Cruise Control problems of the 2000 Toyota Sienna

Yesterday afternoon, I was driving on a semi busy road in tucson, arizona at about 40 mph and the van suddenly began to accelerate. I immediately thought I had hit the cruise control button but the dash showed no indication that this was case. I repeatedly pushed the cruise control button and jiggled the lever arm hoping to toggle something off but it had no effect. I began to push the breaks but they were not capable of slowing the car below about 25. I threw the van into neutral and the engine revved up to about 7000 rpm. That sound concerned me so I threw it back into gear and the van began to accelerate again. I pushed the emergency breaks, and with my pedal break fully compressed I could get the car to 5-10 mph but there was absolutely no way to stop the van. After narrowly missing a pedestrian, I turned right, found a place to pull off to the side of the road, threw the van into neutral and quickly turned the van off. With the engine turned off the breaks were as effective as the should have been so the the van came to a stop. After a brief period I turned the key, started the van and, again, the engine again revved to 7000 rpm. I turned it off again. I pumped the accelerator several times before starting it again and it started up fine. I had the van towed after this and I'm not likely to drive it again.

While driving on tollway in our 2000 Sienna with cruise set to 70 mph I pushed the accelerator a little to increase speed a few mph. It instantly took off as if I had hit the "resume" on the cruise control (cc) and had it set for 120 mph. After a few seconds of panic I hit the brakes to slow the van and release the cc. No luck. With no traffic near me I looked to see if the acc. Pedal was stuck, floor mat was interfering, or something else holding the pedal down - nothing was. I turned off the cc, pumped the accelerator pedal, stomped on the brakes and was just about to put van in neutral when we went back to normal control. We took van to Toyota dealer next day, but they could find nothing wrong. They called Toyota and were told it was not a known problem, so no fix. We still drive it daily, but do not use the cc in traffic, or accelerate with the cc on. This was not a stuck pedal, nor a floor mat problem. Because we have not used the cc in the same manner as when the sudden acceleration happened, I would think it is cc related.

There was a sudden decrease in acceleration while in cruise control, and an unusual noise.