Toyota continues to be caught in a storm of bad publicity as another driver says he was caught in one of their cars that accelerated out of control. INSIDE EDITION has the story.
Terrifying moments were caught on police radio as a panicked motorist tries to stop his runaway Toyota.
"I'm thinking of just putting a patrol car in front of him and trying to stop him," said the highway patrol officer.
The 61-year-old man was driving down the freeway outside San Diego. He had just sped up to pass another vehicle when he says his Prius began accelerating on its own. He found himself barreling down the highway at speeds up to 94 miles an hour. He says he did everything he could to stop the car, but nothing worked.
The driver, James Sikes, said, "I was standing on the brake pedal."
Sikes described to INSIDE EDITION's Jim Moret his desperate attempts as he tried to bring his 2008 Toyota Prius to a halt Monday afternoon.
"Somehow it was stuck. I don't know. Somehow the peddal was stuck," said Sikes.
He frantically called 911. California highway patrol officer Todd Neibert was the first to reach him.
"When was getting up to the car, when I saw him, I could smell his brakes. I saw his brake lights coming on. So my next idea was I need to get up along side him and use my public address system and try to talk to him," said officer Neibert.
The driver applied both his foot brake and emergency brake. The cop swung his patrol car in front of the Toyota and finally managed to slow it down.
"I got down to about 55 miles per hour and I pushed the button to shut it off, and it didn't shut off so I did it a couple more times and it did shut down. It kind of rolled to a stop until I bumped into the back of his car," explained Sikes.
Sikes says he received a recall notice for his 2008 Prius two weeks ago, but when he brought it to a dealer, he says they told him it wasn't on the recall list and turned him away. He returned the car to the dealership today.
It's the latest black eye for Toyota, which just hours earlier Monday launched a new PR campaign to reassure drivers about Toyota safety.
A Toyota representative said, "We have found no sign that electronics have anything to do with unintended acceleration."
Toyota now says it is dispatching a technical specialist to San Diego to investigate this latest terrifying incident. It happened just a few miles from where four members of a family were killed last year when their Lexus couldn't stop at 120 miles per hour, then crashed through a guardrail and burst into flames.
The driver of the family killed last year exclaimed in his frantic 911 call, "We're going 120! We're in trouble! There's no brakes! We're approaching the intersection! Hold on. Pray. Pray."
Toyota's president Akio Toyoda apologized last month to the Saylor family at a congressional hearing.
Now this shaken driver says Toyota has more explaining to do to him.
"I won't drive that car again. Period."
Toyota told us the car was on their recall list and they are investigating why the driver was turned away from the dealership.
