toyota has recalled more than eight million vehicles since january, including some prius models, but the company said the priuses might have breaking issues, not acceleration problems. karen stitlow, the executive director of auto safely is joining us from washington. good to see you. this driver says there is a problem that needs to be corrected. is this right? does this mean the recall perhaps need to be expanded as a result of this latest incident? there s several issues here. first of all, the recalls are proving to be ineffective because there s at least 60 consumers that have gone in for repairs and then have had sudden acceleration incidents after the repair has been made to the vehicle. so the issue for this prius is it needs a better recall than the one that it has, which is just for the floor mat. so let s take a look. we re talking about eight million toyotas that have
okay. have you tried to put the car in neutral? no. can you try that? reporter: you didn t try to put it into neutral. no. i was afraid to try and go hit it into neutral, i was holding on onto the steering wheel with both hands, 94 miles an hour in a toyota prius is fast. reporter: why didn t you turn the car off earlier? because it wasn t safe. those are very windy roads and i didn t know if i hit the button if the steering wheel would lock or if the wheels on the car would lock. reporter: is there any doubt in your mind that the floor mats had nothing to do with what happened? the floor mat had nothing to do with yesterday s event, period. the floor mat didn t move. i won t drive that car again. i mean, i have no problem with toyota. just i won t drive the prius. there s obviously a problem that needs to be corrected. reporter: and jim sikes toyota prius right now is at this toyota dealership in el cajon, just outside of san diego. toyota releapsed a statement sa
would lock. reporter: is there any doubt in your mind that the floor mats had nothing to do with what happened? the floor mat had nothing to do with yesterday s event, period. the floor mat didn t move. i won t drive that car again. i mean i have no problem with toyota, just i won t drive the prius. there s obviously a problem that needs to be corrected. reporter: jim sikes prius is at this dealership in el cajon just outside san diego. toyota released a statement saying they are sending a technician here to take a look at the car and to help out in any way that they can. meanwhile the u.s. department of transportation is also sending inspectors here to not only look at the car but to also to meet with jim si kchl sikes to hear s ordeal. a toyota spokesman issued a statement monday night. it said the automaker had been notified of the incident and has sent a field technical specialist to san diego to investigate the report and to offer some help.
netanyahu. we shall see. moving on, it s deja vu all over again for toyota. another day and yet another acceleration problem in a prius. this time in harrison, new york. a 56-year-old driver lost control of her 2005 hybrid model for 100 feet before slamming into a stone wall. the woman was hospitalized with nonlife-threatening injuries. harrison police say they ve ruled out the floor mat as the cause. it was tied to the seat frame. and officials now have released the 911 tape containing the exchange between a dispatcher and that california driver from the other day who hit high speeds when his accelerate became stuck. take a listen. what s going on? is your accelerator stuck? no, i tried to yes? yeah, yeah. i tried to pull it back, pulled back. i push on the brakes and the car shuddered. okay. how fast are you going? 80 something.
guy could you take the foot off the accelerator and that s how it wound up on up on the freeways of san diego. talk about a scary moment there. toyota recently recalling the prius, 2004-2009 were among the cars involved in the floor mat problem, that s when the accelerator had the potential to get trapped in the floor moot floor mat. toyota says if that happens the car would be difficult to stop. the prius, however, not among the cars recalled because of a gas pedal that sticks in the down position without interference from the floor mat. it s time to figure this out. you can hear that guy on tape. wow, is that a moment in california. do you have the sex tape? you said you will never release it? no. under any circumstances? unless somebody hold toss gun to my head. but not for any financial amount? no. martha: all right, well, it is the tape that sparked all the dram drama surrounding andrew young, he has only got two days to clear it up