Sudden acceleration in my Prius: why not just shift into neutral?

There are two things to think about

1) people are just plain dumb - they just drive cars and don't have the slightest clue on how they work. This is particularly true on high tech cars. Everyone should make a point to go to each of their loved ones and tell them to put the car in neutral. You'd be surprised how many people don't even think this is possible. People worry about the engine revving out and all other things. In hybrids the engine will not rev out, and in conventionals WHO CARES. your car is driving out of control! Number one priority is to regain control of your vehicle, not protecting the engine.

2) Putting it in neutral may not ALWAYS work. In fact, the Prius doesn't even have a true neutral (i.e. there are no clutches, and no way to physically disconnect the engine from the output of the transmission/axle). In a conventional vehicle Neutral means to drop pressure to all clutches so that they disengage. In the prius, it means commanding zero motor torques and hoping they achieve that. Clearly they should, but there are some security concerns when Neutral is not 'true neutral'. you are still ultimately relying on the motors to produce accurate torque. There **should** be diagnostics to protect any scenarios where this is not the case. It is a long shot that the vehicle would not behave like neutral - but it is still something to note

Why not shift into neutral and then slowly brake to move to the side of the road. You don't have to stomp anything.

I think it is more from people just panicking at the moment when it happens. I was kind of wondering the same thing with all these Toyota problems... If I had a Toyota I'd put it in neutral, pull over, over-rev it, blow the motor and make them buy me a new car from a U.S. auto-maker.

sudden acceleration in your TOYOTA prius??

do you not watch the news, or TV at all?

recall my friend, recall