John Gomez, attorney for driver James Sikes, talks about his client’s experiences Sunday. He said Toyota has a “ghost in the machine.” (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)
The Associated Press | The U.S. government said Monday it cannot explain
a reported incident of sudden, high-speed acceleration in a Toyota Prius on a San Diego, Calif., freeway last week.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a statement that it continues to investigate but “we may never know exactly what happened with this car.”
The agency said its engineers are reviewing data from the Prius owned by James Sikes to try to understand what happened with his hybrid. But so far, it says it has not been able to find anything to explain the incident that Sikes reported.
Sikes called authorities last Monday to report losing control of his Prius as the hybrid reached speeds of 94 mph. A highway patrol officer helped bring the vehicle to a safe stop.
Inspectors in California tried during a two-hour test drive to duplicate the acceleration, but were unable to do so.
John Gomez, an attorney for Sikes said the failure to repeat the incident is insignificant and not surprising.
“They have never been able to replicate an incident of sudden acceleration. Mr. Sikes never had a problem in the three years he owned this vehicle,” he said Sunday. “There’s a ghost in the machine,” he said, earlier, adding Sikes is not planningto file a lawsuit and has no incentive to make something up.
But Kurt Bardella, a spokesman for Rep. Darrell Issa, a California Republican, said the failure to duplicate the stuck accelerator, along with a vehicle design to prevent such occurrences, raises questions about the driver’s story.
“We’re not saying Mr. Sikes is wrong or that he lied, we’re saying that questions have arisen in the investigation,” Bardella said.
Toyota Motor Corp. planned to announce preliminary findings of its investigation at a news conference Monday in San Diego.
NHTSA is looking into claims from more than 60 Toyota owners that their vehicles continue to accelerate unexpectedly despite having their vehicles repaired.
Technicians with the NHTSA and Toyota could not duplicate what Sikes said he experienced March 8 on a mountainous but lightly traveled stretch of Interstate 8 east of San Diego, according to a congressional staffer’s memo.
“Every time the technician placed the gas pedal to the floor and the brake pedal to the floor the engine shut off and the car immediately started to slow down,” the memo read.
According to the memo, a Toyota official who was at the two-day inspection last week in suburban San Diego explained that an electric motor would “completely seize” if a system to shut off the gas when the brake is pressed fails, and there was no evidence to support that happened.
“In this case, knowing that we are able to push the car around the shop, it does not appear to be feasibly possible, both electronically and mechanically that his gas pedal was stuck to the floor and he was slamming on the brake at the same time,” according to the memo.
Toyota has recalled millions of cars because of floor mats that can snag gas pedals or accelerators that can sometimes stick. Sikes’ car was covered by the floor mat recall but not the one for sticky accelerators. He later told reporters that he tried to pull on the gas pedal, but it didn’t “move at all.”
The Prius is powered by two electric motor-generators and a small gasoline engine, all connected by transmission gears. A computer, which Toyota calls the “hybrid control computer” determines what combination of motors is needed and which would be most efficient.
Craig Hoff, a professor of mechanical engineering at Kettering University in Flint, Michigan, said that for the Prius to accelerate out of control, at least two systems would have to fail simultaneously. They are the sensor signal that tracks the brake and gas pedal positions when the driver presses on them and the hybrid control computers.
“The chance of them both going wrong, plus the fact that the signal is bad, it just seems very, very, very remote,” Hoff said. “Could it happen? Statistically, yes. But it just doesn’t seem very likely.”
Several events usually combine to cause problems with cars, and it’s difficult to reproduce them, Hoff said.
“It’s going to make it really hard to find, because you’ve got to line up the multiple effects,” he said.
The congressional memo said both the front and rear brakes were worn and damaged by heat, consistent with Sikes saying that he stood on the brake pedal with both feet and was unable to stop the car. But if the fail-safe system worked properly, the brakes wouldn’t have been damaged because power would have been cut to the wheels.
Gomez said the best evidence that his client was frantically slamming the brakes is that a California Highway Patrol officer who was giving Sikes instructions over a loudspeaker smelled burning brakes and saw the lights on.
Mike Michels, a Toyota spokesman, declined to comment on any findings from the examination of Sikes’ vehicle. But he said the complex design of the hybrid Prius would cause a shutdown of the engine in the scenario Sikes described.
That response, similar to a feature known as brake override, was included in the design “to protect the hybrid system from overload and damage,” Michels said.
“In essence, if the accelerator pedal was depressed for any reason, whether it was stuck or your foot was on it, and you apply the brakes with moderate to heavy force, it would shut down the engine,” Michels said. “Knowing what we know about how the vehicle is designed and reading the accounts in the media of the incident in San Diego, we’re puzzled.”
Some Prius models are among millions of Toyota vehicles recalled since late last year because of reported acceleration problems. Sikes has said that he received a recall notice but that his car had not yet been repaired.
Unintended acceleration has been blamed in 56 fatal accidents involving Toyota vehicles in the U.S. going back as far as 2004. In recent months, Toyota has issued about 10 million recall notices worldwide to address sudden acceleration, braking and other problems in its vehicles.
– The Los Angeles Times contributed
I’m willing to bet they’re not going to find anything in this particular case because this man Sikes is fabricating this incident. I can drive my car at 90mph with partial brake applied too and make them super hot and burn. But the Prius is not powerful enought to overtake the brakes if they are applied fully.
The whole brake system would have to fail to not overpower the inherently weak little gas engine and electric motor in the Prius.
I think this one guy is taking us for a ride.
But I’m not disregarding the other Toyota issues either.
Is it possible that a cell phone, radar detector or some other electronic device could cause this to happen?
I agree with JBNIUTech – this guy is looking for an easy buck. He kind of reminds me of the baloon guy.
This White House focuses on the most ridiculous things. They should have a priority list. Here is the list:
1) Jobs
2) Jobs
3) Jobs
4) Jobs
5) Jobs
What part of jobs does Obama not understand?
Why is anyone questioning that this happened? It’s not like Mr. Sikes’ experience is much different than anyone else’s. We’ve already been offered the following red herrings: the US plant that made the accelerator made it wrong…the floor mats are to blame…there’s a failsafe built into the Prius that addresses this thing that is not happening…
But here’s what we know: Toyotas have a design defect, Toyota knew about it early on, Toyota decided it was less expensive to fight of wrongful death suits than recall the vehicles, because a recall probably wouldn’t fix the problem.
Honda has done the same thing with defective engine valves in their 2000-2003 Elements and CRVs. A dangerous defect that is the result of poor design that leads to a 5000.00 repair cost which the company denies any responsibility for but nonetheless will kick in half of the repair cost if your engine fails and you live to be able to tell about it.
balloon guy is right – and I wouldn’t be surprised if this Sikes guy is on the payroll of ACORN
Funny how there are virtually no incidents of acceleration until Toyota announces a recall. Then, the Sikes come out of the woodwork.
The troof about Sikes:
= $700,000 in debt
= Hasn’t made a carpayment in months
= Owner of an adult porn/swingers site (not doing well)
= Being investigated for insurance fraud for claiming stolen possessions to get claims.
These aren’t true. For some insane reason, there are confederates in the country that for some reason relate a hybrid car to their political beliefs that **gasp** climate change HAS to be fake because *golly* is snowed in DC in February, or that a hybrid is a strike against “intelligent design”, etc. etc. These are the same people that show up at Tea Party Rallies and bow to Sarah Palin, so not too surprised.
Thanks DGS for supporting regular people. These republicans showing one more time that they are on side of big corporations not regular people even if they dying. I wish that god get you (JBNIUTech) in same situation as these people.
We can all debate on the potential conspiracy theories over this and go back to wearing our tin foil hats, but no one is asking the real question of “why did he call 911?” If your car is accelerating out of control, the first thing you do is look for your phone to make a call Wouldn’t you just put the car in neutral? This story would make a great Jimmy Johns commercial.
If Toyauto can’t figure it out, how is the federal government supposed to? LOL
I would suspect electronic interference since the guy was blabbing on his cell phone. It’s likely the same thing that caused the unexplained 737 crashes of United and USAir in the early 90s after the rudders somehow jammed for unexplained reasons. I’m sure the real reason those planes crashed were people using electronic gadgets below 10,000 ft. that created too much interference that jammed the automated controls. (i.e., the point where pilots actively work the controls inclusing features like rudder that shouldn’t be use at cruising speed) The more electronics you load in and use; the more potential for complete system failure espcially as cars are increasingly becomming drive-by-wire.
The other dirty little secret about these people making the false claims…
The NHTSA and Toyota can’t outright call these people liars, but there is one key difference between the issues that Sikes and some of the post-recall ambulance chasers might not know about… When you are supposedly speeding out of control, simply tapping on the brake actually cuts the engine and switches over to battery. If Sikes had stepped on the brake as he had claimed, his engine would’ve cut and thus decellerated.
It’s getting all this press because the media and the Right are scared of losing their fossil fuel backers and advertisers.
I thought from the beginning that this guy was lying. Too much of a coincidence that this happened after the big Toyota story broke and not before the story broke (since this has supposedly been a problem for months, if not years). I agree that he seems a lot like balloon boy…
They replayed the phone call, and the dispatcher told him 3 times to shift into neutral and he said something lame like,”I’m trying to drive the car!” He is making something up to coverup that he is either a liar to too stupid to shift into neutral which would have slowed down the car. I’ll bet he has been getting $$ for his interviews, and could make more $$ if other drivers sue and he is called on to testify….
The only rational explanation is Demonic Possession of the cars involved. Toyota needs to hire Priests who can perform exorcisms. Engineers cannot solve this problem
There seem to be a lot of these incidents that mainly involve Toyotas, Prius and Lexus. So even if they were unable to duplicate this incident there are many others I have read about and all those people are not lying. They need a site set up like TOYOTARUNAWAY.ORG or gov or whatever. This would give owners a one stop place to go and read about the experiences of other owners.
My Jeep Grand Cherokee only gets 16 mpg but I have total control over it. Even when I go around hairpin turns. Another winter where the Jeep has conquered all that Mother Nature could dish out. My only fear? Deer.
Yes, because the first thing I would do when my car is speeding out of control is make a phone call.
the sikes incident is a case of monkey see monkey do
Splendid…Can the government explain it’s OWN dangerous, inept behavior?
I have a 2009 Corolla that stalled at least 10 times. I took it in month after month and Toyota could not figure out whyand could not replicate the problem. Finally the check engine light came on and the dealer replaced the mas airflow sensor. Then the car stalled again. I didn’t feel safe driving it but what choice did I have? The check engine light came on again and it tells the dealer it’s the mas airflow sensor (again) of course, it isn’t so they call Toyota and they send out a guy from corporate who tells them to change the wiring “lume”. Finally..the cat seems to be fixed but for a while I know the guys at the dealer were wondering why they couldn’t replicate the problem!
Issa is an engineer and/or auto expert, or just another elected politician blowhard hack?
I’m wondering why on earth I should listen to one wisp of some politician’s “analysis” when this guy is likely operating under the agenda of keeping one of his corporate sponsors, Toyota, happy. This guy is just some elected hack, not an expert in a specific field.
I’d question the motivations of some elected hack who demonstrates no authority in the field of automotive engineering than some auto owner who claims no damages in the situation.
Again, I ask, what qualifies Issa to comment on the situation, and what is Issa’s relationship to Toyota and their lobbyists? I suspect Issa has more of an agenda here than anyone else.
I have no opinion as to Sikes’s claims; I want to know why some politician feels the need to question his credibility, and the only thing I can think is that given the nature of our farce of a democracy, Issa counts Toyota among his corporate Johns.
Hey guys check out my new Toyota keyyyyyboooooooaaarrrrddddddd!!!!!!!
If a lawsuit is filed, there’s your explanation.
Lawyer Gomez also happens to represent the family of the ill fated Lexus driver in California who crashed and killed all occupants supposedly because of a loose floor mat. Additionally, Sikes filed for bankruptcy a few years ago and is currently $700,000 in debt. Ghost in the machine or greed in the system. When Audi was accused of sudden acceleration years ago, it was ultimately determined to be driver error but like the Toyota case, it took on a life of its own and suddenly nearly everyone who owned a Audi thought their car was faulty. Toyota builds wonderful quality vehicles and they would never intentionally jeopardize their reputation in the US or worldwide. This smear campaign reminds too much of the health care debate and all the fear and smear coming from conservatives who intentionally want this country and its citizens to fail so they can regain power. Insane and highly unpatriotic!
Sikes filed for bankruptcy and is trying to get rid of his car note. Quite a scam, not sure if it will work.
Hysteria!
Let’s wait ’til all the hysteria-mongers have run out of air.
These sorts of things seem to happen only to panic-prone people with no sense of how to overcome anything other than the absolute routine.
I will deliberately purchase another Toyota because when there’s this much hysteria crying out about a given mark, it must be something that the media fears and I’m all for scaring the media!
[[It's getting all this press because ... the Right are scared of losing their fossil fuel backers...]]
It was a matter of time before the conspiracy loonies came out to comment on the other conspiracy loonies.
Probably the reason they can’t replicate the problem is that they’re looking for mechanical reasons. As much as Toyota denies it, there’s probably a problem with their electronic drive-by-wire software. Conditions have to be just right for some really difficult software bugs to show themselves, and they can be really hard to reproduce, unlike mechanical problems.
Just let the White House know where the magic unicorn’s JOBS FIX button is and we should be all set. Thanks in advance for doing your part.
UNINTENDED ACCELERATION has been around for over twenty years and has involved German, Japanese and American auto makers.
I have witnessed unintended acceleration as a passenger and heard two stories of past events in the same Japanese car.
This car belonged to my ex wife. The first time it happened to her, a parking attendant brought the car to her in an underground parking garage. She put her foot on the brake and shifted from park to drive. As the shifter past through neutral into drive, the car took off like a rocket and crashed into three cars on the street.
The second time she was stopped on an incline with the car in park. When she put her foot on the brake and shifted through neutral into drive, the engine redlined and the tires burned rubber. As the car took off, she slammed it into park as I had suggested to her.
The third time I was a passenger in the car. She backed out of a parking space and put her foot on the brake to stop. As she shifted through neutral I heard the engine redline and when the shifter went into drive the car spun its tires in the dirt and took off. I grabbed her hand while it was still on the shifter and slammed it into park which stopped the car short of a telephone pole.
This problem is caused by a SHORT CIRCUIT in the CRUISE CONTROL COMPUTER. Most people turn on their cruise control and leave it on even if it is not engaged. When the transmission is shifted from park or reverse into neutral and the short circuit accurse, the throttle is pulled wide open and as it is shifted into drive, the car takes off like a dragster and no amount of braking can stop the car.
The safety solution for car owners with this problem is to;
1. Turn off the cruise control.
2. Disconnect the CC cable from the accelerator linkage.
3. Pull the fuse for the CC.
4. All of the above.
If it happens to you, the only way to stop the car is to turn off the cruise control or slam the shifter into park.
In my wife’s car, I disconnect the cable and it never happened again.
People are in prison for manslaughter because of this and the auto makers, BIG BUSINESS, will keep letting this happen as long as they can get away with it.
Please do something with this information to stop the CARnage.
My background is being a car guy and thinking with common sense rather than emotion.
Jack B.
This story is a hoax. And the media took it and ran with it, fanning the flames.
Guys, the pic of the attorney – the guy looks a lot as a British actor, Dougray Scott. You sure this is the right person?
Balloon Man! This guy is a total fraud — I can only say so because as “calityb” said above, even the 911 operator asked him to put the car in neutral and he just as much as refused to do so! On the Prius (I have driven them) the gear shift lever is a small knob on the dash right next to the steering wheel. He could have moved his little pinkie down, clicked the knob over to N, and the whole thing would have been over. Or, if that for some reason failed, he could have clicked the ignition button, also on the dash right next to the wheel, and that would have slowed the car…. Noooo. He wanted to pull a stunt on the police with this rubbish, expoliting the recent news about other possible incidents of Toyota unintended acceleration either for attention or money. He was driving with a foot on the gas and the other on the brake, just for show. The alternative is he is one of the worst drivers out there and should not be allowed to have a license.
Jack is right…unintended acceleration is NOTHING NEW. And every manufacturer has had reports of it. In fact, until the media firestorm caused everyone with a lead foot or a lack of common sense to blame their bad driving on this mysterious Toyota pedal issue, Toyota wasn’t even near the top of the list in terms of complaints per vehicle on the road.
That honor belongs to the likes of Ford, Volkswagen-Audi, Land Rover, Porsche, Mazda, and others.
Why is Toyota being singled out for a problem that is more common in other brands?!
One correction, Jack…there isn’t a car on the road with an engine powerful enough to overcome its braking system, unless it’s improperly maintained. Brakes will ALWAYS vastly out-power the engine’s ability to pull the car.
#mike … why is toyota being singled out? because they are most closely identified as the “green” automaker and the prius, as we know, is only driven by “long haired commie hippies” and those “lib hollywood elite”.
there is a concerted effort between the media and right to slander hybrid autos in support of their petroleum buddies.
I don’t know if this guy is telling the truth or not but Toyota blatantly lied to the American consumer about the rapid acceleration on their Camry and Lexus line. And then they tried to discredit that Southern Illinois professors claim about the software in the electrical system.Toyota still hasn’t come clean. There will probaably be more to come.
The fact that Toyota can’t duplicate it and is just dismissing this claim makes these cars even more dangerous. They need to find out what is causing this, not dismiss it as a hoax.
Uhh Jack. Cruise controls can not engage below 25 miles an hour. I perform this test everytime when driving a car for the first time. I have driven rental cars about 200 times.
I think NHTSA are saying this after a long investigation with Toyota Prius. The government announced this and it will hamper the reputation of Toyota company. It seems to be a battle between the government and Toyota company.