Isn’t ‘Speeding Prius’ an oxymoron?

The intelligence level of Prius owners is a touch disappointing, given the reaction of one when his accelerator got stuck.

The Japanese carmaker learned that the California Highway Patrol was dispatched after a Prius driver in San Diego County called 911 to report a stuck accelerator pedal, Toyota said yesterday on its Web site. A patrol officer helped coach the driver to stop the car, the motorist told reporters.

“I was on the brakes pretty healthy,” James Sikes, the Prius driver, said on NBC after telling news organizations his car reached speeds of 90 mph on U.S. Interstate 8 outside San Diego. “It wasn’t stopping. It wasn’t doing anything to it. It just kept speeding up.”

Toyota, the world’s biggest automaker, has recalled about 8 million vehicles, including top-selling Camry and Corolla cars, to repair defects that may cause unintended acceleration. The carmaker held a press briefing at its U.S. headquarters in Torrance, California, yesterday to rebut a test of its electronic throttle control system cited in testimony to Congress as a possible cause for the flaw.

Sikes told cable channel CNN the accelerator was stuck and wouldn’t move even when he tried to lift it by hand. The car failed to slow down even after Sikes called 911 and followed instructions to get the car to stop.

You needed to call 911 to learn hos to stop your car?  Dude, PUT IT IN NEUTRAL.  People like this make me think maybe we do need more government intervention to protect us from our own stupidity.