Toyota Casts Doubt On ‘Runaway Prius’

Reuters is reporting Toyota Motor Corp. has said it  found no evidence to support the driver’s version of a widely publicized “runaway” Prius episode a week ago.

Representatives for Toyota announced preliminary findings of its examination of the Prius driven by James Sikes during a news conference. U.S. investigators, in their own investigation, have said they did not find any evidence to support or disprove James Sikes’ version of events.

On March 8th, Mr. Sikes called 911-emergency operators to report his Prius had sped out of control for some 20 minutes before he could finally stop the vehicle with the help of the California Highway Patrol .

Toyota investigators said they could find no evidence that Sikes had applied the brakes forcefully throughout the time he said the vehicle sped out of control. The investigators said the Prius was being driven with the brakes lightly and repeatedly applied — some 250 times over a 30-mile stretch of highway. No signs of any other problems with the Prius were found; nor did the vehicle record any trouble codes that would indicate a problem had occured.