When police officers started tailing driver James Sikes near San Diego, he was already going at the steady clip of 90 miles per hour, and even with his brakes on he couldn’t bring the car to a complete stop. Police officers had to coach him on their squad car’s PA system to slow down the runaway 2008 Prius with the emergency brake. Once he hit 50 miles per hour Sikes could safely turn off his car.

This may not seem like a big deal, and in my opinion under most circumstances it wouldn’t be.  However, with the recent doubt cast upon Toyota’ automobiles and their reliability, this is disastrous.

Think about it: it’s not just the latest recalled models that may have problems with he accelerator, but even a slightly older model from 2008 had the same issues.  Not to mention the fact that federal agents came to the scene to investigate the incident, supposedly taking the car in for inspection according to CSNBC.

Hopefully Toyota can recover from this setback soon.  According to the latest issue of Consumer Reports Toyota is still a top-rated brand, with its Prius winning the “Green Car of the Year” award from the prestigious magazine.  The facts may still be going for the Japan-based automotive company, but a bad reputation in the public sector can ruin even the best car out there.