I smelled BS when this story just got off the ground. Maybe that has something to do with the 2386 metric shitloads of BS popping up all around this story.
First, an interesting look at NTSHA stats on overall reported cases of accelerator problems over the past decade.
[T]he trend of the total number of unintended acceleration complaints to NHTSA over the years.
2000: 1415
2001: 1345
2002: 1460
2003: 1446
2004: 1426
2005: 1112
2006: 878
2007: 876
2008: 456
2009: 251
So while the numbers of cars on the road increases, and the manufacturers go to electronic throttle controls, the number of reported problems with sticky throttles drops dramatically. Whoda thunk, that if you replace a system with moving parts with one without, that the problems decrease?
Hide the decline, MSM.
Then at the Atlantic, Megan McArdle digs up some more stats:
The Los Angeles Times recently did a story detailing all of the NHTSA reports of Toyota “sudden acceleration” fatalities, and, though the Times did not mention it, the ages of the drivers involved were striking.
In the 24 cases where driver age was reported or readily inferred, the drivers included those of the ages 60, 61, 63, 66, 68, 71, 72, 72, 77, 79, 83, 85, 89–and I’m leaving out the son whose age wasn’t identified, but whose 94-year-old father died as a passenger.
How odd that old people are having all of the problems with pedals sticking, having electrical problems, and having interference from magnets and cell phones.
Then we have this bit of Twilight Zone:
“On the very day Toyota was making a high-profile defense of its cars, one of them was speeding out of control,” said CBS News–and a vast number of other media outlets worldwide. The driver of a 2008 Toyota Prius, James Sikes, called 911 to say his accelerator was stuck, he was zooming faster than 90 miles per hour and absolutely couldn’t slow down.
It got far more dramatic, though. The California Highway Patrol responded and “To get the runaway car to stop, they actually had to put their patrol car in front of the Prius and step on the brakes.” During over 20 harrowing minutes, according to NBC’s report, Sikes “did everything he could to try to slow down that Prius.” Others said, “Radio traffic indicated the driver was unable to turn off the engine or shift the car into neutral.”
Damn thing’s haunted! Hearkening back to the worst sitcom ever produced:
But it turns out that, despite this being reported on the infallible CBS and NBC news,
In fact, almost none of this was true. Virtually every aspect of Sikes’s story as told to reporters makes no sense. His claim that he’d tried to yank up the accelerator could be falsified, with his help, in half a minute. And now we even have an explanation for why he’d pull such a stunt, beyond the all-American desire to have 15 minutes of fame (recall the “Balloon Boy Hoax” from October) and the aching need to be perceived as a victim.
Well, dearie me. Why didn’t those professional journalist peoples check this? In fact, this alone should have been reason to check their boots:
Now here’s the potential smoking gun: Sikes told the reporters that “I was reaching down and trying to pull up on the gas pedal. It didn’t move at all; it was stationary.” That’s awfully daring for somebody who insisted he didn’t even want to take a hand off his steering wheel, notwithstanding that he did so to hold his phone.
Try that sometime. You’re barreling down the freeway doing 90. Now this guy who was too much of a pussy to find the transmission shift lever was able to reach the gas pedal? Maybe if he’s a chimpanzee.
So why did he do it? Sleuth work at the Web sites Jalopnik.com and Gawker.com reveals that Sikes and his wife Patty in 2008 filed for bankruptcy and are over $700,000 in debt. Among their creditors is Toyota Financial Services for a lease on a 2008 Toyota Prius, with value at time of bankruptcy of $20,494. The Jalopnik Web site shows a copy of Toyota’s secured claims form, though when Jalopnik questioned Sikes by e-mail he denied being behind on his Prius payments.
Sikes also has a history of filing insurance claims for allegedly stolen items that are slowly coming to light. In 2001 he filed a police report with the Merced County Sheriff’s Department for $58,000 in stolen property, including jewelry, a prosumer mini-DV camera and gear, and $24,000 in cash, according to Fox40 in Sacramento. His bankruptcy documents show a 2008 payment of $7,400 for an allegedly stolen saxophone and clothes.
Oh. Maybe he wasn’t being completely honest with us. I feel used.
Tags: Toyota
