Accelerator Stuck problems of the 2002 Volkswagen Passat

2002 Passat wagon, automatic transmission, accelerator pedal became stuck while getting on highway during a cold morning. Brakes were non-responsive even when car was put into neutral. Car continued to accelerate, driver put car into a lower gear which slowed down the car a bit and finally put the transmission in "park". This caused the car to eventually stop. To get off the highway, driver slowly drove off onto the exit ramp after calling 911 and being advised to get off the highway which had no shoulder. After that the car and brakes appeared to function normally. The next morning car would not start due to the battery being drained and was towed to vw mechanic. After being inspected for 2 days the mechanic did not find anything wrong with the accelerator or the breaks and there was no evidence that the pedal got stuck on the floor mat. No error codes were found on car's computer. We had had no prior problems with the car other than a dash message indicating a break fault would occasionally light up on cold wet days. The vw mechanic could never find anything wrong with the breaks after repeated visits and attributed the message to a computer glitch. After the incident with the accelerator we traded the car in for a new one of a different make since we did not feel safe driving it, despite assurances that nothing unusual was found with the car.

My wife told me last night that there have been 2 cases over the years with her 2002. 5 vw Passat where her gas pedal also stuck and her car accelerated to 80mph+ on NJ rt 1 before she put it into neutral. She remembers that it happened on very cold mornings. Is it possible that vw uses a similar design to Toyota in these cars?.