Toyota this morning is facing fresh demands for a mandatory recall, this time of its wildly popular hybrid, the Prius. The calls are mainly coming from members of the public (and automotive columnists too) in  response to the dramatic story of James Sikes’ runaway Toyota Prius, now a hit on YouTube.

All the sudden, the popular video-sharing site, not to mention Twitter, is teeming with unverified stories of out-of-control Prius tales. Of course, the videos, like this one of a Colorado motorist whose Prius sped up and crash landed in a river, have been up for months, attracting relatively small viewer numbers – until now, that is. The viral effect of Sikes’ tale of high-speed drama on a Southern California freeway (where else?) is creating a stir that Toyota, at this rate, will find impossible to contain.

Now, videos by automotive safety specialists, like this one from Luscious Garage instructing how to regain control of the Prius’ unintended acceleration problem – amazing that this is so well known among Prius drivers that there are multiple YouTube videos that basically instruct you how not to die behind the wheel of a Prius! – are attracting tens of thousands of viewers.

Back to Sikes now who could be the face of Toyota’s new wave of woes. At the end of a press conference starring the heroic highway patrol officer and Sikes, the still shaken motorist mutters, “I won’t drive that car again.”

And Toyota’s response? It’s still in the slow lane, fighting previous reports from ABC News’ reportage of “unintended acceleration,” using its Twitter feed to call it a hoax. Meanwhile, there’s no reference to the runaway Sikes vehicle incident, for now allowing this motorists’ claims to stand unchallenged. And what about the Toyota YouTube channel? It confusingly is still cluttered with defensive “we care about you” videos featuring its engineers. Did the marketing team dream these up? They look like ads you’d see on a lazy Sunday afternoon in between the big match.

In the automaker’s defense, Toyota is admirably trying to use its multiple social media channels to douse these many fires. But it continues to stumble over the message. What good is a slick 30-second spot with a Toyota engineer telling us he has a family too? Where’s the Prius engineer who can clarify whether or not these vehicles are likely to speed out of control without warning? Evidently, you have to tune into Luscious Garage for any kind of under-the-hood tutorial.