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Not all rear disc brake cars have this set up. Many have a separate manual system for the rear disc that makes the piston turn all the way out when the emergency brake is used. These vehicles use a special tool to turn the piston back into the caliper when the brakes are changed rather than just pushing the piston in to the caliper on the fronts.
You are correct sir! I forgot about that type parking brake!
I can understand someone being a bit frightened to put a car into neutral at a higher rate of speed. Think about how easy it is to accidentally place the car into reverse while trying to get it into neutral. Not only that, but when someone is in a panic they very often overlook the obvious things.
I would have no problem throwing my car into neutral at high speeds since I have done this many times. I used to always own old junkers and would often stall out at speed. I would not even have to slow down on the highway but rather just go into neutral while rolling and start the car back up. How often have you seen or heard of someone stalling and just stopping as quickly as possible, pulling to the side of the road so they can put the car in park to try and start it? Most people do not even think of putting it in neutral and starting it and I bet most of them do not even know you can start a car in neutral.
MOST (not all, of course, but most) people act instinctually in situations such as these and if they have never been in a situation such as this and never had to stop a car that has accelerated by itself or lost their brakes while they were driving they tend to panic which stops them from being able to think rationally to solve the problem.
I saw this guy in a brief interview with a reporter on the news just after it had happened and he was clearly shaken. He had said that he did not throw it in neutral and he eventually shut the car off. Once it was off he was able to get it to slow down and that is when the officer assisted in stopping it with the patrol car.
If this guy is making this up it will be easily found out due to the fact that the car is intact and I am sure that not only Toyota will be going through it to figure out what happened. There are quite obviously a number of scammers in this world but it would be an extremely stupid one to try this as a scam since anyone would know that, as stated, Toyota itself and others will be going through this car with a fine tooth comb to try and figure out what went wrong.
Also, not putting a car in neutral once it accelerates by itself would not be considered driver error. That is like saying that someone who has an accident due to a car coming into their lane is at fault for not turning away from the other car in time.
I can understand his fear but catching reverse is a better option then dying in a high speed accident of possible killing others in the process. BTW- if you choose reverse in a Prius it will not go on while moving. It will go into neutral. According to the Prius chat forum
I thought it was kinda strange that the 911 dispatcher kept telling him to put the car in neutral but he wouldn't say anything back, he acted like he didn't even hear her.
I thought it was kinda strange that the 911 dispatcher kept telling him to put the car in neutral but he wouldn't say anything back, he acted like he didn't even hear her.
ya know.. the more I hear about this and see it on the news the more I smell a rat. Al he had to do was to put it in neutral and problem, solved. Whats to say *he* is staging this whole fiasco for a payout? Would not be hard to do. Just floor it and drag the brakes till they heat enough to fade, call 911 and make sure the news makes it the headline story... I really wonder....
The cop said he say break lights. So that tells me the car is breaking. You can't just say that the driver should have put it in neutral, the BRAKES should work.
Also, as so many have said, you can physically put the car's gear shifter in the neutral position and NOT have the engine or transmission react due to computer errors.
If the guy were faking it, it takes a lot of guts to purposly rear end a police car at high speeds. That's how he stopped, he rear ended a fast moving police car and the police car stopped him. If he were faking it, it'd be pretty hard to go through with actually hitting the police car. He was risking his life to fake it...
ya know.. the more I hear about this and see it on the news the more I smell a rat. Al he had to do was to put it in neutral and problem, solved. Whats to say *he* is staging this whole fiasco for a payout? Would not be hard to do. Just floor it and drag the brakes till they heat enough to fade, call 911 and make sure the news makes it the headline story... I really wonder....
Yeah, I hate to admit it, but after hearing the 911 call, that was pretty much the first thing that popped in my head, too.
I don't understand being soooooo afraid of, as he said, causing the car to flip by putting it in reverse that we wouldn't try something with the gear selector. Makes me think he must not have been as scared of his high speed as was let on.
The cop said he say break lights. So that tells me the car is breaking. You can't just say that the driver should have put it in neutral, the BRAKES should work.
Also, as so many have said, you can physically put the car's gear shifter in the neutral position and NOT have the engine or transmission react due to computer errors.
If the guy were faking it, it takes a lot of guts to purposly rear end a police car at high speeds. That's how he stopped, he rear ended a fast moving police car and the police car stopped him. If he were faking it, it'd be pretty hard to go through with actually hitting the police car. He was risking his life to fake it...
He didn't rear end the police car. He turned off the car at 50 MPH and the car stopped on it's own. The cop just pulled in front of him once stopped to be safe.
The cop said he say break lights. So that tells me the car is breaking. You can't just say that the driver should have put it in neutral, the BRAKES should work.
Also, as so many have said, you can physically put the car's gear shifter in the neutral position and NOT have the engine or transmission react due to computer errors.
If the guy were faking it, it takes a lot of guts to purposly rear end a police car at high speeds. That's how he stopped, he rear ended a fast moving police car and the police car stopped him. If he were faking it, it'd be pretty hard to go through with actually hitting the police car. He was risking his life to fake it...
He did not read end the car. The cop blocked him in. The Toyota came to a stop after he put in in neutral.. Which is what he should have done 7 miles back.. oh, that may ruin his lawsuit.. Sorry I an so skeptical, but I see these types of actions happen a lot on my job.. . Notice how for years these cars have been fine and all of a sudden, its a daily occurrence?? The rat is getting stinkier.
After hearing this latest story, I decided to experiment. I took our '06 Prius out on the road, accelerated, and when I reached 50 and my foot was still on the gas pedal and the car was still accelerating, I shifted to neutral. On the Prius (at least, on the 2nd generation model), this means moving the gear selector directly to the left - from Drive to Neutral - and holding it there for a couple of seconds.
The car shifted into neutral, and the engine was racing, but the car started to slow down.
I can understand the panic of a new and potentially dangerous situation, but this person said he drove for approximately 30 miles while trying to get the Prius to slow down/stop. That's plenty of time to put the car in neutral.
According to news reports: "There was nothing else he could have done to stop the car, Sikes said." WRONG!
He didn't rear end the police car. He turned off the car at 50 MPH and the car stopped on it's own. The cop just pulled in front of him once stopped to be safe.
OK....if I am wrong then perhaps I understood. But I thought I read the words "Was stopped by the police car."
I just re-read the story... and I am wrong... I agree with the rest of you then. WTF? Why didn't he just do that from the beginning?
This one hit a wall and the air bags went off. Driver uninjured. How does that happen and the driver's not injured? Sounds like bad driving, and an after the fact excuse.
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Sorry I an so skeptical, but I see these types of actions happen a lot on my job.. . Notice how for years these cars have been fine and all of a sudden, its a daily occurrence?? The rat is getting stinkier.
