Car Accelerates On Its Own problems of the 2004 Toyota Highlander

The contact owns a 2004 Toyota Highlander. While driving various low speeds, the vehicle accelerated rapidly without warning. Upon applying minimal pressure to the accelerator pedal, the accelerator pedal became stuck and the contact's vehicle crashed into another vehicle, a dumpster, and almost struck a group of children before coming to a stop. In an attempt to stop the vehicle, pressure was applied to the accelerator pedal and then the brake pedal. The vehicle finally stopped and was turned off. The vehicle was able to be driven to the contact's residence. The contact stated that the air bags did not deploy. A police report was not filed. The contact sustained severe pain to the neck and back, which required medical attention. A dealer and the manufacturer were not made aware of the crash. The vehicle was subject to NHTSA campaign number: 11v112000 (vehicle speed control). The failure mileage was 170,000.

While parallel parking and slowly backing into the parking space, my vehicle suddenly accelerated backward crashing into the vehicle parked behind me. My vehicle continued accelerating backward into the other vehicle and pushed it back even though I was applying the brakes as hard as I could. I then put my vehicle into drive while applying the brakes, and it immediately lunged forward crashing into the vehicle in front of me. While continuing to accelerate forward, with the brakes applied, my vehicle pushed that vehicle into the vehicle in front of it. I then turned off the ignition and my vehicle stopped moving. All four vehicles sustained damage. There were no occupants in the other parked vehicles. Repairs to my vehicle totaled $4,076, plus $1,444 for a rental car. I also received a summons for careless driving. I believe the accident was the result of sudden unintended acceleration due to a defect in the electronic throttle control system.

I was pulling into a parking space in a parking lot, going less than 5 miles per hour. As I turned into the spot, the car lurched ahead, so quickly, that slamming on the brakes still caused me to slide a bit. I ended up hitting a car parked in the spot in front of me, and causing $1400 worth of damage (to my front bumper and the other cars rear bumper). I had a friend in the car with me who vouched for this. I have never had an accident before, and was completely baffled by what happened. After googling this, I see that this car has had several similar incidents, and I am now worried about the safety of my car. I am unsure how to proceed, as I have read that mechanics seem unable to duplicate the event that occurs where it seems to accelerate rapidly. Very embarrassing- I have never had a car accident before!.

Date of incident: Saturday, July 17, 2010 at approximately 12:45 p. M. Incident description: coming from a complete stop, turned the steering wheel to park a 2004 Toyota Highlander into a parking spot. The driver gently/minimally touched the accelerator pedal to pull into the parking spot. The vehicle suddenly accelerated without any additional force placed on the accelerator pedal. The driver immediately applied the brakes in an attempt to stop the vehicle. Prior to the vehicle coming to a complete stop, the front of the vehicle struck the metal part of a sign. This is the first occurrence of sudden acceleration since purchasing the vehicle used from a dealership. The vehicle has not been scheduled for repair at this time. Updated 10/20/10 updated 10/22/10.

The contact stated there was a problem with sudden acceleration. While shifting into reverse the vehicle suddenly accelerated on July 8, 2005. The problem did not reappear until November 22, 2005. The vehicle accelerated under the same conditions. He was able to stop the vehicle after it had gone through two fences and crashed into the corner of the neighbor's garage. The vehicle is currently at the dealership for diagnostics. Updated 12/27/05.

The contact stated while pulling into a parking slot heard a grinding noise followed by the vehicle lurching into another parked vehicle. He took the vehicle to the dealer. The dealer could not duplicate the sudden acceleration. The dealer replaced the mass air flow sensor, oxygen sensor, and reprogrammed the ecu. The dealer could not determine what caused this problem.

Unintended acceleration problem, in a brand new Toyota Highlander causing an accident. (it had the same problem twice before).