As it looks into the Tuesday's accident of a 2005 Toyota Prius somehow accelerating into a stone wall, Harrison, NY police now say that the car was on its way for maintenance at the time! The Journal News reports that even though the car seemed to operate just fine, "the owner wanted to have it checked because of all the trouble Toyota has been facing nationally over stuck gas pedals, Harrison's acting police Chief Anthony Marraccini said."
The car was being driven by the owner's housekeeper at the time of the accident.She told police that she was heading out of the driveway, the car suddenly accelerated, taking her across the road, through the shoulder and into a stone wall. The woman suffered a knee injury and the car's owner insists that the car was at fault.
Acting police Chief Marraccini, who doesn't think the accident was caused by the floor mat (because the mat was attached to the seat with ties), says Toyota won't give him access to the car's black box information (he may subpoena them for it). Additionally, he doesn't want to release the car to the company until after his department investigates, though he did say, "If there's a federal agency that I believe better equipped than we are, I'm happy to turn it over." Last month, a senior citizen in Queens blamed his Toyota accident on...Toyota.
