The first car Cathy Donohue hit went BANG!
Her vehicle then spun into the oncoming lane and hit another car, BANG!
Then it bounced onto the sidewalk and hit a light pole, BANG!
Then it crashed into a landmark Denver, Colo., watering hole called the City Grille, BANG!
"I don't know what happened," she is quoted in an accident report. "I just heard a BANG."
Donohue was driving a 2008 Toyota Rav4 down Colfax, a heavily trafficked, downtown thoroughfare. The gas pedal, she says, inexplicably slammed down on its own, wreaking all this havoc in just seconds.
Donohue wrote me a bit miffed after I suggested that Toyota owners with this nagging little gas pedal problem should just hit the brakes, throw the car in neutral and turn off the engine, as the embattled car manufacturer suggests.
In her case, she says, there was simply no time. All of this wreckage occurred in a flash. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured.
"The biggest sensation I had was complete loss of control," Donohue said. "And nobody likes to lose control...Even now, when I close my eyes, I can still see that airbag coming at me."
This is the stuff of Stephen King. Remember the novel, "Christine," about a haunted 1958 Plymouth Fury? Or "From a Buick 8" about a car that serves as a conduit to another reality? Only for Toyota Motor (TM), this story is real and it is still being written.
Donohue was 69 years old on the day of the accident, Nov. 24, 2008. In the past, she had been on pain medication for arthritis and a spinal surgery that took inches off her height. She has ongoing heart problems. And her 2008 Rav4, at least so far, hasn't been included in Toyota's ever-expanding recalls.
She knows what some people might think.
"I would challenge any automobile engineer to tell me how a 69-year-old woman with a perfect driving record manages to keep her foot on the accelerator after hitting the first car, then a second car, then a...[light pole], and then crashing into a building.," she said. "Even (the late stunt driver) Joie Chitwood would not do that."
Donohue isn't some spooky character from a horror novel. She once served as president of Denver's city council and was a member of former Mayor Wellington Webb's administration. A long-trusted source told me Donohue was solid:Never known for coming up with crazy explanations or having a lead foot.
Donohue told me she had never before been in an accident after decades of driving. And her medical conditions, she said, have never resulted in dizzy spells or lapses in judgment between what is the gas pedal and what is the brake.
There are missing pieces to her story, though, that I wish I could gather. I'd like to find the woman who pulled Donohue from the wreckage. Donohue recalls telling her to turn off the engine because the engine was still cranking thanks to the stuck gas pedal. She has been seeking this woman as a possible witness ever since. (If you are her, call me.)
Donohue was hauled away in an ambulance with only minor injuries. She believes she would likely be dead were it not for Toyota's outstanding crash ratings. "That's one of the reasons why I bought it," she said. "And it worked!"
Too bad about that pesky gas pedal, though. Donohue said she told police about it, but this isn't reflected in the accident report.
The police, instead, wrote her an eight-point ticket for "careless driving." Toyota's problems were not screaming headlines back then. But after hearing Donohue's story, a judge allowed her to plead to a lesser charge with only three points. And she only had to pay $111 in court costs.
Her insurance company considered her car totaled and sent it to be parted out. So at present, there is no way to examine the car.
Donohue never complained to the dealership where she purchased the car, fearing she didn't have enough evidence to make much of an argument.
But she felt she needed to say something, so on Jan. 26, 2009, she wrote to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The administration wrote back on March 31, 2009, essentially saying they would keep her correspondence on file, but that they hadn't identified a defect in her particular model "with regard to sudden, unwanted acceleration."
Donohue then put all of this in a file, stuffed it in a drawer, and moved on with her life in a new Subaru. But now similar stories are cropping up every day.
Toyota may still be probing the depths of its problems as it recalls millions of vehicles and fights the PR battle of its life.
Toyota spokesman Brian Lyons told me it's difficult to respond to Donohue's story. She never reported it to Toyota.
The whereabouts of her vehicle are unknown. And the model she was driving hasn't been included in any of its recalls. These are all valid points and underscore the difficulties Toyota now faces in managing this crisis.
Donohue says she has spoken with attorneys and may be included in a class-action lawsuit, but she doesn't expect to recover much, if any, money.
She just wants her story told. She has no doubt her gas pedal slammed down by itself that day. She believes Toyota, whose CEO may soon be dragged before Congress to answer for slow responses to similar complaints, is still holding back information.
"Toyota better start telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth," she said. "Because there are people out there, just like me, driving their cars."
Al's Emporium, written by Dow Jones Newswires columnist Al Lewis, offers commentary and analysis on a wide range of business subjects through an unconventional perspective. He can be reached at 212-416-2617 or by email at al.lewis@dowjones.com, or on his blog at tellittoal.com
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