In the WSJ today:
Toyota to Recall Prius Models Including One in Runaway Incident
Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday that the Prius involved in a highly publicized acceleration incident on a California freeway along with many others will be the subject of a future recall to prevent floor mats from pinning down the gas pedal.
Allow me one question, please, but how much of this panic is due to the government’s conflict of interest intervening against Toyota, or on drivers who can’t figure out on their own that the floor mat is pinning down the gas pedal?
Michael Fumento has more on the Prius accelerator highway horror and the hysteria.
The guy in SoCal in TeeVee last night who had the runaway Prius (got up to 90mph anyhow) that was stopped with the aid of the CHP, was adamant that his floor-mats were fine and not touching anything while he leaned down and yanked back on the “gas” pedal (is it still a gas pedal if the car is electric?) – which did nothing.
But it is a physical impossibility for the car to actually speed up if indeed the driver pressed down on the brakes like he claimed. Except for the heaviest of cars with bigger engines brakes will always bring the car to a stop. The tape I saw showed that the brake lights didn’t come on till the CHP was in front of the car. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.