Investigation says Toyota Prius incident not duplicable

• Source: Xinhua
• [15:36 March 15 2010]
• Comments

Kurt Bardella, a spokesman for the top Republican of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said Sunday that the findings "certainly raise new questions surrounding the veracity of the sequence of events" reported by Sikes.

"We're not saying Mr. Sikes is wrong or that he lied, we're saying that questions have arisen in the investigation," Bardella said.

John Gomez, Sikes' attorney, said the findings fail to undermine his client's story.

"I don't put a whole lot of stock in their explanation," he said. "It's not surprising they couldn't replicate it. They have never been able to replicate an incident of sudden acceleration. Mr. Sikes never had a problem in the three years he owned this vehicle."

Toyota recently issued widespread recalls because of problems related to the accelerator pedal in several of its auto models.

On Wednesday, another Toyota driver reported a runaway Prius, this one a 2005 model, which police said struck a stone wall, causing minor injuries to the driver.

NHTSA has identified 52 deaths in instances of runaway Toyota acceleration. The company has said all along that the problem is caused by mechanical, not electronic, issues.