Comments on: Missing Toyota Models With Accelerator Problems

By: steve

steve — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 23:20:54 +0000

I have a 2008 Prius with 49,000 Kms. on it. I bought it new in Canada. My problem is with winter driving and braking on light snow. Recently, with a light snowfall on the roads, while trying to slow down and get ready to turn, at every corner the vehicle seems to start sliding and do it’s own thing, going across the road and increasing in speed. The ABS system does NOT seem to be working all the time. The car is not controllable. The speeds are around 10 t0 20 MPH. Does anyone else have a similar issue?

By: Sheila Schneider

Sheila Schneider — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 19:36:27 +0000

I have a 2006 Toyota Matrix. I had incidents four times where I had my foot on the brake pedal and the motor kept racing and the car kept lunging forward. Three of the incidents were extremely dangerous situations. I had brought the car to a local mechanic who saw nothing wrong. When I called the Toyota dealership they said my car was not on the recall list.
I need to have this car repaired before I am killed or hurt someone else. How can I get this accomplished?

By: Gary Bachman

Gary Bachman — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:54:37 +0000

2004 Toyotta Highlander: Purchased new. At approx. 10,000 miles I was driving and had a sudden acceleration that very nearly resulted in a collision.( The BRAKES worked very well.) This was my wifes primary vehicle, she had previously complained of BOTH, pauses in accelleration and sudden unpredictable, but fortunately small accelerations. All of those previous experiences were much less dramatic. And totally beyond our ability to replicate or predict. Honestly, until it happened to me, I had doubted the significance of her, (at that point) frustration.

We were together when the “big” event happened. I called Toyota USA immediately. I drove to the dealer where we purchased the car. I called another dealer/service center. NO ONE seemed interested. Finally after multiple calls, a service mgr from the dealer where we purchased the car called back and told us that Toyota was aware of a “computer” problem and technicians were working on a solution and that we would be recieving a service bulletin in the next couple of months. That was in 2004. That was the last we heard from Toyota. (Well, other than offers to sell us accessories, service deals, or a new vehicle…)

I was concerned enough that I filed a complait with the NTSB. I have copies of letters I sent to Toyota that include the NTSB file number.

This was in 2004. Although my letters do not identify the specific web sites, I also mentioned that many other people were describing (on line) similar experiences with their Highlanders. Again, in 2004.

We owned the vehicle until December 2009. Although we never had a repeat of the dramatic acceleration again, we did continue to experience the lesser, and admittedly infrequent, pauses and surges.
And although I regularly inquired over the years we had the car, there was never a fix announced, nor (beyond that one time comment from a service manager) even an acknowledgement of an awareness of the problem.

By: Help Desk

Help Desk — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:27:49 +0000

@Esmond
Wait and see if you get a recall letter in the mail. I would call Toyota to make sure that they have your correct mailing address in their database immediately.

By: Esmond Smith

Esmond Smith — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:17:42 +0000

My father in law has a 2007 Corolla, bought new from the dealer in Westport, CT. He has taken the car in twice for a sticking accelerator and was told that it was not mechanical but was due to the way he drives. What should he do?

By: liz newton

liz newton — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:16:37 +0000

I had an acceleration problem with my 2007 corolla about a year ago and not since. it was just after they had announced a problem with floor mats, so i presumed this was what caused the problem and my floormat was not anchored down properly at the time, though did not seem as though it was impeding the accelerator or brake. now i’m wondering if it was the floor mat and not just the accelerator being faulty. i have called the toyota dealer and they are telling me this model is not on recall and i’ll have to have it looked at out of my own pocket. I noticed on the BBC news site that the corolla’s from 2006 on have been recalled in britain. why not in canada and the U.S? i am now very fearful of driving my vehicle, buit i have no option if i want to get around.

By: Jean Dakin

Jean Dakin — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:40:24 +0000

We have a 2009 Hybrid Camry which is not listed by Toyota as having a problem with the sticky gas pedal. However, in December I pulled out from an intersection onto a straight stretch of road. I had the car travelling at approximately 30 kph when it suddenly accelerated. There was probably a brief time of “what is happening?” before I held the starter button in with my thumb and thrust both feet on to the brake and the car did stop, but not immediately. Fortunately, there was no traffic and plenty of room. What if I had been at a busy intersection?

When we talked to the dealer, the answer then was that the winter floor mat had slid forward and caused the acceleration, and later we did receive a notice from Toyota to make sure the carpets were fixed in place, although I am not convinced that was the problem as I experimented with this and couldn’t find that it affected the pedal.

I just talked this last half hour with Tammy at 1 888 869 6828 and she insisted repeatedly that the Camry Hybrid is “absolutely not affected by the recall” and that the problem must be with the floor mat. I wanted to know if the car has the same pedal system as those listed on the recall and she says that it was manufactured by a different factory. Her recommendation is to take it to our dealer, which eventually we will have to do – very carefully as it is a long way to the dealer and our dealer is not at all happy about any of this and really doesn’t want to be bothered with it and says “the Camry Hybrid is not on the list of affected cars”.

Tammy was quite obviously stressed and sounding defensive, which I understand. It must be difficult right now for anyone working for Toyota. On the other hand, we have a very expensive car sitting in the driveway which we purchased only last June and although this uninitiated acceleration has not occurred again, we are reluctant to drive it until we know for certain that it won’t suddenly take off once more. That was not a comfortable experience, believe me.

By: John L.

John L. — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 04:35:52 +0000

We have a 2007 Lexus RX350. Early in January while pulling into a parking spot in a parking structure, the engine suddenly accelerated to high rpm and surged forward (without command) slamming into the steel barrier cables, snapping 5 of the 7 cables, and impacting the wall, showering debris on the sidewalk below. Initial speed was about 3-4 mph and distance traveled was only about 10 feet. $6,000 in damages to the car, probably more to the building. We haven’t had any substantive answers from Lexus. We filed a report/complaint with NHTSA.

By: George Miller

George Miller — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:26:43 +0000

my son and his friend got off work and went to get something to eat while going across the intersection his gas pedal got stuck putting them in the way of an on coming car .The driver of the other car just missed t boning them ,they finally slammed into the curb which finally stopped the truck it is a 2005 Tacoma the front drivers rim was damaged. This happened on my wifes birthday someone above was looking down on them.

By: Karen

Karen — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 19:29:17 +0000

I had the problem with my 2007 Toyota Corolla S & it’s not on the recall list. My husband & I had just picked our daughter up at school & were waiting in line to leave. My husband had is foot on the brake & all of a sudden it just accelerated really fast. He quickly put it in neutral & turned the car off. There we several cars in front of us, I’m just glad he was the one driving it at the time because I wouldn’t have know what to do. We took it straight to the dealership & they couldn’t find anything wrong with it. I still worry about it happening again. I hope that they will agree to fix the problem now that they know that this has been going on with other models too.

By: bob

bob — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:29:50 +0000

My wife and I just had the unfortunate luck of buying a 2010 Corolla on 26 Jan 2010 from Toyota of the Avenues in Jacksonville, FL for our daughters 21st birthday. What we are especially upset with is that we were lied to. I asked the salesman if there were any current recalls on these cars because we were aware of the recall for the floor mat issue. The salesman said NO! We should have done a little more home work, but we have not bought a new car in over 14 years and it would be just our luck that we buy a car and get lied to. On the Toyota website there is a recall dated 21 Jan for the stuck pedal issue.
As of 21 Jan 2010 they knew and yet they could not inform us of the recall. What is even more disturbing is that we told both sales persons that we wanted a real safe car because this car is for our daughter and we planned on giving it to her on Sunday. Even after driving the car home last night, you would think when the news broke on restricting the sales that someone from the organization would have called me, but no, I had to find out on line last night. My wife could not sleep all night. We took the car back first thing this morning and gave it back to the sales department. Their answer was that we could not do that, and I said, watch. At this point we do not want anything to do with their business and as far as we are concerned they can keep the car. I don’t like being lied to!

Bob
USMC Fighter Pilot, retired

By: Marlene

Marlene — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:05:31 +0000

I purchased my 2010 Corolla just last Friday, the 22 of January. Nobody at the dealership mentionned anything about the recall that had been issued the previous day. Did they not have a moral (at the bear minimum) obligation to inform me of this? Now I’m stuck with a car I don’t want… what are my options? Can I simply return the keys and get a full refund? Or am I expected to opt for willful blindless in the hope that they’re not DEAD WRONG about the problem not affecting new vehicles???