Toyota Prius Brakes Latest Focus of Safety Investigation

[marmar]

Toyota Prius Brakes Latest Focus of Safety Investigation
Published Feb 3, 2010


LOS ANGELES — The latest Toyota product to be tarred with the brush of stopping problems is the already iconic Prius hybrid. The car is not part of the multi-million-vehicle recall Toyota has announced in countries around the world over a sticking accelerator pedal. Nor are the other Toyota and Lexus hybrid models, since they do not use the accelerator pedal made by CTS Automotive Products that is the object of the recall. But complaints about the Prius have surfaced anyway — with a celebrity complainer, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, in the spotlight.

Wozniak owns a 2010 Toyota Prius and said it has accelerated as high as 97 miles per hour when he was using its radar cruise control feature. Nevertheless, he was quoted by the Los Angeles Times as saying, "I would buy another one."

The Times has published a series of articles accusing Toyota of being slow to respond to complaints about unintended acceleration. On Tuesday, it quoted Wozniak as saying he has experienced the problem with his Prius. The paper said Toyota is about to borrow the computer magnate's car for a week so its engineers can diagnose the problem. Wozniak came to the automaker's attention both because he complained to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and because he appeared on CNN on Tuesday.

Although the Prius was not recalled over accelerator pedal issues, a separate major recall, in which the driver's side floor mat on some Toyota models is at risk of causing pedal entrapment, does include the 2004-09 Toyota Prius. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.insideline.com/toyota/toyota-prius-brakes-latest-focus-of-safety-investigation.html

[Romulox]

1. Right, and I'd buy another Asus, Mr. Wozniak! nt

[gateley]

2. I'm glad it was Wozniak -- not sure we would have heard of this if it had

just been little 'ol me. At least other Prius owners can be on the alert.

Remember when a Toyota were no-brainer safe, good cars? They're like the new Pinto or something these days.

[ieoeja]

3. Looks like GM will be back on top after two years in 2nd place.

[jsamuel]

5. nope, VW is

at least that is what I read here a couple days ago

[Renew Deal]

4. The biggest issue with the Prius is still the headlights

And the complete ripoff to replace them.

[jsamuel]

6. I replaced mine myself.

cost me $50 for the high quality lights.

[high density]

7. I am amazed to learn a Prius can hit 97 mph

Most of the time I see them going about 30mph and accelerating at about 5mph per minute.

[happyslug]

8. Former Vice President's Gore's son had one up to 105mph

Recorded by police radar as Al Gore III (Son to Former Vice President Al Gore) ran from the police. No one harmed, but hopefully Al Gore Jr took his son's, Al Gore III (Date of Birth 1983 making him about 23 when this incident occurred), keys away from him.

http://www.slate.com/id/2169925/

More on Wozniak and his speeding tickets:
http://www.leftlanenews.com/second-fastest-prius-ever-recorded.html

[Skink]

9. The japanese came into the market with fuel efficient cars.

Saftey was never top priority until about the late 90's. People were just happy they got more than a hundred thousand out of them.