HARRISON, N.Y — Investigators from Toyota and the US government inspected a crashed 2005 Prius in a suburb of New York City yesterday to see whether a black-box-like device or its wreckage could point to problems with the brakes or accelerator.
The black box, known as an event data recorder, yielded information on engine speed and pedal position, Toyota Motor Corp. spokesman Wade Hoyt said. Investigators worked until just before 6 p.m. and were not expected to return today, he said.
Hoyt said that among the last tests they performed yesterday was measuring the distance between the break pedal and accelerator and the floor of the crashed car “to see if they’re still normal.’’
A housekeeper who was driving the car told police that it sped up on its own as she eased forward down her employer’s driveway on March 9 and hit a wall across the street. She was not hurt. A Harrison police captain, Anthony Marraccini, said driver error had not been ruled out or indicated.
Hoyt said yesterday that Toyota will share the results of its investigation with local police. Marraccini said any definitive information on the cause of the crash will be released to the public after that.
Toyota Motor Corp. has recalled more than 8 million cars since last fall because their gas pedals could become stuck or be held down by floor mats. The Prius has not been recalled for sticky accelerators. However, the wrecked Prius had been repaired for the floor mat problem.
The government is looking into complaints from at least 60 Toyota drivers who say they got their cars fixed and still had problems. Toyota is checking those complaints, as well.
Yesterday, six Toyota inspectors, two from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and other specialists huddled around laptop computers as they examined the gray Prius under a tent outside the Harrison police headquarters. The car’s front end was smashed in, its hood bent upward; it had a broken bumper and headlight, a flat tire, and heavy scratches around its Toyota logo.
“This car was preserved well, and it’s the best evidence so far, I believe, that anybody’s had an opportunity to evaluate,’’ Marraccini said.
The driver was taken to the police station and interviewed by the NHTSA, Marraccini said.
He said he was given a ride in another Prius driven by someone from NHTSA, who demonstrated how pressure on the vehicle’s break overrides even heavy pressure on the accelerator.
“From the ride that I took under extreme conditions, the vehicle performed very well,’’ Marraccini said.
The investigation follows Toyota’s probe into the claims of a California driver who said he was unable to stop his runaway Prius on a freeway last week until a state trooper helped him. The company held a news conference Monday and said the driver’s account was substantially different from its findings.
Investigators are hoping the vehicle’s event data recorder sheds light on what led to the accident. Similar to airplane black boxes, event data recorders catalog information about a vehicle around the time of a crash, such as its speed, engine throttle, and whether the gas or brake pedals were depressed.
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