-j

Anyway, thanks again for your kind words, more to come… enjoy.

-jef

Thanks Again,
Rup

Amazing! You’ve have actually been in the shoes that Sikes claims to have filled… and you’ve hit on things
that I didn’t consider, things that could only come from someone who’s really been there… namely, that you
have no idea what your speed was (not important–your focus was on keeping the car under control), while Sikes has a specific number and wants us all to know it.

As for the cops, great question…. if I had to bet, they had their suspicions pretty quick. You have to remember that while the average person tends to believe first and question only when there’s good reason, cops don’t subscribe to this Truth Bias, they believe NOTHING.

I read a quote from a CHP officer a day or two after, he basically said ‘there’s no crime here, so our job is done.’

Given the magnitude and naturre of this thing, I think they’re content leaving it to the NHTSA and Toyota to hash out.

I just Googled “runaway toyota prius” and got this update, I’m sure there’s much stuff more current than this, but you get the idea… this is roundly considered a hoax now. When his lawyer said there were no plans to sue Toyota, which came out within days, doesn’t that say it all?

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2010/03/13/pattern-wear-runaway-prius-brakes-raises-questions/

Your comments brought to mind a near death experience I had on the 101, North bound. I was somewhere in Simi Valley when I lost control of my brother’s sports car. This was ten years ago, and his car was maybe 10 yrs old or older, at that time, and it was a stick shift. When I knew I lost control, I started praying my Our Fathers and Hail Mary’s. I did not have the time to look at my speedometer because if I dared to even check my speed, that was going to kill me faster. My goal was to gain control of the car again. I swerved left and right, I was afraid of hitting the cars next to me, in the 5 lane freeway, and no, i did not think of calling 911 because i needed both my hands. I might have swerved left and right 5 times, and then it dawned on me to downshift, and i did, and the car slowed down, I re-gained control of the wheel, finally kept the car on one lane, and I was shaken. And I kept on driving all the way to Oxnard. I was afraid that if I stopped on the side of the road to recover, I might not have recovered at all. I seriously thought I was going to die. Yes it shook me up - I never said a word to anyone. Maybe I told my brother.

If I were in Sikes’ shoes and that happened to me in the Prius, I would be very angry at Toyota and instead of sensationalizing and acting in front of the cameras, I would be threatening Toyota. You will certainly see a lot of emotion from me. I would be yelling at the news and camera crew. Why would this guy wear his Corvette jacket in front of the cameras, the day after? What for? Credibility? Dude if you can control a Corvette you will know what to do with that Prius and you won’t have to call 911.

I learned to drive with a stick shift. Let’s just say that 2 years out of my 20 years of driving was with a stick and the rest was on an auto. I still figured out how to slow down my brother’s car. So Sikes, give me your Corvette. I can handle it.

Hey Jef, do you think any police officer will think the same way as you while they interviewed Sikes? You were not at the scene, you are making comments from the video. What do you think the officers thought while they were talking to Sikes? Know what I mean? And the day after, yes of course Sikes can add / manufacture a story the day after. How different was his version the day of and after?

***Jeannie

Thanks for your thoughts on this, Calvin, well done.

-jef