10.0
really awful- Crashes / Fires:
- 1 / 1
- Injuries / Deaths:
- 0 / 0
- Average Mileage:
- 93,180 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.
While driving, sometimes when driving, the car will jerk to the left or the right without probacation. Vechile accelerates without foot being on the pedal. One time I was at a stop light. My foot was on the brake, but the car lurched forward and the engine starting reving. I had to use both feet with extreme force to slow the car down. Finally, I just threw the car into park; once in park, the car kept reving. The pedal was not pressed.this has happened on three occasions. This makes for unsafe driving, and only due to my good driving skills did I avoid an accident. This has been occuring for the past three months.
- Gaithersburg, MD, USA
Vehicle accelerated on its own, up to 4,000rpm with my foot off the gas pedal. When I stomped on the brakes car would not slow down, engine continued to run at 4,000rpm. To save my life and others shifted car into neutral, pulled over and turned off ignition. After a minute or two restarted the car and same symptom were present, engine reviving to 4,000rpm, foot off the gas pedal, on the brake pedal as a precaution. Note that when this first happened the car was not in cruise control mode, simply driving around town running errands. This situation is scary because I do not know when, how, if it is going to happen again, totally unprovoked and non-sensical as to why it is happening, what triggers the problem. This has now occurred twice recently and because of this nightmare scenario I am hesitant, very very hesitant to drive the car. It is a danger to my, my wife's life and other people on the road we may accidentally plow into if the car decides to go into runaway mode of its own volition. Your consideration of a response would be greatly appreciated.
- San Jose, CA, USA
PT CRUISER on cruise control. Exit freeway and tap brake. Car begins to coast. As we approached stopped traffic the brake was applied again. Cruise kicked in again and instead of slowing we speeded up. Approximately 2:30 pm - no alcohol involved and no skid marks. Hit 5 other vehicles. My husband was driving and I was the passenger. I was very badly injured internally and had fractures to ribs, vertebra. And ankle. Seat belt and air bag saved my life but seat belt ripped my intestines and caused severe internal bleeding. My husband was in shock but without injury. It took 3 weeks to get a police report and on the report it stated that he had stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake. Not true -- not true. He yelled to me before the impact that the car was not stopping and I saw that he had the brake to the floor.
- Albuquerque, NM, USA
Wife, driving into regular parking spot @ work. Speed 10 -15 mph. Applied brake and the vechile "lunged"forward. Striking the curb. Damage appeared minimal. But was quite extensive underneath. But there was quite a lot of damage to the engine subframe and underside of front, not visable externally. Cause....we think. A baby bottle rolled from the back seat and lodged under the brake pedal. In the PT CRUISER, there is a clear passage under the drivers seat. We are sure that this was the cause of our incident. I have installed a hardboard "stop" under the drivers seat to prevent a reoccurance. Passenger side has a storage drawer and thus is not a problem. Has there been other incidents where the cause could be an object rolling from the rear passenger area and getting jamed under the brake pedal?
- Lakewood, CA, USA
- Ironton, OH, USA