Drivers, cars ill-equipped in panic situations

February 10, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

DETROIT (AP) — You’re driving down the highway, and suddenly your car starts accelerating on its own. Knuckles white, going from 60 to 90 miles an hour in a couple of seconds, you do what comes naturally — hit the brakes. But what if the car keeps going?

There are options: Put the car in neutral, or in park, or switch off the ignition. But experts say those choices would be almost impossible for most drivers to consider when they’re in a panic, because frightened people often can’t remember even simple steps to protect themselves. That — coupled with increasingly complicated gadgetry — makes cars a dangerous place to be when you’re facing an unexpected situation.

“You’re stamping on the brakes, and your attention is going to be focused on where you’re going and steering. There’s no cognitive space left to think of alternatives,” said Dr. Boadie Dunlop, a psychiatrist and director of the Mood and Anxiety Program at Emory University.

Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday it is recalling about 437,000 Prius and other hybrid vehicles worldwide to fix a problem with brakes that are momentarily unresponsive in certain driving conditions.

That follows the automaker’s recent recall of 5 million vehicles because of reports of unintended acceleration, and it’s changing the gas pedals to prevent floor mats from jamming them. But complaints about unwanted acceleration in Toyota vehicles go back at least to 2003, according to U.S. government filings.

Venkat Thannir had his own brush with panic a few months ago. The 48-year-old college instructor from South Carolina was pulling his 2010 Toyota Camry out of a Burger King parking lot when it sped up without warning. He panicked for several seconds before pushing hard on the brake pedal and stopping the car.

“The vehicle was out of control,” he said. “If I was not in a parking lot, it could have been a whole different story.”

Thannir never figured out exactly what happened, but believes the pedal was defective, since he considers himself a safe driver. He got the gas pedal repaired Saturday. Consumer Reports has criticized Toyota for the push-button ignition in Toyota and Lexus vehicles, which requires drivers to hold down the button for three seconds to turn off the vehicle in an emergency. Drivers of Cadillacs, Nissans and Infinitis can shut off the engines by pushing the button more than once.