In article , LSMFT wrote:
Doug Miller wrote:
"Gomez said the best evidence that his client was frantically slamming the
brakes is that a California Highway Patrol officer who was giving Sikes
instructions over a loudspeaker smelled burning brakes and saw the lights
on."
http://www.foxnews.
com/leisure/2010/03/15/govt-explain-runaway-calif-prius-incident/

Brake lights on, brakes getting hot enough to stink, yet the car isn't slowing
down -- brakes clearly are *not* fully applied.

I wonder if there's some sort of problem that prevents the brakes from being
fully applied, no matter how much pressure is applied to the pedal. That would
be consistent with the multiple reports of drivers "standing on the pedal"
while the car continues to accelerate.

It's a case of "too stupid to shut the switch off".

Or "too stupid to shift into neutral".