Toyota Motor (TM) late this afternoon offered up a press release — and even a video! — describing its “preliminary findings” regarding the 2008 model Prius that apparently sped out of controlin San Diego a week ago.
Toyota’s investigators said they think the driver’s account is inconsistent with their own findings. Toyota says there was no problem with the accelerator pedal itself, and that the floor mats, which have obstructured the accelerator in some other Toyota cars, did not appear in any way to be interfering with the accelerator.
The front brakes, however, “showed severe wear and damage,” which, the investigators suggest, may mean that driver James Sikes didn’t fully depress the brake pedal, but rather tapped it repeatedly.
Toyota said further examination was required. That’s the same thing the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said earlier today about its own inquiry into the matter. “We may never know what happened with this car,” the NHTSA was quoted as saying by Reuters John Crawley.
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