This should wipe the smugness off owner's faces!
Hybrid car crashes into Tacoma mini-mart
05:25 PM PST on Tuesday, March 6, 2007
KING5.com Staff
www.king5.com/localnews/stories/M_IMAGE.1110327b83...g
Miraculous escape for driver, clerk
TACOMA, Wash. - A hybrid car going somewhere between 30-60 mph blasted a hole into the side of a mini-mart store and gas station Tuesday afternoon, narrowly missing a clerk and sparking a fire.
The accident occurred at the Hosmer Food Store and 76 gas station in the 8400 block of S. Hosmer.
The driver, Art Robinson of DuPont, told KING 5 News that he just purchased the used 2005 Toyota Prius this morning only after he was absolutely sure it was safe to drive. Two different dealers gave it a clean bill of health - one even certified it.
A 2005 Toyota Prius Hybrid car crashed into a Tacoma mini-mart and gas station, March 6, 2007.
So what happened next surprised not only Robinson, but literally rocked the neighborhood.
The car began to act strangely. He was taking it back to the dealership when suddenly the car began accelerating even though he applied the brakes and the emergency brake.
"I could not stop the car. Because of its design I couldn't shift into neutral," Robinson said.
"It happened so fast I didn't have time to be scared then," Robinson said. "I'm scared now."
The car headed straight for the gas station where Linda Kinard was putting away groceries.
"There was just an explosion," Kinard said. "To me it sounded like a bomb and things were just flying all over."
Art Smith was pumping gas when the car went flying by him.
"I was at the gas pump and I heard this 'whooshing' go by me and the next thing I know, this car's in the building and at first I was shocked, of course. I didn't know what to think."
When he finally figured out what happened he ran to the Robinson's side.
"I said you need to get out of there, that's a hybrid car," Smith said.
The car caught on fire. That was trouble because Kinard was stuck behind a counter.
"It was very scary," Kinard said.
Art spotted her and helped her get out ahead of the fire. So while a new car owner's maiden voyage went down in flames, at least no one went with it.
"You can replace a car, you can replace a building, you can't replace a person ever," Smith said, patting Robinson's shoulder consolingly.
After the fire department put out the fire, they got back too, saying they were concerned about someone being electrocuted because of the car's high voltage system and all of the water they'd poured on the blaze.
They had to call a team of Toyota experts to help them get the car out of the building.
As for Robinson, he says he's going to try to make the dealership replace the car.
www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_030607WABhybrid...l
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Story appears to have been written by an educationally backward eight-year-old, Not to be taken seriously under any circumstances.
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As I read this extraordinary tale, I kept thinking of the film The Graduate. It was the name Robinson and the two Arts.
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"I said you need to get out of there, that's a hybrid car," Smith said.
Err.... what?
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"I said you need to get out of there, that's a hybrid car," Smith said. Err.... what?
Batteries, my dear Watson. Do Not Dispose of in Fire.
Though with hindsight Smith would probably agree that a burning car in a filling station is probably more dangerous than mere batteries.
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It probably did become self-aware; then saw it's reflection in a shop window and decided that suicide was the only possible option....
It'd obviously heard that they were planning to launch Skynet last night? [Just who picked THAT name......]
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It'd obviously heard that they were planning to launch Skynet last night? [Just who picked THAT name......]
Cyberdyne Systems Corporation. Let's not forget that James Cameron also predicted the sinking of the Titanic and was able to film it as it happened.
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Let's not forget that James Cameron also predictedthe sinking of the Titanic and was able to film it as it happened.
I think it was Lew Grade who, when he saw the bill for making "Raise the Titanic," said that it would have been far cheaper to have lowered the Atlantic...
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Batteries, my dear Watson. Do Not Dispose of in Fire. Though with hindsight Smith would probably agree that a burning car in a filling station is probably more dangerous than mere batteries.
Well, as much as they advise you not to throw batteries in a fire, I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to chuck petrol on one either!
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The car headed straight for the gas station where Linda Kinard was putting away groceries.
It's a hybrid car so naturally the steering stopped working ...
Give me strength ...
Hawkeye
-----------------------------
Stranger in a strange land
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>>This should wipe the smugness off owner's faces!<<
Have I missed the point of this thread - what is the point of the comment above - please ????
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Is there a clue in the guy's name? 'Kinard.
Reminds me of a racing dinghy whose name was 'kinell, upside down!
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Either I have the only Prius in the world with a neutral position, or we are suffering another urban myth. Also, the brakes are very powerful, so hitting both power-assisted and manual brakes will stop it as quickly as the ABS allows. My bet is on Urban Myth.
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Searching the website itself produces no results. Also have access at work to database with pretty much every news article published and nothing in there either, so would also call urban myth.
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