9/3/10 Police had to use a patrol car to slow a runaway Toyota Prius in San Diego yesterday, after the car's accelerator pedal allegedly became stuck at 90mph. The driver James Sikes, 61, said he was overtaking another vehicle when he lost control of his Prius. "I pushed the gas pedal to pass a car and it did something kind of funny ... it jumped and it just stuck there," said Sikes. "As it was going, I was trying the brakes ... it wasn't stopping, it wasn't doing anything and it just kept speeding up." Sikes called the police who caught up with him in a pursuit vehicle. Using the loud speaker, officers advised Sikes to apply the handbrake and footbrake together, and pulled in front of the Prius to slow it with their own vehicle. When the car decelerated below 50mph, Sikes turned off the engine and allowed it to coast to a halt.
Toyota has sent a team to investigate, but the incident comes as the manufacturer recalls 9 million of its vehicles worldwide to investigate faults with accelerator pedals. It's not clear whether Mr Sikes' Prius has been subjected to the recall. The US Government has now received allegations of 34 deaths linked to suddenly accelerating Toyotas since 2000.
And today Toyota has indicated that it may delay the launch of its new cars for 2010 - including the Auris and RAV4 models in Europe - to ensure they meet quality and safety requirements. Chief Executive of Toyota Europe Tadashi Arashima told the Sunday Telegraph he was prepared to delay the launch of vehicles to ensure there were absolutely no faults. | 
