Accelerator Stuck Problems of Toyota Highlander

The contact owns a 2002 Toyota Highlander ltd (n/a). While driving 60 mph and speeding to 70 mph to pass another vehicle, the accelerator pedal stuck and would not release. The passenger removed the floor mats but the vehicle continued to accelerate rapidly. The contact maneuvered the vehicle to the side of the road by depressing the brake pedal firmly, shifting into neutral and turning the engine off. The rpms continued to increase excessively. The vehicle was towed to an authorized dealer where the contact was informed that the throttle body had carbon and built up corrosion which caused the failure. The contact called the manufacturer who offered no assistance as the vehicle was too old, too high in mileage and no longer under warranty. The VIN was unavailable. The failure mileage was approximately 218,000.

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The contact owns a 2003 Toyota Highlander. While driving 50 mph, the accelerator pedal became stuck to the floorboard in the open throttle position. The vehicle proceeded to accelerate without driver intent. The contact was able to stop the vehicle by turning it off. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for diagnostic testing. The current and failure mileages were 86,000.

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From a stopped position on a side street, I pressed the accelerator to pull onto a main street. Because traffic on the main street moves rather fast, I accelerated somewhat above normal, but in no way excessive. After getting into my lane, I backed off the accelerator, but the engine acted as if I was flooring it and the car continued accelerating. It was scary. I pushed hard on the break. The car still accelerated. I stepped on the hand brake. It continued to accelerate. Finally, I took the car out of drive and into neutral. The engine continued to scream, but I was able to stop at the side of the road. At some point the engine did come down to normal idle, but I was so shaken, I really don't know when that happened. Fortunately no one was ahead of me, the road is straight and level, etc. Aside from shattered nerves, there was no harm done. But I can imagine all kinds of horrible outcomes had conditions been different. The car acted as if the accelerator stuck all the way down, however I know I didn't press it down that far. Later my husband drove the car home from where I stopped it. With the car off, my husband inspected the accelerator pedal pressing it with his hand and letting it back up. There is a point about half way back up where the mechanism is not smooth. The pedal comes all the way back up, but something inside catches and causes lots of gas to flow into the engine. At least one time he was able to reproduce the problem with the car in park. I am afraid to ever drive it again. This time I was lucky, but I shutter to think. If someone had been in one of the crosswalks. If I had been approaching a red light. When might this happen again?.

2001 Toyota Highlander purchased new. About once a year it accelerates on its own. Reported problem to Toyota dealer in 2002 or 2003 - have receipt. We can stop the car with firm pressure on the brake. In most cases when we put the transmission into park the engine continued to race at high rpm. I can't remember all incidents, but believe that in some cases was able to slow the engine down by keeping my foot on the brake and putting the car back into drive. Other times I turned off the ignition. When I restart the car it is fine. Most recent occurrence was Sunday 4/18/2010 in parking lot of a&p on south avenue in clark or westfield, NJ. My wife was in the car with me. I had been driving the car for about an hour. The last half hour was on the garden state parkway at 55+ miles per hour. Was off the parkway for less than 5 minutes when I made left turn into a&p parking lot and another left in the parking lot. Driving less than 15 miles per hour. Then was almost stopped as I was about to turn left into parking space. Noticed the engine rpm seemed a little higher than normal and I became more cautious and made sure my foot was firmly on the brake pedal. The engine rpm began to increase rapidly. I pressed on the brake pedal as hard as possible and was able to keep the car from moving forward, but the engine would not stop racing. I put the transmission in park and the engine continued to race at full throttle. I turned off the ignition and the engine stopped. Restarted the car after a minute and it was fine. Don't believe I was pressing on the gas at the same time as the brake because the two pedals are far enough apart that to do so my foot could only be halfway on the brake pedal. In that case when I press hard my ankle starts to twist. I am sure my foot was centered on the brake in this incident because I had time to prepare and it felt firmly in the center. I don't think the gas pedal was stuck because I had been driving very slowly immediately before the incident.

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The contact owns a 2004 Toyota Highlander. The contact was pulling out of a parking space at speeds of 5 mph when the vehicle abnormally accelerated without driver intent. The vehicle accelerated to approximate speeds of 35 mph. The vehicle then struck a tree. The contact was taken to the emergency room but was not injured, yet, he is very sore. The vehicle was destroyed. The failure mileage was 59,000. Updated 06/04/10. The consumer believed the accelerator became stuck. Updated 10/05/10.

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The contact owns a 2002 Toyota Highlander. The contact stated while driving at speeds of 70 mph, the vehicle abnormally accelerated. This was the third incident of unintended acceleration in the vehicle. On the first incident, the contact was able to stop the vehicle by applying constant, steady pressure to the brake pedal. On the second incident, the accelerator pedal became stuck in the open throttle position and he was able to manually remove the pedal from the stuck position. The dealer was unable to duplicate the failure and there were no repairs made to the vehicle. The manufacturer advised the vehicle was not under recall and would not provide any assistance. The failure mileage was 114,000 and the current mileage was 114,532.

Follow-up ltr to NHTSA re 4/8/10 correspondence on behalf of re incident of sudden unintended acceleration after recall fix by dealer on her 2010 Toyota Highlander. The consumer became concerned about the recent accelerator pedal issue and contacted the dealer to see if she could get out of the lease. The dealer informed her there was a fix to the problem, so the consumer made an appointment on February 15, 2010. On March 2, 2010 the accelerator pedal became stuck multiple times. Twice, the accelerator pedal stuck when taking off; it was extremely hard to push, to the point where it actually went down, and the vehicle jerked. Then on the way home, the consumer pushed the brake pedal down to slow down and noticed the vehicle seemed to be going much faster. She pushed harder and harder on the brake and when she looked down the rpm's were going straight up and she was not slowing down. She continued to hold the brake pedal down and after a few minutes the brakes started working. The consumer contacted the dealer the next day, but was informed there was nothing they could do since the fix had already been completed.

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My 2008 Toyota Highlander has had one incident where the accelerator got stuck. I brought the vehicle to bernardi Toyota in framingham, MA on 3/2/2010 and they advised that my vehicle is not part of the recall and they also conducted diagnostics on the vehicle and reported that all systems are normal. I am concerned about all of the confusing information pertaining to this problem offered by Toyota and the fact it happened once to my vehicle, I am worried it might happen again.

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On Jan. 26,2010, I was stopped behind cars at a traffic light. My 2010 Toyota Highlander started creeping forward/I thought I'd taken my foot off the brake, and then the engine started revving to an outrageous level. The harder I braked the more the engine revvedand the car tried to jump forward. It was so loud the driver ahead of me turned around to see what was going on behind him. I thought I was going to rear-end him until I remembered to put the car in neutral. Eventually the engine returned to its normal rpms, but I was really shaken. I drove about 1 mile to my destination and called Toyota and had the car towed to their service area. They checked the car and after 24 hrs. Told me they couldn't find anything and my car was made in japan so it wasn't under the recall. I don't feel safe in this vehicle and I don't feel Toyota really knows or is revealing all the problems they are having. My problem occurred when I was at a standstill at a traffic light, so I don't believe the stuck accelerator story. What can I do to get some satisfaction? at this point the problem has only occurred once, but I've lost all confidence in my new vehicle. . . Less than 4000 miles on it!.

2003 Toyota Highlander, I have a randomly occurring problem with the gas pedal sticking when you are trying to accelerate from a stop. My year model is not included in the current recall but I wanted to make you aware that there are other possible problems out there. I have called the dealership and they said without being able to duplicate the problem there is nothing that I can do and it is randomly occurring.

Accelerator stuck all the way to floor on 2009 Toyota Highlander while vacationing in tennessee on i40. Had to weave thru traffic to shoulder while traveling towards 100 mph, mashing full force to the floor all the time during incident. Very frightening. Car is presently returned to dealership, but no action has been taken & they can't find "anything wrong. " I am afraid to drive the vehicle now. This was a life threatening event, but I don't feel Toyota is treating as such. I am trying to find some help as to what to do. It has only happened once, but there could have been serious consequences to both my husband and I and for other vehicles on the road. The consumer has since traded the vehicle. Updated 04/05/jb.

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The contact owns a 2009 Toyota Highlander. The contact was reversing from a parking space at 5 mph when the accelerator pedal became stuck and caused the vehicle to accelerate rapidly. The contact mentioned that she was unable to stop the vehicle and as a result, she crashed into a tree. A police report was not filed and no injuries were reported. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 783 and the current mileage was 22,000.

1. Traveling at about 45-55 miles per hour, gas pedal sticks. Also, the dealer sold me the car with out a driver floor mat. Since I purchased the car in 2007, I've noticed a gradual erosion of the floor mat beneath my right foot and just below the gas pedal. There is now a hole in the carpet and an indentation in the floor of the car. Also, there is a small toggle type object jutting out from under the carpet just below the gas pedal 2. It occurs every time I drive the car. 3. Nothing has been done to correct the failure.

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The contact owns a 2007 Toyota Highlander. The contact stated that when attempting to exit a parking space, the all weather floor mats that he purchased in 2007 caused the accelerator pedal to stick. As a consequence he crashed into several trees. The vehicle was completely destroyed. He and three other occupants were injuried. The manufacturer and the dealer were both notified. The current and failure mileages were 41,212.

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Parking my 2007 Toyota Highlander in my parking space at work. I go to park and my gas pedal is stuck and accelerated into two other vehicles resulting in $3000 to my vehicle and unknown amount to the other two vehicles. Nothing has been done so far to correct the problem. It has only occurred once so far.

An afternoon during August or early September 2009 I was driving my 2005 Highlander in a high traffic route when the accelerator pedal got stuck down, leading to an initial high speed and steadily high rpms (6-7000). I was able to control the speed by stepping down the brake pedal with both feet while keeping exceedingly high rpms on heavy traffic. In the emotional and physical stress of the moment, I was able to drive to a building entrance. With the car on "parking" position, the rpms kept high and did not decrease despite stepping further on the accelerator pedal trying to "unstuck" it, which was unsuccessful. Finally I turned off the ignition. After turning the car back on, the problem did not recurred. I took the car to its regular maintenance service in harr Toyota (100 gold star blvd. , worcester, MA) in sept. 19, 2009, explained the event, they documented it, and applied the 60f carpet clip recall. There has been no similar incident since then. I reported the incident to Toyota company with documentation # 1002135597. Toyota claims they will not apply the current recall accelerator fix to my car because it is not on the official recall and the car was built in japan (based on VIN), with a different accelerator pedal design and construction.

2008 Toyota Highlander - accelerated to pass a car in the next lane so I could pass and the accelerator got stuck. I could not stop the car. I pulled into the shoulder and though the car into neutral and had both feet on the brake and still the car wanted to go but it slowed a bit so I threw it into park and the jerked but finally came to a stop and I shut off the car. This is the 2nd time this has happened to me and I am afraid that it may cause a serious accident. Currently the car is at the dealership. However, the dealership says they haven't heard of this before. Yet when I googled the issue Toyota has had this problem before with the Highlander as well as other vehicles including the camry.

The contact owns a 2003 Toyota Highlander. While driving 45 mph the accelerator pedal became stuck. He down-shifted , then shifted the vehicle into neutral, and then applied the brakes. He was able to stop the vehicle. During the failure, the floor mat was not under the pedal. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for inspection. The technician stated that the throttle was open, which could affect the speed. However the dealer could not duplicate the problem or locate any diagnostic error codes. . The failure mileage was 82,467.

The contact owns a 2001 Toyota Highlander. While driving 5 mph in reverse the vehicle accelerated on its own and crashed into a pole. The vehicle previously accelerated on its own while the brakes were applied and crashed into a vehicle. The contact sustained minor injuries to her neck. There was no mention of a police report being filed. The dealer stated that they could not duplicate the failure. The mechanic stated that the failure could be caused due to the accelerator pedal sticking. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 85,000 and the current mileage was 109000.

We have a 2004 Toyota Highlander, and we have had surges on the gas since we bought it in 2004. It usually is something that we can control, as you will be driving along, and it will surge forward a bit, but we have always been able to apply brake and control it. There has only been one instance where it surged strongly, and I had to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting the car in front of me. We tried to sell the car a couple of years ago, but the buyer test drove it, and noticed the surging, asked about it, and then decided not to buy it - so we kept it after that. We were thinking it is a software problem, or something. . . . We have never taken it into a shop to have it diagnosed, but thought maybe it was important to mention it, in case other Highlanders have had the same issue. I didn't think it was the gas pedal sticking, but just the gas surging somehow, but maybe it is related.