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The driver of a 2008 Toyota Prius said his car uncontrollably accelerated to more than 90 miles per hour on a San Diego-area freeway before a CHP  officer helped him bring the runaway hybrid vehicle under control.


Driver James Sikes, 61, was not injured in the incident that occurred Monday and is but one of a number of claims of unintended acceleration among Priuses that has caused the greatest image crisis in Toyota's history.


The incident occurred in the same county where an off-duty CHP officer and three family members were killed last August in an incident that brought the issue to national attention and led to the first major recall over unintended acceleration.


Sikes said he had received a recall notice to take his car into a Toyota dealership, but when he did, he was told that his car was not on recall lists, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. The automaker recalled the 2004-2009 Prius hybrids due to concerns that loose floor mats may entrap accelerator pedals, causing unintended acceleration.


On Monday afternoon, Sikes overtook another car on Interstate 8 near San Diego, and then the Prius accelerated beyond his control, the highway patrol said. For the next 20 minutes, Sikes sped 30 miles along the freeway, he said.


"I pushed the gas pedal to pass a car and it did something kind of funny," Sikes said at a Monday press conference. "It jumped and it just stuck there. As it was going, I was trying the brakes ... It wasn't stopping."
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Tags: Hybrid, Toyota, Acceleration, Brakes, California, CHP, Hybrid Vehicle, Recall, San Diego, Toyota Prius

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Toyota, CHP Investigate Report of Runaway Prius; Driver Claims Brakes Didn't Work was originally published by Green Car Advisor. Read the full story by clicking here.