On Thursday morning, August 10th, 2006 I was alone, driving my 2005 Toyota Prius. I was traveling from my home in Eagle, Colorado, in route to Denver International Airport to fly to Little Rock, Arkansas to visit my father. At approximately 7:45 am I was driving eastbound on I-70. I had passed the intersection of I-70 and US Hwy 40 and was watching my speed, as the limit was 65 mph. I was in the right hand lane. I had to apply my brakes to keep the speed at 65 mph. I noticed that when I let up on the brake the car was starting to speed up even though I was not pressing on the accelerator. I had not been using the cruise control. I was going downhill so at first it did not occur to me that there was a problem.
Suddenly the car started to accelerate. No matter how hard I pressed on the brake, the car would not slow down. While keeping my right foot on the brake I slammed my left foot on the emergency brake and saw the red light go on, indicating that I had engaged the emergency brake. The car continued to speed up. When I looked at the speedometer I was going 90 miles per hour.
I was quickly approaching the car in front of me, unable to slow down. I passed that car on the right hand shoulder and then saw an exit ramp ahead (exit 233, Lawson). I exited off I-70 and proceeded down the Lawson ramp, I continued to press as hard as I could on both brakes and the car was not slowing at all. In my rear view mirror I saw blue smoke coming out of the back of the car. I traveled through the stop sign and continued down the frontage road through the town of Lawson. I saw some pedestrians walking on the right hand side of the road. After passing the pedestrians I saw that the road was curving to the left, going under an underpass to 1-70. I went straight ahead, leaving the road and crashed through the forest. This whole time I had been pressing on both brakes, and the car was not slowing down at all. I felt the car tumbling and was aware of the air bags deploying. I finally came to a stop. I tried to find my cell phone but when I saw that I was in the river I crawled out of the car, waded through the water, over rocks and tree limbs and climbed up a steep embankment to the highway to get assistance.
I am hurt. I have intense back and neck pain, as well as pain in my right ankle and heel. I am extremely sore all over with some scrapes and bruises.
If you know of other similar Prius incidents or if you are an expert who understands the software glitch that would cause an unintended acceleration with no feet on pedals, please email me at tjames1313 at hotmail. To see video of this incident do a youtube search on Runaway Prius.
Suddenly the car started to accelerate. No matter how hard I pressed on the brake, the car would not slow down. While keeping my right foot on the brake I slammed my left foot on the emergency brake and saw the red light go on, indicating that I had engaged the emergency brake. The car continued to speed up. When I looked at the speedometer I was going 90 miles per hour.
I was quickly approaching the car in front of me, unable to slow down. I passed that car on the right hand shoulder and then saw an exit ramp ahead (exit 233, Lawson). I exited off I-70 and proceeded down the Lawson ramp, I continued to press as hard as I could on both brakes and the car was not slowing at all. In my rear view mirror I saw blue smoke coming out of the back of the car. I traveled through the stop sign and continued down the frontage road through the town of Lawson. I saw some pedestrians walking on the right hand side of the road. After passing the pedestrians I saw that the road was curving to the left, going under an underpass to 1-70. I went straight ahead, leaving the road and crashed through the forest. This whole time I had been pressing on both brakes, and the car was not slowing down at all. I felt the car tumbling and was aware of the air bags deploying. I finally came to a stop. I tried to find my cell phone but when I saw that I was in the river I crawled out of the car, waded through the water, over rocks and tree limbs and climbed up a steep embankment to the highway to get assistance.
I am hurt. I have intense back and neck pain, as well as pain in my right ankle and heel. I am extremely sore all over with some scrapes and bruises.
If you know of other similar Prius incidents or if you are an expert who understands the software glitch that would cause an unintended acceleration with no feet on pedals, please email me at tjames1313 at hotmail. To see video of this incident do a youtube search on Runaway Prius.
