San Diego Personal Injury Attorney Blog

Several brave California Highway Patrol officers helped stop a runaway Toyota Prius in El Cajon this afternoon, the Union Tribune reported. The car reportedly had a stuck accelerator, and was travelling as fast as 94 mph when the driver called 911. Using a loudspeaker, CHP officers relayed instructions to the driver on how to pull the emergency brake and regular brakes simultaneously to slow the Prius. Once the car had slowed to about 50 mph, the driver was able to turn off the engine and the car coasted to a stop near Kitchen Creek Road.

The incident began on eastbound Interstate 8 near the Flinn Springs area. After it was safely brought to a halt, the car was then towed to the CHP's office in El Cajon, where it will likely be inspected.

According to a 10News report, Toyota issued the following statement regarding the incident: "This afternoon (Monday, March 8), Toyota learned of a report that a California Highway Patrol (CHP) unit was dispatched in response to a 911 call from a motorist driving a Prius on Interstate 8 in San Diego County who said the accelerator pedal was stuck. The report states that the CHP unit slowed in front of the vehicle and acted as a brake to bring it to a stop. Toyota has dispatched a field technical specialist to San Diego to investigate the report and offer assistance."

While this story fortunately had a happy ending and the driver was not injured, hundreds of other people experiencing problems with stuck accelerators have not been so lucky. Last week, the New York Post reported as many as 52 deaths have been linked to faulty accelerators. The number of deaths is nearly double the number of people who died due to faulty Ford Pintos in the 1970's. Hundreds more have been seriously injured in accidents caused by out-of-control Toyotas.

If you have been injured or if a family member was killed in an accident involving a stuck accelerator in a Toyota or Lexus, contact the California Toyota defect attorneys at Estey Bomberger for a free consultation of your legal rights.

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Owners of the third-generation Toyota Prius, launched in 2010, have been sharing concerns over braking issues with the 2010 Prius. At least 33 complaints have been filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Office of Defects Investigation, MSNBC reported on December 29. Motorists report a sensation of losing control or a brief delay in the brakes employing after putting pressure on the pedal.

Prius brakes are more complex than other, non-hyrbid conventional automobiles. When a driver puts their foot on the brake petal, the Prius brakes must first recapture kinetic energy lost and turn it into an electric current to recharge the car's batteries. A more conventional, hydraulic braking system is employed for more aggressive stops. Mechanics have speculated that the sensors that control the hybrid braking system could malfunction when the wheels are jarred by a hard bump. However, the NHTSA has not made a determination yet whether or not there is a safety related defect.

The California product liability attorneys at Estey & Bomberger are closely monitoring the situation with Toyota and reports of brake failure incidents involving the 2010 Prius. If you have a safety-related complaint involving any motor vehicle, you are urged to report it at safercar.gov, or by calling the NHTSA's hotline at (888) 327-4236. Government engineers will analyze the problem, and if warranted, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) will open an investigation to determine if a safety defect trend existis. Some of these investigations result in safety recalls. If you have been injured in an accident, you may also contact the product defect attorneys at Estey & Bomberger for more information about your legal rights.