FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Prius Investigation Results Consistent with Edmunds' InsideLine.com Test
March 15, 2010 - Santa Monica, CA - Today, Toyota officials provided the results of their investigation of the Prius that allegedly sped out of the control of its driver, James Sikes, in San Diego last week. Toyota's results are inconsistent with the driver's account of the event.
Last week, Edmunds' Inside Line evaluated its own Toyota Prius to simulate the unfortunate situation and found that even when the car was at full throttle, with consistent braking effort, the car's engine is cut off by the brake override system. If the brake override system wasn't working, there would likely be damage under the hood, a malfunction indicator light on the dashboard and a fault code in the diagnostics system. None has been found.
"Toyota revealed that the brakes had been applied some 250 times during the episode. At the speed and distance reported, that's an average of once every four seconds," noted Dan Edmunds, Director of Vehicle Testing at Edmunds.com "Generally speaking, it is possible to push on the brake lightly and not engage the brake override system. But that type of braking is inconsistent with someone wanting to stop in an emergency situation."
Inside Line conducted its own testing with a 2004 Toyota Prius, the same generation vehicle as the one in San Diego. More information about Edmunds.com's test may be found in "2004 Toyota Prius: Three Ways to Deal with a Stuck Throttle at http://blogs.insideline.com/roadtests/2010/03/2004-toyota-prius-three-ways-to-deal-with-a-stuck-throttle.html.
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Edmunds publishes four Web sites that empower, engage and educate automotive consumers, enthusiasts and insiders. Edmunds.com, the premier online resource for automotive consumer information, launched in 1995 as the first automotive information Web site. InsideLine.com is the most-read automotive enthusiast Web site. CarSpace is an automotive social networking Web site. AutoObserver.com provides insightful automotive industry commentary and analysis. Edmunds is headquartered in Santa Monica, California, and maintains a satellite office in suburban Detroit. Follow Edmunds.com on Twitter@edmunds and fan Edmunds.com on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/edmunds.
