Toyota got a bit of good news in its ongoing recall saga, as federal investigators cast doubt on a California driver's account of a harrowing, high-speed drive in his blue 2008 Prius. James Sikes, 61, claimed the car's accelerator got stuck and he couldn't stop the runaway car. But investigators say Sikes' car performed fine when they drove it — and they found patterns of wear in his brakes that didn't fit his story. Was the tale of the runaway Prius a hoax? If so, will Toyota get a PR boost from the news, or has the damage to carmaker's reputation already been done? (Watch an AP report about the mystery of the "Runaway Prius")
This is a godsend for the embattled auto giant: Toyota clearly is responsible for the defects in the 8 million cars it recalled for accelerator problems, says Douglas A. McIntyre in Daily Finance, but now federal regulators "are likely to look at some of these malfunction claims with an extra bit of skepticism. And that may bring Toyota a measure of the public sympathy," which could be just what the automaker needs "to repair its brand."
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