Cruise Control problems of the 2005 Toyota Tacoma

2005 Toyota Tacoma truck would accelerate, going uphill. I was able to gain control by braking. Cruise control was not on. This has occurred over 10 times.

I have a Toyota Tacoma 2005. On December 6, 2009 at approximately 3pm I was heading south on I-190 in niagara falls NY. Cruise was on,but had to tap breaks because of slower moving vehicle. This did disengage the cruise & my truck began to slow down. When the car moved over I depressed the accelerator and at that time the truck went into overdrive/passing gear. The motor was roaring and I had no breaks . They were like a rock. It accelerated to over 94mph. It then disengaged on it's own& the speed decreased. I then turned off the cruise control not sure how long this went on but it seemed like an hour. And yes I panicked. This is not a mat problem / this truck is a death trap. I was told it could not be repaired until April of 2010 (5months).

2005 Toyota Tacoma. At low speed (25 mph) using cruise control, the vehicle over-accelerates when it approaches a hill or incline. Disengaging the cruise control once the over-acceleration starts seems to fix the problem.

My Toyota Tacoma suddenly accelerated to a dangerous level of speed while in cruise control. It happened several times during my long distance trip and scared me into not using it again. I thought it was me doing something wrong, until I read about other complaints. I bought it used in 2008, and wasn't aware of any issues until the road trip this year.

I bought my 2005 Tacoma about 2 months ago. I have experienced this problem three times now. The last time being tonight after picking up my daughter at work. The truck was accelerating and I was literally standing on the brake and the engine was racing and would not stop. I through it into neutral and it sounded like it was going to explode! I have no rugs in my vehicle, it did not come with any, and I was going to get the all weather mats, but have not bought them yet. The cruise control was not engaged. I do consider myself to be a fairly experienced driver, I use to race a 70 chevelle in the 1/4 mile (this was many years ago. ), if I did not have such experience I am sure I would have ran the car up a tree or something. I am scared, I have beat cancer twice and I'll be !@#$% if I am going to let a faulty Tacoma take me out!.

Part 3 this is a serious problem and my next stop is to notify my insurance company and my lender. I am waiting for a case manager to call me from Toyota, but it looks like Toyota doesn't want to believe those of us who have had the same problem. It was very real. Personally, I believe it has to do with the cruise control or whatever would make the accelerator suddenly pull itself to the floor making the truck take off! I am no mechanic, but I have been a driver for 35 years and this had never happened to me in any other vehicle. My truck has about 30k miles on it. It's been in an accident, (some ran a red light and the car they hit crashed into my parked truck), but most of the work was body work and it was recently moved to a more humid climate, rather than mostly dry san diego. It?s a 4x4, double cab and otherwise and well running machine. I leased it for the first 3 years and just purchased it from the leasing agency because I had very low mileage and it was in great shape. Now I am concerned that no one is going to take me seriously. My plan by weeks-end if I don?t hear back something positive, is to go to the local and then perhaps national press. A story was done out of nashville last October about the same problem other Tacoma owners are having. I have contacted them with questions about their story and additional information. My gut feeling is that I need to stay one step ahead of Toyota and the NHTSA. Let them be on the defensive like I am driving around in a death trap! I understand that a recall is expensive. I value my life however far beyond what Toyota could loose and I will not take a shrug of someone?s shoulders for an answer. Not before I die anyway, either by natural causes or in the truck, perhaps wrapped around a tree. So, here is my long story in detail and I expect someone with some good sense will call me and make me a trade, their nice new truck for mine.

Part 2: I started up the engine. It acted normal, no acceleration and it easily backed out of the space. Relieved, I drove back to my boyfriends house. I turned it over and over in my mind what had happened, trying not to miss a step. My boyfriend is very familiar with the mechanics of a car, so as I explained what took place to him and he said over and over that it didn't make any sense. I was sure I had not mistakenly hit the accelerator and the floor mat was clearly under, not over the petal. I chalked it up, once again to a mystery because neither of us could make sense of it. Several days ago, we drove to downtown new orleans. I was driving and I had the cruise control avoiding the speed trap. We drove about 15 miles and parked in a large outdoor parking lot. We were gone for several hours. When we got back to the truck, he drove. About one minute or less into drive and while still going through the paid lot just coming up to railroad tracks, he put his foot on the brake and the truck accelerated forward, the petal once again pulling itself to the floor and the truck taking off like a jet. He hit the brake and I believe threw the truck into park. I was scared to death and then I felt that I had been vindicated! he looked at me and said, wow and again I told him that it was nearly the same scenario that happened to me. He said, you have better call Toyota. We had one passenger who looked as shocked as my boyfriend and we all pondered the possibility of what would have happened if a train had been going by at that very minute. Part 3 to follow.

Part 1: I am reporting a serious problem with my 05 Tacoma suddenly accelerating without reason, twice now, nearly causing an accident. First off, let me offer my truck to anyone who wishes to dispute my claim that my 05 Tacoma is not a danger on the highway. In exchange, I will accept another new truck while one of the experts drives his kids around, waiting for my truck to crash and kill someone. Please, just email me and we can make the exchange right away. Before that happens, allow me to explain what has happened. I just moved this truck out from southern California where once I remember the truck lurching forward as I was coming to a stop, entering a driveway. Not really familiar with the truck then, I chalked it up to my driving and didn't give it much thought. Last month here in louisiana, I drove to the store using my cruise control along a 10 mile highway known for fast cars and faster tickets. It is hot here in louisiana. I had the ac on and left it turned it on when I went into the store. The truck was turned off of course. When I returned from shopping and back into my truck, I turned on the key and threw the truck into reverse. The petal pulled itself to the floor. It left my foot and went all the way forward. I hit the brake and it would not stop, so in my confusion, I threw it into drive and it lurched forward even with my foot on the brake. The wheels were jumping and the truck was inching forward. Everyone around me was scrambling away as it sounded as if I had little to no control over the roaring engine; you know, sensing something was wrong. All of this happened within seconds and I had all my weight on the brake. I finally had the sense to turn off the engine and it stopped, then I sat there for a second trying to figure out what I had done wrong. Look for part 2 and 3 to follow.

2005 Toyota Tacoma, 4x4, 4 door, long bed, 4. 0 l, v6, efi. March 7, 2008 truck was totaled in roll over. 3 incidents took place with 3 different people. Owner and accident victim, police officers at the times of each incident. Both have had driver training and are experienced drivers. 3rd person is experienced driver who has driver training that is experienced driving cars, trucks, buses, semi trucks. Driver has cdl(bus) and has been driving for many years. Owner had 1st incident, gas pedal stuck and driver had to put truck into neutral and then hit gas pedal 2 times with foot about 6 to 10 times total to get it to disengage itself. On the 2nd attempt to hit the gas pedal, pedal was pushed all the way to the floor hard. 2nd incident, driver had cruise control set at about 58 mph. Driver tapped brake pedal to turn off the cruise control and then the engine started to race and the truck picked up speed. Driver put truck into neutral and had to hit gas pedal and drive pedal all the way to the floor to get it to stop racing. Driver took truck to dealer with end 2 weeks for oil change and told them of incident. They checked truck and found no cause or problem with the truck. 3rd incident took place on March 7, 2008. Driver had cruise control set at about 64 mph. Driver tapped brake pedal to turn off the cruise control. The truck engine then started to race and the truck started to fish tail. Driver hit brake pedal again and the truck went from passing lane off the right side of roadway and hit a ditch and rolled 3 to 5 times. Truck came to rest on its roof. Driver was seat belted in and had to turn key off to get the truck to stop the engine from racing. Tires were in very good shape in 3rd incident and in all incidents floor mat was not stuck in gas pedal and had no part in incidents. 3rd incident road way was wet and it started sleeting at the time of rollover wreck. Roadway was not snow covered. All incidents took place on 4 lane roadways.

I was driving on a narrow mountain road when I accelerated past a vehicle in the slow lane. When I let off the gas it was stuck to the floor. I took my foot completely off the accelerator and it continued to accelerate. My cruise control was not on. I had to use my left foot to press the brakes to the floor. The vehicle continued accelerating and only stopped after I repeatedly stomped on the gas pedal. My wife was with me at the time and witnessed it. I just learned about this problem via the newscast and have not reported it to Toyota yet.

While using the cruise control at freeway speed, driving up an incline. The transmission downshifted violently two gears from 5th to 3rd. Actual speed acceleration happened enough to nearly cause a rear end collision. I had to manually cancel cruise control to regain safe control. . . .

I was on vacation in my 2005 Toyota Tacoma 4x4 4 door in colorado. With the cruise control on and set for 65 mph, I started up a pass on I-25 approaching raton, nm from the north. As we went uphill and the vehicle lugged down, it shift down and began rapid acceleration and as we entered a turn was accelerating through 85 mph. My foot was not on the gas pedal and the floor mat was not anywhere near the pedal. I stood on the brake but the acceleration continued. I pushed the cruise control button on the steering wheel and it disengaged. We made it through the incident with no loss of anything but perhaps some of my hair. After returning from vacation I took the vehicle to larry miller Toyota in peoria, arizona and complained about the problem we experienced. The dealers employees indicated they have never heard such a thing and then copied the owners manual highlighting the part that says to disengage the cruise control when going uphills. I have been driving the vehicle for five years now and have learned to turn off the cruise going uphills but have still experienced the problem three other times when I was not conscious of the grade we were on and it happened again. I have owned several vehicle with cruise control in my life and have never had an issue with cruise control going uphills except the potential of the transmission shifting up and down from overdrive to allow the vehicle to maintain the speed set. We also own a 2000 Toyota avalon which I drive on vacations and if there is any issue I turn off the overdrive and it does fine. I believe there is a computer issue with this model that creates the problem and it has nothing to do with floor mats.

With cruise control engaged at legal freeway speeds, any slight uphill (or strong headwind) will cause the vehicle to lose 2 to 3 mph -- then the throttle will suddenly go wide open, or nearly so. The transmission then downshifts (often from 5th to 3rd) followed by very rapid acceleration to a speed several mph above the preset speed, before finally slowing to the correct preset. This has occurred consistently since we purchased the Tacoma new in 2005. The dealer told me it is normal, but none of my other vehicles have ever done this.

2005 Toyota Tacoma pick up truck when operating in the cruise control mode, and when coming up on a stretch of road which is uphill, the accelerator will kick in a full open and uncontrolled acceleration mode causing the need to disengage the cruise control to prevent from running in to something in front of me. This happens often and routinely when using the cruise control and hitting an uphill stretch of road. I have requested service from the Toyota dealer in knoxville, TN several years ago ( approx. 2006-2007 time frame. However, they dismissed the claim as the "passing gear" of the transmission kicking in without even driving the vehicle and testing it. However, the characteristic of the event when it happens is that there is immediate uncontrolled acceleration that is equivalent to the accelerator being fully depressed which requires intervention to interrupt. The incidents have been going on since 2005 and continue under use of the cruise control in this model.

The contact owns a 2005 Toyota Tacoma. When he sets the cruise control at 65mph the rpms will increase from 2,000 to 5,000. He took the vehicle to the dealer for the failure several times. The dealer stated they did not locate a failure and nothing was wrong with the vehicle. The manufacturer took a report and sent an inspector to the dealer and the investigator concluded the vehicle was built that way and the vehicle was normal. The failure mileage was 1,000 and the current mileage was 52,000.