The Prius that was in the news recently, here in San Diego, the conventional brakes were useless, and shifting to neutral wouldn't work, as it wouldn't allow it. What was successful, according to the CHP, was a very zealous tug on the hand brake (definitely an "emergency" brake in this case) as well as the foot pedal. The officer positioned his car in front, not to slow it down, but to prevent it from shooting forward after the driver finally got the car to a stop, despite it still wanting to move forward. Essentially the squad car was acting as a brick wall, but not a brake assist.

In this case, the car would not shift into neutral, nor did foot braking alone make a difference. It was muscle on the hand brake that ever so slowly dropped the speed.

You are correct about the first casualty. It was a Lexus and it happened in Santee, CA (part of San Diego County). The brake and neutral attempt were useless. The situation is described thus:

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California Highway Patrol Officer Mark Saylor, 45, his wife, Cleofe, 45, their daughter Mahala, 13, and Cleofe's brother Chris Lastrella, 39, were traveling on a freeway near Santee on Aug. 28 when their vehicle reached speeds of more than 120 mph, hit a sport utility vehicle, launched off an embankment, rolled several times and burst into flames.

Investigators found that a wrong-sized floor mat that trapped the accelerator was the cause of the crash. (Note, this has not been forensically proven, and is in dispute at the moment.)

A haunting 911 call captured Lastrella telling the others to pray before the car launched off the embankment.

...the Lexus ES350 "began to accelerate on its own." Saylor attempted to apply the brakes and do everything possible to stop the car, but he was unable to do so...
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The video demonstrated the "technique" on a relatively low horse power (and low torque) four cylinder engine. A Lexus ES350 has a 272HP V6 (at full throttle) and the Prius has a high torque electric motor. Good luck with that braking.

>> ^silvercord:
>> ^supersparky:
What this article fails to include are the unique issues with the hybrid cars. Oddly enough, two have gone out of control in my home city, San Diego. The first being a death, which started the publicity. This one was driven by an off duty cop! I would think his training would have given him these skills to stop the car. However, as more and more facts have come out, the brakes it seems are useless. The Prius uses a combination of electrical and mechanical braking. Unfortunately the mechanical only kicks in under a certain speed.
Many people have reported burying the brake pedal to the floor and it having little effect. They also seem to not be able to shift into neutral, as it's a drive by wire system. Many cars don't let you shut off the engine if it's in gear too.
The Prius, while being a butt ugly eye sore and gutless wonder, also has an electric motor. These have 100% of their torque at any RPM. This means a gas engine can be fought and stalled with functional brakes, but you fight the full torgue of an electric motor all the way down to stopping, if you're lucky.
No, a fail-safe override needs to be considered for all drive by wire vehicles. Something that actually physically disconnects power from the system as a last resort.

My understanding is that the car driven by the off duty officer was a 2009 Lexus ES 350. That is not a hybrid. That said, I tried the 'move the shift to neutral' trick yesterday in my Windstar and it worked just fine.
However, the link I provided also noted: Last month, Consumer Reports found that models that don't have so-called smart-throttle technology, which allows the brake to take precedence over the throttle, a vehicle might not have adequate brakes to overcome a stuck throttle at 60 mph.
So, jam your foot down on the brake and kick it into neutral, pray like hell that you hit a truckload of Snuggies.
As for the electric cars, maybe a nuclear air burst that issues an effective electromagnetic pulse would do the trick.

What this article fails to include are the unique issues with the hybrid cars. Oddly enough, two have gone out of control in my home city, San Diego. The first being a death, which started the publicity. This one was driven by an off duty cop! I would think his training would have given him these skills to stop the car. However, as more and more facts have come out, the brakes it seems are useless. The Prius uses a combination of electrical and mechanical braking. Unfortunately the mechanical only kicks in under a certain speed.

Many people have reported burying the brake pedal to the floor and it having little effect. They also seem to not be able to shift into neutral, as it's a drive by wire system. Many cars don't let you shut off the engine if it's in gear too.

The Prius, while being a butt ugly eye sore and gutless wonder, also has an electric motor. These have 100% of their torque at any RPM. This means a gas engine can be fought and stalled with functional brakes, but you fight the full torgue of an electric motor all the way down to stopping, if you're lucky.

No, a fail-safe override needs to be considered for all drive by wire vehicles. Something that actually physically disconnects power from the system as a last resort.

I think Vic Marrow, Myca Dinh Le, and Renee Shin-Yi Chen would take issue with the title "The CRAZIEST low pass ever by a HELICOPTER" and say "No, a crazy low pass by a helicopter, but not THE craziest" Oh, wait, they're dead now because of being involved with THE craziest low pass ever by a helicopter.

Maneuvers like this don't express skill. They just show how stupid some people will go to impress people.

Was that actress that desperate to get a job, or was she just that desperate to be on TV? Either way, what a way to sell out your dignity. Geez, she'll forever be ridiculed in public by the kind of losers that think this video was cool.

Regardless, as soon as the start-up money is gone and the curiosity wears off, this biz will die quite quickly. Not even A--holes like to be around other a--holes (it cuts down on their getting "exclusive attention" time). As we all know a--holes exist to be the center of attention at the expense of all else.

There are things in life that are funny. There are parodies that are funny. There's even dark humor that some may consider funny and maybe offensive to some. However, when you're serious and not kidding, there's nothing funny about it. It becomes sick and repulsive.

If the cave 'no longer exists,' then how do you know there was one?

I'm amazed at how much conjecture and 'consensus' is taken for science now days.

Remember this, in the time of Galileo science was absolutely positive that the universe (planets, sun, etc.) revolved around the Earth. They had the models, charts, and mathematical formulas, to prove it, and they all worked. They also had those in power fully supporting their theories as fact. The problem is, they were wrong, despite their models and complicated formulas. Today it's no different, except complicated charts and models are replaced with computer models that are just as 'without a clue' and lacking in any real science as those of old.

Science knows far too little to be able to claim 'this is how it happened' without any real cold hard scientific proof. Otherwise it's an 'educated guess' despite the number of degrees the person(s) may have and how many other scientists may agree with them (have a consensus). It still doesn't make it any more true, it's just a theory.

With that said, all of your figures and models can be fit together beautifully and 'work' flawlessly to 'prove' a point, yet you can be totally wrong anyway.

Sorry, I followed a tangent way too far, but remember that next time someone tries to tell you they know how to predict climate and what's going to happen in the next 10 years.

What's that have to do with jelly fish? I have no clue... oh yeah, they came from a cave that doesn't exist anymore.

Considering Britain (and most of Europe) is famous for beating the tar out of the fans of the opposing football (Soccer for USA folks) team, and driving a car puting down a town's favorite football team would probably get a similar reaction out of a Brit, let alone other people from the "civilized" world, means saying "Nascar Sucks" is no different than "dissing" a Brit's favorite football team in an equally blatant manner. While I enjoy the show, I take offense to any people being ridiculed for their culture by another culture with just as stupid people in it. The pot calling the kettle black, in my opinion.

We all have our nutcases and things we hold sacred. I'm from Southern California and I could fill a book about the nutjobs here. However, they're my nutjobs and my culture. Consider this Top Gear, those rednecks' stupid ancestors kicked your limy (is 'Limy' any less offensive?) redcoat butts, twice! Not bad for a bunch of in-bred, bible-thumping, Nascar loving, country listening hicks. Incidentally though, the Yanks soon after cleaned their clock too.

Food for thought next time you think making fun of anyone's culture is cool, no matter which side you stand on, left or right, liberal or conservative. Bigotry either way.