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CHICAGO: US safety regulators said on Monday they were unable to find any problems with a Toyota Prius that could explain why it reportedly sped uncontrollably down a California highway last week.
The tests have cast doubt upon the March 8 incident in which James Sikes called police and said he needed help because the gas pedal in his blue 2008 Prius was stuck.
After reaching speeds over 145 kilometres per hour, Sikes was able to bring the hybrid to a stop with the coaching of a California Highway Patrol officer who pulled up alongside him.
"So far, we have not been able to find anything to explain the incident that Mr. Sikes reported," the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said in a statement.
The Prius is equipped with a brake override system that shuts down the engine's throttle if both the gas and brake pedals are pressed and was working during the tests.
"We would caution people that our work continues and that we may never know exactly what happened with this car," NHTSA said, adding that "there was very little left of the car's brakes."
Toyota planned to discuss the incident and the test results at a press conference later Monday.
A lawyer representing Sikes said he is standing by his story and it isn't surprising or unexpected that the engineers were unable to replicate the wild ride.
"There's a ghost in the machine," attorney John Gomez said. "And no one is able to replicate it or pinpoint it or identify it."
Sikes has no incentive to make anything up, Gomez added, as he's made it clear that he has no intention of filing a lawsuit and has turned down invitations to appear on national television.
"He's not trying to get rich, he's not trying to get famous. He only wanted the truth to come out," Gomez said.
Toyota has insisted that it has found a solution to the defects that triggered the recall of more than eight million vehicles worldwide, including six million in the United States, and have been blamed for about 50 US deaths.
Safety regulators said they are investigating more than 60 complaints of unintended acceleration in vehicles which had received the fix and critics insist that Toyota's mechanical fixes ignore the real problem.
The runaway Prius story dominated headlines last week and cast further doubt on Toyota's assurances that there is nothing wrong with its electronics.
California Congressman Darrell Issa, the top Republican on a committee investigating Toyota's handling of the recall believes the tests create concerns about "the veracity of the sequence of events that has been reported by Mr. Sikes," spokesman Kurt Bardella said. - AFP/de
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