Sudden Acceleration: Kentucky Driver Defends Her Account Of Runaway Chevrolet SUV
GM questions story of Marlene Taylor, who says car accelerated out of control.
June 17, 2010 — -- The Kentucky woman who says her Chevrolet Equinox accelerated uncontrollably on I-64 has now come forward to describe and defend her account of the incident.
Marlene Taylor was driving her 2008 Equinox, with her twin three-year-old daughters in the back seat, between Lexington and Louisville when she says it began to race at speeds up to 90 MPH after she engaged the cruise control. Taylor claims she could not bring the car to a stop until a state trooper placed his vehicle in front of hers.
Taylor told WHAS she's sticking to her story, even though General Motors said it found no evidence to support her version of events after inspecting her 2008 Chevy Equinox.
"What happened on May 27th is true," she told WHAS11 News. "I'm not making it up, I don't know why it happened, and apparently, GM doesn't know why it happened."
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE WHAS INTERVIEW WITH MARLENE TAYLOR
Taylor said she wants GM to continue to investigate what happened. She says she's not after GM's money, but wants to speak out because she doesn't think the company is doing enough to investigate the problem she reported with her car.
Taylor can be heard on 911 tapes of the incident crying, 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."
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO TAYLOR'S 911 CALLS
"I didn't know if I was going to keep the car under control," Taylor told WHAS. "I didn't know how to stop. I was so afraid they [her children] were going to get hurt or possibly killed. I didn't care about myself, I just care about my babies, my girls. I love them very much."
Taylor said she tried using the brakes, but they were ineffective. The 911 operator advised Taylor to put her car in neutral. Taylor claimed she tried, but the gear shift was stuck. She said she never tried turning the keys to the off position because she was scared the steering would lock-up.
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.
Taylor: "Nothing Worked. Nothing."
General Motors inspected the car after the incident. Vic Hakim, senior engineer at GM, 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 GM, 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 told WHAS11 that she didn't hold the brakes down for an extended period of time, but used a 'pumping action' instead.
Since the incident Taylor says she feels like she's had to defend her story on what happened that day not just to GM, but to people in the community.
CLICK HERE to follow the ABC News Investigative Team's coverage on Twitter.
"This is true," she said. "I don't know why it happened. My car would not slow down no matter what I was instructed to do. Nothing worked. Nothing."
Said Taylor, "I want them to find out what went wrong with my car, so it doesn't happen to another person or to my daughters and me again. I want them to investigate further," she said. GM has said it has no plans to investigate the car further.