Listen: 911 Tapes of Kentucky Mother In Alleged Runaway SUV
GM casts doubt on story; says Chevy Equinox brakes showed no wear.
June 15, 2010 — -- A Kentucky woman claims her Chevy SUV began to accelerate uncontrollably on Interstate 64 in late May, and 911 audiotapes document a nearly 40-mile journey down a rain-slicked highway at speeds up to 90 miles per hour as state troopers and 911 operators help the apparently terrified driver bring her vehicle to a stop. Neither Marlene Taylor nor her three-year-old twins, who were riding in the back seat of the 2008 Equinox, were injured in the almost half-hour incident, which was reported by Louisville, Kentucky ABC affiliate WHAS.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE WHAS REPORT AND LISTEN TO TAYLOR'S 911 CALLS
But General Motors conducted a test of the Taylor vehicle, and says that it found no sign of wear on her brakes despite the length of the incident, nor any sign of an electronic error code.
Taylor, according to her lawyer, claimed that the runaway episode began when she shifted her Equinox into cruise control on I-64 just outside Lexington on June 7. She said the car began to accelerate to 95 miles per hour.
Attorney William McMurry said that Taylor called 911 when she couldn't stop the car from accelerating, and that she tried to comply when the 911 operator told her to apply the brakes, turn the keys to off, and shift the car into neutral.
"She couldn't get the brake to work," McMurry told WHAS. "Nothing would work. She couldn't put it in neutral. This is a very intelligent woman. She followed the directions and they simply didn't work."
Taylor can be heard on the 911 tapes saying, "Oh my god, I can't stop," and honking her horn at cars in front of her. She can also be heard saying to her children, "Oh babies, I love you so much."
GM Notes Possible Floor Mat Entrapment
Kentucky state trooper Mark Johnson told WHAS he caught up to Taylor's car 20 miles outside of Lexington. By that time it was raining, according to Johnson, and visibility was about 100 feet. Johnson pulled his car alongside Taylor's car and another car pulled in front of her. The trooper in front used his vehicle to block the Equinox to a stop just outside Shelbyville, near Louisville.
"She thanked me for saving her life and the life of her kids," said Johnson.
General Motors inspected the car after the incident, however, and noted that there was an after-market floor mat on the driver's side. Toyota has blamed floor mat entrapment for some incidents of unintended acceleration in its vehicles. Vic Hakim, senior engineer at General Motors, also told WHAS there was no sign that Taylor's brakes had been applied heavily.
"We looked at all the systems in the vehicle, including cruise control and the braking system," said Hakim. "We went over that vehicle for two solid days. We don't what happened that night, but we do know nothing is wrong with the vehicle."
According to General Motors, the event data recorder in the vehicle showed the SUV was travelling at a constant speed of 87 miles per hour with the cruise control on. The recorder captured only the final 2.5 seconds of the trip, but did not show the brakes being applied during that time.
Hakim told WHAS there were no diagnostic trouble codes -- and no wear on the brake pads.
"We looked at the brakes on this vehicle," said Hakim. "The brake rotors, the brake pads were normal. If the driver tried to apply the brakes and [the cruise control] did not disengage, I would have expected to see some overheating and there was none of that. The brakes were very normal."
The automaker also said that the cruise control on an Equinox will shut off if the car is shifted into neutral. GM provided WHAS with a video of another Equinox, showing the speed decreasing when the car is shifted into neutral with the cruise control on.CLICK HERE TO WATCH A DEMONSTRATION CONDUCTED FOR WHAS BY GENERAL MOTORS
Taylor's Lawyer: Not a Recordable Event
McMurry, Taylor's lawyer, said that the event data recorder would not show what Taylor described happening.
"A case like this," said McMurry, "where a lady puts on her cruise control and the car takes off and she's applying the brake, is not a recordable event." He also said that the floor mat had played no part in the acceleration incident.
Said McMurry, "I'm not impressed with what [GM] didn't find. End of story."
Taylor did not respond to WHAS's requests for an interview. McMurry said his client is not yet ready to speak publicly.
A spokesman for the Kentucky State Police declined to comment on GM's investigation, or whether troopers had observed Taylor's brake lights during the incident.