Toyota Media Storm Restarted With Out-Of-Control Prius

Just as the media storm over the Toyota fiasco is seemingly dying down, a report of a driver experiencing braking problems with his second-generation Toyota Prius once again thrusts Toyota into the limelight, and for all the wrong reasons.

In California yesterday, James Sikes, the driver involved, called for help when he found his Prius accelerating out-of-control and the brakes failing to function. “I pushed the gas pedal to pass a car and it did something kind of funny... it jumped and it just stuck there”, said the 61-year-old Sikes. “As it was going, I was trying the brakes...it wasn't stopping, it wasn't doing anything”.

The patrol car later arrived and advised him to engage the emergency brake, depress the brake pedal completely and drive the car up a steeper gradient. Sikes recounted that he could smell the brakes burning, but the three measures succeeded in slowing the car from 150 km/h to 80 km/h, upon which he turned off the engine and coasted the car to a stop.

It is one thing to analyse cold hard statistics of accidents, and another to hear of such a “live” account from the person involved. In this case, Sikes' recounting of the incident will strike fear in the hearts of many Toyota owners—whether they have been affected by the recall or not. And it does little to help that Sikes was turned away two weeks earlier from a Toyota dealership for not being on the recall list, even though he had a recall notice.

This incident further points out two things. One, isn't the Prius supposed to suffer only from braking problems and not acceleration issues? Second, it is becoming clear that with a massive 8.5 million vehicles worldwide involved in the recalls, even an industry giant like Toyota is struggling to ensure that all problematic cars get fixed—without any more hiccups.