general problems of the 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse

The contact owns a 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse. The contact stated the vehicle abnormally accelerated and the accelerator pedal independently extended into the floorboard. The contact shifted into neutral, turned off the ignition and coasted to the side of the road. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where the contact was advised that a bolt detached from the throttle control unit and was sucked into the engine. In addition, the failure also destroyed the engine. The manufacturer would not assist with any repairs. The vehicle was not repaired. The current and failure mileages were approximately 90,000.

This is the second time this happened. The first time this occurred was about 6 mos prior to this recent incident though I couldn't recall exactly when. I was on stop on an intersection trying to turn right. I had my foot on the brake pedal. Just as I slowly released my foot the car accelerated and moved towards the right lane of where I wanted to go however there was still incoming traffic. I was able to steer myself towards the middle lane and avoided the incoming car. Second incident happened today: on my way home and entering my garage, I have slowly released my foot off the brake pedal; the car simply accelerated forward at a maximum speed. I hit our garage wall. The wall happened to be a common wall to our family room. This bore a 3' x 4' hole in our family room; the couch which was placed against the wall moved right in the middle of the room -which shows the extent of the speed pick-up as well as the damage. I am glad to share photos of this incident.

I was driving down the highway at a speed of 40 mph and let up on the gas pedal before I was going to brake. The car started to accelerate and wouldn't stop. Coming to a red light I started to press firmly on my brakes and while it managed to slow the car down some it wouldn't come to a complete stop. I slowed down just enough ways back from the light that when the light turned green I was able to let up on the brake with out going into traffic. It then accelerated very quickly again. The car sounded as if it shifted and stop accelerating. Luckily I was able to slow down a ways in front of the light I didn't hit anyone while their light was green. I had cars on the right side of me that I wasn't able to get over.