The car touted as the cure for global warming has a defective coolant pump. You cannot make this stuff up. And even if you could, why bother? Just wait a day or two and another one of these wacky stories is sure to pop up.
Nothing’s going right for the global warming scammers these days. Sadly, we must report that Toyota’s Prius has an overheating problem.
Irony of all ironies: The Toyota Prius has an overheating problem
ABC Australia has the seemingly contradictory details:
Japan’s Toyota Motor has offered to fix around 650,000 Prius models worldwide to repair a defective engine coolant pump, in a move it said was not a recall …
The world’s largest automaker said it would “voluntarily” replace a pump controlling the temperature of the hybrid engine system, which may cause overheating if it does not work properly.
Got that? The car touted as the cure for global warming has a defective coolant pump.
You cannot make this stuff up. And even if you could, why bother? Just wait a day or two and another one of these wacky stories is sure to pop up.
Turns out James Sikes, the driver of San Diego’s so-called runaway Prius, hasn’t been making payments on the Prius, filed for bankruptcy in 2008, has $700,000 in debt, has had several previous vehicles “stolen,” and to top it all off, reportedly operates a sexually-oriented website.
We don’t know if the Prius has trouble stopping or not, but we do know that nothing will stop the cockroaches from crawling out of the woodwork.
Turns out James Sikes, the driver of San Diego’s so-called runaway Prius, hasn’t been making payments on the Prius, filed for bankruptcy in 2008, has $700,000 in debt, has had several previous vehicles “stolen,” and to top it all off, reportedly operates a sexually-oriented website.
Jalopnik.com has the juicy details:
We received an email earlier today from an anonymous tipster who claims James (Jim) Sikes, the driver of the runaway Toyota Prius, was in financial trouble and even behind by five months on his payments for the Prius. If that’s true, it’s potential motivation for wanting to find an out — any out — on paying for the vehicle.
We did some public records searches (thanks to the help of Gawker’s John Cook) and found Sikes and his wife Patty found themselves, like many in the California real estate business, on the bursting side of the real estate bubble last year. The two declared bankruptcy in June of 2008 and have a combined liability of over $700,000 dollars in debt.
Among the list of creditors holding secured claims is none other than Toyota Financial Services for a lease on a 2008 Toyota Prius with 7,200 miles on the odometer. Total value of the lease at the time of bankruptcy was $20,494.
So, with almost three-quarter million dollars in debt there’s obviously the potential for financial motivation here. But, for his part, when we questioned Mr. Sikes over email earlier today, he denied being behind on his Prius payments.
Mr. Sikes also has not shied away from cameras appearing on CNN and numerous other television programs. In each, he’s stated numerous times he’s not going to sue and isn’t looking for any financial remuneration from Toyota other than a new vehicle.
We’ve asked the law firm representing him to furnish us with an up-to-date copy of his Toyota statement and we’ll post that as soon as we receive it — to either debunk this myth or add fuel to any fire.
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But regardless of what happens with the Sikes case, the bigger issue for Toyota will be every cash-strapped ‘yota-owner looking for an easy out on their loans and leases potentially thinking about doing just this with their car. That’s a lot of potential carnage to wade through.
To inject a completely personal note, IHateTheMedia.com’s editor drove an Audi 25 years ago when they were supposedly prone to uncontrollable sudden acceleration. Today he drives a Toyota that is, of course, supposedly prone to uncontrollable sudden acceleration.
Toyota, the world leader in fuel-efficient hybrid cars, admits that plug-in hybrids don’t have much of a future. In fact, Koei Saga, Toyota’s guy in charge of advanced technology and battery development, sounds particularly grim.
This is not good news. Not good news at all.
Toyota, the world leader in fuel-efficient hybrid cars, admits that plug-in hybrids don’t have much of a future. In fact, Koei Saga, Toyota’s guy in charge of advanced technology and battery development, sounds particularly grim.
The New York Times reports the devastating details:
He said that limited range means that E.V.’s work best as “very small commuter-type vehicles” for use in major metropolitan areas (he used Europe and Japan as examples). Asked if longer-range E.V.’s were possible with current technology, he said that could happen only “if we forget about battery life and if we forget about the cost incurred for replacement of those batteries.”
Battery cars capable of extended highway travel are relatively far in the future, Mr. Saga said. He envisioned such electric cars working best if they could obtain electricity not from batteries, but from an interaction with the highway itself. Just such a system has been tested by the Advanced Institute of Science and Technology of Korea, which uses induction strips and inverters embedded in the road to recharge batteries when cars drive over them.
Asked if the world’s vehicles would ever be exclusively electric, Mr. Saga said, “In my personal view, I think we will never abandon the internal-combustion engine.” He did envision a possible future for fuel-cell vehicles and internal-combustion cars that burn hydrogen, however.
Our advice: Keep actor Ed Begley, Jr. away from the harakiri ceremonial swords.
This is not good news. Not good news at all.