New York Prius Incident Caused by Driver Error

Just a day after James Sikes’ infamous Prius incident, a 56-year-old in New York crashed a Prius into a stone wall. As has become customary, the incident was originally attributed to unintended acceleration. The driver was not seriously injured.

After investigations, both police and U.S. regulators that looked at the 2005 Prius concur that the incident was caused by driver error not mechanical or electronic failure. Regulators reported last week that they had found that the throttle was open and the brakes were not applied. Today, police involved in the case came out in agreement with this assessment, stating that the gas pedal was fully depressed at the time of impact and the brakes were not engaged.

Despite the perpetual bad press, Toyota has finally won a couple. [via Detroit News]