Runaway Prius Claim in Doubt
ROMANS: There are real doubts this morning about a California man's claim that his Toyota Prius accelerated out of control last week. A congressional memo confirms Toyota and Federal Safety Investigators have examined the car and they can't re-create the problem. Still, 61-year-old James Sikes insists his 2008 Prius hit speeds of more than 90 miles an hour on a San Diego interstate while he was standing on the brakes. More on these new developments from our Susan Candiotti.</s>SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): John and Christine, good morning. This draft congressional memo obtained by CNN makes it sound like an incident involving a runaway 2008 Toyota Prius might not have happened the way the driver said it did. So who's right?</s>CANDIOTTI (voice-over): A draft congressional memo seems to take some steam out of Jim Sikes' self-described wild ride in his 2008 Prius and even had 911 and the California Highway patrol running to his rescue.</s>JIM SIKES, PRIUS OWNER: The gas pedal felt kind of weird and it just went all the way too fast.</s>CANDIOTTI: Sikes relived it for our Ted Rowlands.</s>SIKES: I was in the 80's somewhere, and I kept hitting the brakes, kept hitting the brakes and it was not slowing down at all, it was just accelerating.</s>CANDIOTTI: Yet, after two hours of trying to duplicate what happened on Sikes' own car and another exact model, Federal Investigators and Toyota came up short. A draft memo says every time the technician placed the gas pedal to the floor and the brake pedal to the floor, the engine shut off and the car immediately started to slow down. Experts say that's a key safety feature of the car. So if Sikes says the accelerator was stuck and he was pressing hard on the brake, why didn't his car slow down?</s>PETER VALDES-DAPENA, SENIOR WRITER, CNNMONEY.COM: Maybe what was happening was not that his engine was overpowering the brakes but his brakes were incapable at that point of overpowering anything.</s>CANDIOTTI: The same memo says his brakes were worn out. It doesn't say whether they were that way before or after the incident. A Toyota investigator told congressional staff it does not appear to be feasibly possible both electronically and mechanically that his gas pedal was stuck to the floor and he was slamming on the brake at the same time. What does this mean for Jim Sikes?</s>VALDES-DAPENA: It is possible that he's a liar. It is also possible that he simply misunderstood what was happening with his car.</s>CANDIOTTI (on camera): Sikes says he's sticking to his story and adds that his lawyer will have more to say about this later today. John and Christine?</s>ROMANS: So, Sikes' Prius is on a recall list. Here's more on an "AM" extra, Toyota's list for floor mat pedal entrapments includes 2004 to 2009 model of the Prius, Sikes as a 2008. He has said there was nothing wrong with his mat and his Prius is not on the sticking accelerator pedal recall list. In all, Toyota has recalled now 6 million vehicles to fix both of the potential problems and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has identified 52 deaths possibly linked to runaway Toyotas. "The Wall Street Journal" reports the recalls could cost the company more than $5 billion over the next year.</s>ROBERTS: A 12-year-old boy arrested and charged with the murder of his father's pregnant fiancee. Should he spend the rest of his life behind bars without the opportunity of parole. Our Jason Carroll is looking into it in our new special series "Growing Up Behind Bars." It's part one coming right up. 22 minutes after the hour.