Hybrid car crashes into mini-mart - GreenHybrid

KermitCar · #1 (**permalink**) 03-06-2007, 07:01 PM

got this off a local news site. dont you know this would never happen to a non hybrid car?

http://www.king5.com/topstories/stor....2646476e.html

dogzen · #2 (**permalink**) 03-06-2007, 07:53 PM

Happens here all the time, twice in the last few months. Once into the grocery, once a chain reaction that ended up pushing a police car into the mini-mall type police station. Makes our town newspaper since we are so small. LOL.

Delta Flyer · #3 (**permalink**) 03-06-2007, 07:59 PM

OMG - if they are not perfect they are a Chernobyl on wheels!!!

That was the "correct" reaction - wasn't it?

gumby · #4 (**permalink**) 03-06-2007, 08:13 PM

There's video of the TV news coverage. Sounds like the firefighters really "fueled the flames" on this one.

http://www.king5.com/sharedcontent/V...ayIO385704.wmv

bwilson4web · #5 (**permalink**) 03-06-2007, 10:38 PM

Weird. This is one of those times you wish cars had a 'black box' to record what happened in the last 30 seconds prior to an accident. Of course you can't tell what was around the building at the time of the accident so there may have been cars parked next to it and people. But looking over the reporter's shoulder, all I can see is possibly a dumpster and brushy area.

My wife had a similar accident and they thought she had confused the accelerator for the brake. Older drivers with 'run away' cars is not uncommon and the usual diagnosis is pressing the accelerator instead of the brake.

Bob Wilson

Delta Flyer · #6 (**permalink**) 03-07-2007, 04:31 AM

Maybe AH-nuld is going to do Terminator 4 after all with a greener "I'll be Bock" scene. He crashes the mart, stuns the evil terminator with the hybrid battery pack, finishes em' off with a chain gun.

ralph_dog · #7 (**permalink**) 03-07-2007, 04:50 AM

I guess it could have happened to any car or truck. My own experience has been to never use cruise control when driving alone or drowsy and never wear heavy winter boots when driving. Once, my right foot got caught between the brake pedal and something sticking out under the dash and I almost crashed but managed to yank my foot out just in time to hit the brake. Big feet and small cars don't mix very well....

Delta Flyer · #8 (**permalink**) 03-07-2007, 06:25 AM

When I was learning to drive, my parents did not seem to appreciate the cross-training learning curve they were throwing at me on top of Driving 101.

The long-time family car (later commuter) was a 1961 Corvair with automatic. It's essentially a large VW and does not respond like a conventional car. One lunch break, my Dad attempted to see if I would "get" a second-hand Corvair with a stick shift. Not near enough time for me, plus walking all day drained me - left me frustrated.

A few years later, I'd master the standards, but it took two weeks.

Family also had a 1969 Oldsmobile Cutlass with power brakes/power steering. One day I let the Oldsmobile punch a hold in the garage. Why? The brakes were so easy to press I was afraid it was the accelerator. Jumping from it to the Corvair was so confusing I just decided not to take a chance pressing the accelerator.

Many of you probably need a slight break-in period with a rental. This guy just got his Prius, so I suspect unfamiliarity was a factor.

denverjay · #9 (**permalink**) 03-07-2007, 07:47 AM

Quote:

"I could not stop the car. Because of its design I couldn't shift into neutral," Robinson said.

"I said you need to get out of there, that's a hybrid car,"

The caught on fire. Surveillance video from across the street shows a huge column of black smoke.

After the fire department put out the fire, they got back too, saying they were concerned about someone being electrocuted because of the car's high voltage system and all of the water they'd poured on the blaze.

So many myths and misconceptions, so little time.

Priius' don't have any means of shutting down the engine? Do they have "park"?

What the hell did the witness mean by "you need to get out, that's a hybrid"? More ignorance apparently.

Black smoke generally means combustible material, not an electrical fire. And the fire couldn't have been too bad based on the picture.

Didn't the local yokel fire department get any training on HEV's? If they had, they would probably know that the high voltage system disabled by the crash and no more dangerous than the 10 gallons of highly volatile gasoline in the tank....

I wish I could understand why people seem to want hybrids to fail.....

leahbeatle · #10 (**permalink**) 03-07-2007, 09:40 AM

The one thing I noticed about that story was the way it ended. The driver was going to try to make the dealership 'replace the car.' In other words, he still wanted a Prius. After all the hybrid bashing, the guy clearly wants a Prius anyway. Hopefully that's the real takeaway story here. Silly myths and uneducated hysteria isn't going to succeed- there's a real demand for hybrid technology and it isn't going away, and it won't be dampened (too much) by this kind of media attention.