Toyota Motor Corp says it has found no evidence to support a driver's account of a widely-publicised "runaway¹" Prius incident in California last week.

丰田汽车公司称，对于上周在美国加州发生的、广为流传的一位司机所描述的普锐斯“失速”事件，没有发现任何证据证明其属实。

James Sikes said his Prius sped out of control, but Toyota said its own tests could not replicate²（复制，折叠） the event.

Millions of Toyota models have been recalled after several complaints about the braking and accelerator systems.

Toyota insists that it has found no problems with its electronics, and that its mechanical fixes are sufficient.

Last week's incident raised new questions over Toyota's flagship model, the hybrid³（混合的） Prius.

Differing accounts

Mr Sikes, 61, claimed his car suddenly accelerated on a San Diego freeway and that he could not stop it for some 20 minutes until a highway patrol（高速公路巡警） officer helped him slow the vehicle down.

At a news conference in California, a company spokesman said the technical findings differed significantly from the account given by the driver.

Toyota said its an examination of Mr Sikes's Prius showed that he repeatedly applied⁴ the brakes some 250 times, but only lightly.

That account appears to contradict（反驳，否定） Mr Sikes' statement - backed by the California Highway Patrol - that he was frantically⁵（发狂地） slamming（砰然关上，猛烈抨击） on the brakes.

"While our analysis is not finalized⁶, Toyota believes there are significant inconsistencies between the account of the event of 8 March and the findings of this investigation," Mike Michels told reporters.

"We're not calling him a liar⁷ and we're not judging what he did or did not do," Mr Michels was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.

Earlier in the day, federal safety regulators said their analysis of the vehicle had failed to find "anything to explain the incident that Mr Sikes reported".

"We would caution people that our work continues and that we may never know exactly what happened with this car," the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA国家公路交通安全管理局) added in the statement.

Toyota already faces dozens of lawsuits⁸ that could cost it billions of dollars.

Federal authorities are examining if there are grounds for criminal charges.