Prius Case Human Error

NHTSA says the Toyota Prius driven into a wall by a 55 year old woman in Harrison, New York last week did not experience sudden acceleration. Investigators say their technical analysis of the vehicle show the throttle was open and no brakes were being applied.

That's what's called human error...and as we reported last week, that's the most common finding once investigators dig into allegations of unintended acceleration.

So it's two down as Toyota battles back against sensational stories of Priuses that allegedly defied driver attempts to stop.

Full story from The Detroit News here and discussion on the Prius Chat forums here.

CHP Releases Report On Jim "Runaway Prius" Sikes Incident

The feds and Toyota say the physical evidence indicates what Jim Sikes said happened and what he did on a San Diego County freeway on March 8 don't match, but if you're expecting the California Highway Patrol, which was first on the scene of what Sikes says was an unintended acceleration incident with his 2008 Prius, to make it three for three, stop holding your breath.

The 7-page incident report (which does confirm that Sikes "appeared to be pumping the brakes") refuses to draw conclusions as to whether what Sikes told the CHP was true or not.  CHP spokesman Brian Pennings says the agency is not trying to settle the debate and has "no evidence...that will absolutely disprove Mr. Sikes' statement".

Discussion ongoing on the Prius Chat forums.

NY Police Chief Reverses Self; Says Driver Error "Possible" In Prius Incident

One day after the joint Toyota/federal examination of a Harrison, New York Prius alleged to have had an unintended acceleration incident, crashing into a wall, the Harrison Police Chief, who ruled out driver error last week, now says it's possible.

Full story from The New York Post, and discussion on the Prius Chat forums.

Toyota, Feds To Investigate New York Runaway Prius Claim Today

Toyota, fresh from tests that contradict the story of a "runaway Prius" driver in San Diego County, California, is in Harrison, New York today to inspect a Prius that, according to a 56 year old woman, sped up and rammed into a stone wall.

The company and federal investigators will be going over that car using the same methods as they did in San Diego...with a critical eye on how many times the driver hit the brakes and the accelerator.

Full story from the Associated Press here.

Prius owners are talking about it on the Prius Chat forums.

VIDEO: NBC Nightly News Monday (3/15) on Jim "Runaway Prius" Sikes

After a week of media hyperventilation, it's nice to see solid reporting that prioritizes the salient facts.

NBC Nightly News' coverage of Monday's Toyota news conference played up the most telling fact...that instead of braking as hard as he could, the evidence suggests Jim Sikes may have been riding the brakes on his Prius...off and on the gas and brakes as much as 250 times during his alleged unintended acceleration incident a week ago.

And, they actually interviewed someone who knows something about cars and drivers...former Car and Driver editor-in-chief Csaba Csere.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

ABC has grasped the significance of the 250 applications of the brake pedal, too...CBS makes no mention of it.

WATCH: Jim "Runaway Prius" Sikes' Least Favorite Video: Toyota Preliminary Findings On His Car

"It would seem that the account of the driver is inconsistent with the technical investigation."

That's Toyota's single-sentence sum-up of the teardown of Jim Sikes' car. Want to see them say it...and what happens to a speeding Prius when you do one of the several things that will stop it?

Just click play.




And don't think Toyota's going to go quietly. They dropped the nugget that the evidence suggests Sikes was on and off the brakes and gas 250 times during his wild ride...in contrast to his statement to police that he was standing on the brake.

And the news release has this solid punch of a sentence:

These findings suggest that there should be further examination of Mr. Sikes account of the events of March 8.

Read the complete news release from today's news conference here. 

Related link: The Prius chat board discusses the findings.

Jim "Runaway Prius" Sikes: The Mainstream Media Finds Neutral, Hunting For Reverse

The wide-eyed breathless mainstream media acceptance of Jim Sikes' claim that his Toyota Prius accelerated unintentionally on a San Diego County freeway a week ago is evaporating...and all it took was a look at the facts (something we've been doing for.....oh, a week), and the release of a memo detailing the inspection of Sikes' Prius, which, in a nutshell says what he says happened...couldn't have.

The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) broke the story first on Saturday...quoting "three people familiar with the investigation" who say investigators found a particular pattern of wear on the brakes inconsistent with Sikes' story.

CBS followed up Sunday, reporting on a memo that says investigators "can't replicate the problems Sikes said he encountered."  ABC News said essentially the same thing.

But if you want the full story, it's new media all the way. Jalopnik not only is reporting about the memo, it's published the entire thing....and its headline doesn't pull any punches either.

NY Times Op-Ed: Unintended Acceleration Usually Foot On Wrong Pedal

Those of a certain age will remember that in the mid-1980s Audi had its own unintended acceleration problem...onto which gasoline and a whole boxful of matches was thrown by Morley Safer and the gang at CBS' 60 Minutes.

The story was that the Audi 5000 would roar off by itself, hurting and killing people.

Ultimately, it was shown that the drivers were stomping on the accelerator when they thought (or at least said) it was the brake. But Audi very nearly didn't survive the controversy.

Well, Professor Richard A. Schmidt was one of those who dug past the hype and found the truth 24 years ago...and in an op-ed piece in The New York Times on Wednesday (hat tip to The Truth About Cars for pointing it out), he says history may be repeating itself. Just substitute 2010 for 1985, Toyota for Audi, Prius for 5000.

Read it here.

Jalopnik Gets Exclusive Interview With Jim "Runaway Prius" Sikes' Former Business Partner

It's Jalopnik's. They worked it, they got it, they earned it. Go read it.

James "Runaway Prius" Sikes UPDATE: FOXNews.com Jumps In

FOXNews.com is the latest media outlet to think things might be worth a deeper look in the James Sikes "unintended acceleration" Prius incident. They've interviewed the buyer of one of Sikes' former homes, who says there were undisclosed problems that cost him $20,000 to fix. He tried suing, but says Sikes filed for bankruptcy in the process.

Nice to have a network (or at least a part of one) join the story in progress.

Once upon a time in American media, the thing you had to worry about most was the big dogs...ABC, CBS, NBC. Well-financed and staffed with no-nonsense World War II vets who didn't take crap from anybody...least of all somebody they were demanding straight answers from.

Well, it's a different time, a different world and the big three networks are still reporting James Sikes' claim that he had an unintended acceleration incident in his Toyota Prius on a San Diego County freeway Monday afternoon as though it were Gospel...despite actions and comments from the man himself that raised  (or certainly should have raised) questions from the very beginning.

In this brave new world, the first cracks showed up on sites like, well...like TireKicker, where we had big questions from the release of only three minutes of the 911 tape...and way more when all 24 minutes were released.

And we certainly weren't alone. The comments section of The Truth About Cars proved to be interesting reading by Wednesday afternoon. Local San Diego ABC affiliate KGTV thought it was worth probing Sikes' background and character Wednesday night (the only one of the San Diego stations to do so by Friday). And those comments at TTAC gave Jalopnik a thread to pull at Thursday, using some old-fashioned records searching, which gave deeper details to the 2008 bankruptcy filing KGTV reported, but getting an e-mail from Sikes himself in which he appeared to be suggesting that he was just waiting for an excuse to sue one or more media outlets for slander.

That just made Jalopnik push for the Pulitzer all the more (yeah, I know, but it's alliteration and I don't do it often). Six hours later, they published the documents showing that Sikes not only owns a real estate firm, but an adult swingers' website...using the same phone number for both....along with comments from a guy who says he tried to buy one of Sikes' foreclosed homes, only to find the custom kitchen had been gutted.

And the local FOX affiliate in Sacramento followed through last night...talking with Sikes' former neighbors in the Central California Community of Atwater. None of whom had anything nice to say about Sikes. But the bonus was the follow-up story...in which a TV reporter stops a speeding Prius four different ways in just 90 seconds...something Sikes couldn't do for 20 minutes.

There's bound to be more. It's never too late for the big dogs of (traditional) journalism to get off the porch. And Lord knows, this is the kind of story that begs for some real fact-checking. But if they choose not to, it's nice to know new media can more than pick up the slack.

Related Link: Prius Chat Boards

Jim "Runaway Prius" Sikes UPDATE: Sacramento Station Interviews Former Neighbors, Demonstrates 4 Ways To Stop Speeding Prius

KTXL, Channel 40, the FOX affiliate in Sacramento, picks up where the ABC station in San Diego left off...advancing the story by interviewing former neighbors in Atwater, a Central California town where Sikes lived in the early '00s.

And, in about a minute and a half, a FOX reporter does what Sikes couldn't do for 20 minutes...stop a speeding Prius four different ways.

The text version of KTXL's report goes deeper, confirming yesterday's online reports that Sikes also operates an adult swinger's website with the same phone number as his real estate business.

And about that Corvette Owners Club of San Diego jacket Sikes wore on Monday? The club tells KTXL he's a former member...and they're "embarrassed that he couldn't stop his car".

Sikes is swimming upstream in terms of public opinion, at least on the KTXL website. The "do you believe him?" poll here.

Related Link: Prius chat boards on media investigations of Sikes

Jim "Runaway Prius" Sikes: I Don't Intend To Sue Toyota. Now, The Media.....That Could Be Another Story

Jim Sikes, who claims to have had an unintended acceleration incident with his Toyota Prius on a San Diego County freeway Monday afternoon, says he has no plans to sue Toyota. 

He's been saying that in multiple media interviews, but he expanded a bit with Jalopnik, which e-mailed him to ask if (as they'd been tipped), he was behind on his Prius payments.  He e-mailed back, denying that he is or ever was late on the lease payment, saying "What we are waiting for is SLANDEROUS statements from the media." He also mentioned having hired an attorney.

Sikes may be anticipating a jackpot in that area...he can't be happy with the ABC affiliate in San Diego's delving into his 2008 bankruptcy, six-figure debt and what the Merced County Sheriff's Office considers a couple of questionable police reports claiming that he'd been burgled twice and robbed of $59,000.

If the language in the e-mail to Los Jalops was intended to chill, it hasn't worked so far. Six and a half hours after the post with the e-mail, Jalopnik goes on the record with documentation to back up what had been claimed in comments to a post on The Truth About Cars...that when Jim's not selling real estate (or maybe when he is), he's running an adult swingers' website, which, according to Jalopnik,  "advertises that it supports "The Adult lifestyle, wife swapping, hook-up, Swinger clubs, adult social club, booty call, Friends with Benefits, NASCA" with webchats, message boards and other services". 

Many people online have questioned Sikes' smarts, ignoring the instructions of a 9-1-1 operator to simply put the Prius in neutral, which would have ended the incident in 3 minutes instead of 20, but doing exactly those things once told to by a CHP officer via the P.A. system.  Factor this in: The phone number listed for the decidedly NSFW (not safe for work) adultswinglife.com website....is the same number as Sikes' real estate business' main number listed on that site.

I can hear the voice mail prompts: "For real estate, press one. For booty call......."

Nah. Too easy. Not going there.

But wait! There's more!

Jalopnik also says the bankruptcy papers indicate his insurance paid $7,400 for the theft of clothes, a saxophone and other items from his car last April.

Meantime, Toyota says it's "mystified" by the incident on Monday and can't replicate it.

Federal investigators are on the case as well.

VIDEO: "Runaway Prius" Driver: "Questionable" Police Reports, Bankruptcy

One of the best things a victim or witness can say is that they have nothing to gain (especially in terms of money) from their story. Having an impeccable record of truth-telling is also really helpful.

So these two reports from San Diego ABC affiliate KGTV, Channel 10 aren't so good for Jim Sikes, who says he had an unintended acceleration incident in his Toyota Prius on a San Diego County freeway Monday afternoon.

Let's start with the truth-telling part. Watch this report from KGTV. Wait for the reporter to do the recap of the incident, or scroll in to 1:14.

And then there's money. KGTV reports Sikes is was (Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2008) more than a quarter-million dollars under water. Significant: They interview a social psychologist/criminologist. Watch the story here.

Put all that together with a sequence of events and accumulation of details that have a lot of people scratching their heads, and Sikes' story is going to need some very hard forensic evidence. Federal and California authorities and Toyota technicians are examining his car now.

Related Link: Prius Chat boards: Why the out-of-control Prius driver is full of it