Posted on 03/12/2010 2:18:23 PM PST by raptor22
The man who became the face of the Toyota gas pedal scandal this week has a troubled financial past that is leading some to question whether he was wholly truthful in his story.
On Monday, James Sikes called 911 to report that he was behind the wheel of an out-of-control Toyota Prius going 94 mph on a freeway near San Diego. Twenty-three minutes later, a California Highway Patrol officer helped guide him to a stop, a rescue that was captured on videotape.
Since then, it's been learned that:
— Sikes filed for bankruptcy in San Diego in 2008. According to documents, he was more than $700,000 in debt and owed roughly $19,000 on his Prius;
— In 2001, Sikes filed a police report with the Merced County Sheriff's Department
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I knew this man’s claim was bogus the minute I heard about it.
Check the system out on the car—that will tell the truth.
Check the system out on the car—that will tell the truth.
“Easy Money!”
Actually, I assumed something like this when I heard it. It just didn’t make much sense.
...Yeah...Toyota have a mystery “black box” installed ...so they can get a detailed print out of what happened...or not.
The government takes over GM, the #1 car company (Toyota) becomes a safety danger. Government motors sales increase. A coincidence? I think not....
Me too.
Hahahaha! I knew nobody could be so stupid as not to realize that the car will stop if you turn off the ignition, or whatever the key is in a Prius. What a freaking moron.
Actually all you have to do is put the car in neutral and steer it to the side of the road and THEN turn off the ignition. Otherwise it is very hard to steer the car with the power assist steering off.
I understand that the 911 operator was telling him to do this but got no response. This whole thing is bogus. This guy was looking for his 15 minutes of fame and a payoff from Toyota is my guess.
>Prius
Somebody misspelled “Alar”.
LITERALLY ONE MINUTE AGO on the radio, a news story about Toyota eager to do their own investigation into this ‘incident’. The story printed here repeats the simple fact that the guy , presumably out of fear, did NOT turn the ignition off, or put it into neutral, though he was told to. What’s reported here of the guy’s troubled financial past does not in and of itself damn him, but it’s all of a piece. It is merely beginner-level profiling to put all the pieces together on this guy , and realize he’s a con artist with visions of big bucks coming as a settlement for all his ‘emotional stress.’
This can only help Toyota, which may wind up being a GOOD thing, since the Zero Administration would like nothing better than to have leverage over Toyota , and try to put them right into the same camp as Government Motors (GM).
Lots of people are coming to the defense of Toyota this week also, with or without punching up the Obama angle; either way , they deserve more measured consideration than
they’re getting. And I am saying that as someone who had a Toyota Avalon for 14 years and 210,000 troublefree miles.
The government has killed more Americans than the government has been accused of by forcing them into smaller cars: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2468420/posts
Because of my upbeat nature, I'm kind of on the gullible side, so I use body language to try to discern if someone is lying or not. It's usually helpful, too.
Mrs. Prince of Space
This guy’s a liar. There are numerous ways to stop a car. Everyone will be blaming toyota for their own crap now
Have you heard the new Chevy radio ads? They go something like, “We used to own a Toyota...yadda yadda....but simply can’t trust our family to anything but Chevy now.”
I almost drove off the road.
I agree. And couldn’t Sikes just turn the key off or shift the gear into neutral? That was my first thought! He’s gotta be a demoRAT, especially with this latest news!
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