general problems of the 2001 Toyota Prius

My car is experiencing what is known onlline as "the big hand syndrom". While driving, the accelerator pedal changes resistance and it feels like someone grabs the car and it dramatically slows. You then have to press harder on the accelerator pedal to maintain speed. Well one day, the car stopped working, no matter how hard I pressed on the pedal it would no accelerate. I was on the highway. I took my car in to the local authorized Toyota dealer and was told that the accelerator pedal was bad and needed to be replaced. We replaced the pedal and experienced the same issues, and replaced the accelerator pedal again. I'm still experiencing the same issuses and the Toyota dealer said theres nothing they can do except keep replacing the pedal cause thats the code it is throwing up. This is a major safety issue for my vehicle as I can and do lose acceleration at any given time. It doesnt seem to matter how fast im going or the driving conditions. It is completely random, and cannot be replicated on comand. The date listed is the first instance, and it has happened too many times to count or make record.

Car rapidly accelerated without my foot on the gas pedal and did not slow down until my foot hit the brake. Brought the vehicle to mcgee Toyota and they replaced the gas pedal. It was a $600. + repair. Within the year the news reported abnormal acceleration with the Prius line and I quickly contacted Toyota management. They denied my claim saying that these incidences were as a result of floor mats? I reported it to martha coakley (MA) representative for consumer protection and have not received a response (this was over two years ago). I recently heard about your agency and decided to file a report.