Man Fakes Runaway Prius for What? Auto Insurance Claim? New Car?
By: Mike Silverstone, Car Insurance Analyst
CheaperCarInsurance.com
Just a few days ago, James Sikes was speeding through a suburb of San Diego, but not by choice. According to him, the foot pedal on his 2008 Toyota Prius was stuck, and he accelerated up to speeds of 94 miles per hour before a state trooper was able to assist him to a safe stop.
This came at an apropo time for Toyota, who on Monday presented experts who testified that electronic flaws could not cause one of its vehicles to drive out of control. Toyota is fighting an uphill battle in regaining trust from consumers after its mega recall that affected hundreds of thousands of models of its cars, which experienced sticking foot pedals and sliding floor mats.
Sikes claims the foot pedal on his Prius wouldn’t let up. He called 911 when he couldn’t get the car to slow down.
It turns out Sikes may have motive for the highly publicized event. Despite winning $55,000 in the California Lottery and appearing on a lottery game show, Sikes has run dry. According to sources, he owes over $700,000 in various debts and is five car payments behind for the aforementioned Prius. No word on whether his auto insurance is up to date!
What is Sikes’ Motivation?
Government officials are now looking into Sikes’ claim that the accelerator was to blame for the highway high speed story. He says he has no plans to sue Toyota, but only wants a new vehicle. That seems a lot to ask for a sticky accelerator. If the car does indeed fall under the recall, Sikes would be eligible for replacement of the faulty part, just like other Toyota owners involved in the recall. But his 2008 Prius isn’t covered by the recall at this point, and many are skeptical whether this high profile case truly means that Prius needs to be added to the ever-growing list of affected Toyota models.
Maybe Sikes’ motivation is an auto insurance claim, although neither he nor his Prius were damaged in the incident.
His motivation is unclear, but with growing publicity on the case, one thing is certain: something fishy is going on.
The case has garnered serious national attention, with a standoff between the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration and a congressional aide who was forbidden from attending an inspection of Sikes’ Prius. NHTSA later allowed the aide to attend the inspection.
Sikes’ case, it seems, is causing mass Runaway Prius hysteria. More Prius owners are coming out of the woodwork with their own runaway stories. Experts believe these are psychological in nature, and just a way of reacting to news. Many people may be hypersensitive to changes in their vehicle’s behavior, and may falsely attribute issues with the vehicle rather than their own neglect.
Only time will tell whether Toyota will also recall Prius models from 2008 and other years as part of this mass recall effort. In the meantime, we will see what Sikes is up to and what he wants out of the situation.
Auto insurance companies have not yet reported an increase in the number of Priuses involved in similar accidents that may be caused by faulty acceleration, as they did with the other models that have now been recalled. Stay tuned in the weeks to come to see if this changes.
If you own a Prius or other model Toyota not yet recalled, contact your auto insurance company or Toyota if you experience unusual performance. Drive your car several times to see if the problem persists or if it was just a one off performance glitch. Visit Toyota’s recall site for the latest on the recall.
Posted: March 11, 2010
