I haven't paid much attention to the Prius death trap recall and subsequent congressional hearings. But like everybody, I knew the whole floor mat excuse was an arrogant joke and a frustrating whitewash -- kind of like calling tech support and getting the public relations department.
This Toyota video is a glossy example of PR which should not soothe anybody's fears:
(YouTube video)
Maybe there's some good information in there, but she conveniently forgot the step where you panic and scream, "Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god!"
At this point, I don't know why anybody would still want to drive a Prius. These cars are endangering everybody, not just their passengers!
If those methods don't work, Prius drivers can try this advanced technique for dealing with stuck accelerators.
ReplyDeletei was reading an article about the prius incident from the la times website. one guy commented on why the driver didn't put the car in neutral, or why the operator didn't tell him to put the car in neutral, or why the chp didn't tell him to put the car in neutral. i am not a car expert, so i can't say that you can do something at that speed, but the commentator does raise a good point.
ReplyDeleteI don't really know much about cars either. I don't know if there is something different about the Prius steering column or gears, but I assume everybody was panicking.
ReplyDeleteWatch that PR video. Apparently most Prius owners don't know this, but if you hold down the ignition button for 3 seconds, it turns off the engine -- kind of like how you can reboot your computer. Which makes sense because these new cars have thousands of microprocessors... brings new meaning to "blue screen of death."