The driver, Jim Sikes, said he sped up his car to pass a slower-moving vehicle and it, “it just did something kind of funny … and it just stuck there.”  The car then sped up to 90 mph.  A call to 911 netted Sikes with information on how to stop the car, but the brakes wouldn’t do it.  A California Highway Patrolman, Todd Neibert,  pulled alongside Sikes’ Prius and used his PA system to tell him to use the brakes and the emergency brake at the same time, which slowed the car to 50 mph.

After slowing to 50 mph, Sikes was able to get the car turned off, at which point it coasted to a stop.  The aforementioned police officer used his cruiser to stop the runaway Prius from moving forward again, and the crisis was over.  Sikes then told Officer Neibert that he even tried to pull the acceleration back to its idle position, which didn’t work.

Sikes had recently taken his 2008 Prius to his local Toyota dealership and showed them his recall notice, and was then informed that his car was not on the list of recalled vehicles.  He told officers he’d be back at the dealership the following morning.  Toyota has been notified of the incident, which lasted 20 minutes, and has dispatched a “field technical specialist” to San Diego to investigate the report and offer assistance.

by John Suit

Source: CNN

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