A tale of a runaway Toyota is set to pile more pressure on the troubled car-maker, just as it strives to fight back against fresh safety fears.

California Highway Patrol says one of its police vehicles helped a fast-moving Prius stop safely on a San Diego County freeway . The Toyota’s accelerator pedal had apparently got stuck, leaving its driver helpless.

“He was physically trying to brake and the vehicle was barely slowing down and then I noticed that it would accelerate again and we were up to 90 miles per hour, said Highway Patrol officer Todd Neibert.

“It got down to about 55 (miles per hour) and I pushed the button to shut it off and it did not shut off, so I did it a couple more times,” added Prius driver James Sikes, 61. “It did shut down and kind of rolled to a stop until I bumped into the back of his car.”

Toyota is already facing a number of claims that deadly crashes were caused by vehicles speeding out of control.

But today the firm counter-attacked, vehemently rejecting accusations that electronic defects are behind its recall of over 8 million vehicles worldwide. It maintains more straightforward, mechanical flaws are to blame.

Whatever the truth, when it comes to restoring consumer confidence, Toyota may find a long road lies ahead.

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