Yesterday, I reported that one of latest "runaway Toyota Prius" claims might be a fake. I provided evidence from James Sikes press appearances that not only proved to contradict common sense reactions, but also seemed fairly implausible. Today, thanks to the folks at Jalopnik, I believe we may have finally found a motive behind Mr. Sikes' Prius madness.
To put it short, the guy is broke. And not kind of broke either. According to financial statements dug up by Gawker's John Cook, show that James Sikes is over $700,000 in debt and could be 5 months behind on payments on the Prius that he claims almost killed him.
According to documents in a public filing, Sikes and his wife owned a real estate business that unfortunately did not survive the aftermath of the housing bubble a couple years ago. The June 2008 filing shows that the Sikes had mortgaged their house three times and that the lease on their Prius had an assessed value of $20,494 at 7,200 miles on the odometer.
As Sikes has stated numerous times, "he's not going to sue and isn't looking for any financial remuneration from Toyota other than a new vehicle." Which one could take as meaning "I just want a new car."
And why not. If it in fact turns out that Sikes' Prius exhibited a failure of the brakes and the accelerator override system, then he not only deserves a new car, be also deserves his own talk show.
theCD's take: Do you think the Prius was just mad at him for missing all those payments?
Source and Photo: Jalopnik
Comments
The latest news on Sikes includes a history of trying to cheat his insurance co out of 50+K, being upside down on two mortgages and much more. The guy is so bloody obviously a total fake. But I blame the media for giving him a pass for so long -- in fact they still are. Almost unbelievable in and of itself. Makes most of the MSM look like liars, idiots or possibly both.
The media is on a witch hunt, why aren't they talking about the other manufacturers that also have acceleration and power-steering problems like GM where there are more of them.
The MSM are worthless. I saw a couple of CNN anchors coaching people on how to "turn lemons into lemonade" by take advantage of the Lemon Law. They were targeting people in Atlanta (I presume Afro-American folks because the two CNN anchors were themselves Afro-American) trying to get them to game the system and get a free car out of the deal.
Man: ""If you live in Atlanta, the auto maker has one chance to fix the car. If it doesn't get fixed, you get a new car.
Woman: I think a lot of people will be turning lemons into lemonade. Sweet."
Easy enough ... IT'S NOT THEIR MONEY!!!!!
Gotta be a lot of happy Atlantans:
"I come down dah wid my Camry caved in, Doo-dah! doo-dah! I go back home wid a Lexus and a bottle of gin, Oh, doo-dah day!"
Let's leave the racism out of it, please. The particular anchor that you refer to leans towards sensationalism resulting in erroneous information. I don't think he'll be in that job for long.
Nothing racist about it - except maybe the systematic effort to attack Toyota, a successful company solely because it's owned and operated by the Japanese.
If I have a choice whether I'm going to support Toyota or kowtow to what is blatantly an effort to appeal to Afro-Americans to game the system and legally "steal" cars from Toyota, I'll side with the Japanese.
F the Toyota, arrogant bastards! Don;t u guys get it??? They knew that it wasn't the floor mats and the pedals all along. They've known for at least a decade. Yet they keep insisting that it's AMERICAN parts on the vehicle that's causing the problem, not Japanese. They've tried relentlessly to cover up every single case letting people hit every road block possible when they reported the problems. If it weren't for the fact that that cop called 911 minutes his Lexus crashed and killed all 4 occupants, people would NEVER know that it was an acceleration problem. Wake up people! Do u know what the Japanese are saying about us? That we are creating all these problems and slandering them. That there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with their vehicles and that the Americans are the ones creating fake stories and bashing them. TOYOTA really deserves to go bankrupt. I don't care whether this new guy is lying or not. All I care about all the thousands of people who have filed complaints and been stonewalled, and for all the people that have died. YOU BUY A VEHICLE with SO MUCH of your hard earned money and all you expect is for it to go when u gas and stop when u brake. It's that simple.
Hannah,
The only evidence we have of any tangible problem is floor carpet creep under a brake pedal. All other evidence is anecdotal Oddly enough, complaints seems to appear in the media in direct proportion to the amount of politically motivated negative news coverage Toyota receives.
hannah you sound like one of the losers that just lost there job at the nummi plant or a laid off gm worker!!!! I hope toyota crushes all north american made cars as they are garbage and deserve to feel the wrath of the japanese automaker taking over the world. ha ha loser
I've driven in San Diego a lot and there's no way that this guy drove, during the daylight hours, for 20 minutes and going 90+ mph without hitting something in the first 5 minutes.
Not only that, does anyone else find it strange that other countries aren't reporting as many/ANY issues with their Toyotas? Isn't it kinda weird that it was like someone pushed a magic button and suddenly more and more vehicles that were fine are spontaneously screwing up? I am sure there are a few cars out there (not just Toyotas) that are having these issues, but it's typical that so many Americans are jumping on the bandwagon to sue and try to make a quick buck. I'm so embarrassed of my countrymen.
Dale - Didn't you pay attention to where in San Diego this occurred? La Posta is way out in the mountains/desert. Light traffic.
Also, the CHP officer noted that the brakes were burnt up when the car finally stopped.
If your car was going 94 miles per hour, would you just turn it off? Wouldn't you fear that that would lock the steering?
This is just another "trash the victim" strategy by a big company. I suppose the CHP officer who died along with his family was just trying to embarass Toyota, eh?
If your car was going 94 miles per hour, would you just turn it off? Wouldn't you fear that that would lock the steering?
-- Shift into neutral, coast/brake to a controlled stop, rev limiter saves the motor, never lose power steering or brakes. End of issue - unless you want to create a sensational story... Seriously, he had time and presence of mind to call 911 and control the car at that rate of speed but moving the gearshift one notch escaped him??? Really?
Just listed to the 20+ 911 call. So obviously fake imho.
Is this Sikes somehow balloon boy's grandfather?
THE GUY WAS READY FROM DAY ONE IT WAS GOOD FOR HOLLYWOOD
Some posters don't realize that the bulk of the vehicles recalled have been American made. So if you have a problem with the production of this vehicle and think it's flawed, you can thank the good old American workforce for screwing this up. Also...if you think that Toyota's are running off the road in rapid succession and putting other innocent people in danger...I would think twice about getting on ANY road in ANY vehicle.
Toyota and others knew they were having issues and attempted to hide it. All Car Companies should have came forward with a full disclosures of what car were dangerous. Instead of waiting for a huge media blitz and tons of public pressure. I never seen so many car companies GM - NISSAN - TOYOTA - HYUNDAI having recalls all at the same time. I had no idea my car was affected until I looked on http://www.carpedalrecall.com and found I had a bad Anti Lock control unit on my 2008 Pontiac G8 , my co workers Ford Truck had a recall also. So be careful
I knew this guy was a fraud when I first saw the story. People in general are so stupid and gullible they'll believe anything, even an obvious lie. The media frenzy surrounding Toyota reminds me a lot of how we as a nation were dragged into the Iraq War: obviously erroneous reporting, sensationalism, and a constant drumbeat of propaganda.
The Mighty Wurlitzer is alive and well in America, and Americans in general are too stupid to realize it.
Where was Toyota when the market crashed. All those sad fools who killed their families and then killed themselves. If I went bankrupt now I would open up a life insurance policy and get in a prius. My family would be set for life
THE GUY WAS READY FROM DAY ONE IT WAS GOOD FOR HOLLYWOOD
You people are ignorant. There is no place in the US where they give you a new vehicle after one attempt. I've lived in Atlanta for over 10 years and have had to deal with 2 lemon vehicles. Not one of them was taken back nor was I paid off.
Grow up you ignorant losers.
I knew this guy was a fake from the moment I saw it on the news. Put the car in neutral, dumbo, instead of calling 911.
If you listen to the 911 call, the first thing the operator says to him is put it in neutral... he answers, "don't tell me to put it in neutral, I'm trying to control the car." Soooooo, he is able to dial 911 on his cell phone, but he can't reach down and shift the car one notch in to neutral? Who's he kidding? Okay, most folks. The fact that it happened in California should have be a tip off.
I think people are trying to milk the golden goose for their own mistakes and bad driving. Talking on cell phones and crashing their cars into fences and everything. Give me a break, and tell me how a prius got up to 94 mph on a CA freeway. No way
Firstly, I believe Akio Toyoda would would never cover up on safety. If there a problem he will personally get involved, find the cause and work on a countermeasure - that takes time. I don't believe Prius have a safety problem with brakes. Are the big 3 better? How about Toyota's track record on safety, reliability, and build quality, compated to its competitors? Play the video of Sikes interview multiple times,look at his eyes and his choice of words. I don't believe him. He will reap what has has sown.
The whole thing is silly. I'm sorry about the loss of the officer and his family and they deserve some answers and compensation. But, it isn't the worlds biggest scandal - not even the years biggest scandal and this is only March. I've owned a toyota hybrid and love it! My floor mat has never moved but my son drives a BMW (older) and his floormat is right on top of the gas pedal - constantly have to pull it back. I know my car was made in America - it saves gas and it's relatively inexpensive and highly reliable. Don't get caught up in this media crap - it's all about selling news to them. I think as one examply we should look at all the toys which have harmed our children and see that the number excessively exceeds this toyota issue - we'll only talk about that at the holiday because that's when it's most profitable for the media. If you want to blame someone -blame them!
How embarrasing all of this really is. I was astonished that early on the U.S. government agencies weighed in and started attacking Toyota. I live in California and drive my prius to work on the freeway, in the carpool lane as a single because of the exempt sticker that was available and runs out in 2011. The fact is that the Prius has proven to be such a superior product to anything ever produced in Detroit that it is a thorn in the side of American car companies. I think Toyota should sue the "runaway driver's butt" off. I hope he does jail time. What an idiot. He makes me ashamed of the human race. Sorry for his bad times, I've had mine too in recent months, but it doesn't give you the right to throw basic ethics out the window.
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