You may recall the story of James Sikes who's Prius allegedly ran away on him with a stuck pedal causing him to go 90 mph. He called 911 and the police apparently talked him into how to stop his car.
Well, questions are emerging that perhaps the whole thing was a hoax. Even the mainstream media is taking notice. But the definitive deconstruction of the event comes from Micheal Fumento (Hat tip: The Corner). A lot of weird things from Mr. Sikes wild ride could be explained simply that Mr. Sikes is none too bright when it comes to cars. For example, he claims he was afraid to put the car in neutral (as the 911 operator repeatedly urged him to do so) because he didn't know how the car would react.
But Fumento points to what he calls "the smoking gun":
Sikes told the reporters that "I was reaching down and trying to pull up on the gas pedal. It didn't move at all; it was stationary." That's awfully daring for somebody who insisted he didn't even want to take a hand off his steering wheel, notwithstanding that he did so to hold his phone.
I tried to imitate Sikes' alleged effort in a 2008 Prius. From the front bottom of the steering wheel to the front bottom of the accelerator in up position it's 28.5 inches; while fully deployed it's 2.5 inches farther away. I have average-length arms (33-inch shirt sleeve) and no gut. But even though the steering wheel was as flush to the dashboard as it goes, it prevented me from all but touching the accelerator in the up position.
To reach behind a deployed accelerator and get any kind of a grip you'd have to add at least three more inches. In my case, it required squashing my face against the radio and completely removing my eyes from the road. Only the tallest men could physically do what Sikes claimed he did and no press accounts refer his being exceptionally tall.
So, is it a hoax? Or was Mr. Sikes just too scared to think straight? Was he really that scared at 90 miles per hour? Could his brakes really not over power the Prius' measly 110 horsepower engine?
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