This was the second occurrence of the Sudden Unintended Acceleration problem for my 2004 Avalon. Unlike the first occurrence which occurred on a highway exit with no traffic, this time it happened in a parking lot. It caused four cars including the Avalon to be wrecked. Fortunately the cars were all unattended. The driver, my wife, suffered minor injuries.
My wife just emerged from a car wash and intended to leave the parking area. Suddenly the engine's RPMs surged and the car accelerated rapidly. My wife applied the brakes, but the engine's power was too much for the brakes to slow or stop the car. Afraid of the high speed she elected to side swipe several parked cars to slow down. It actually stopped after hitting the third car. The Avalon and three other cars were wrecked.
A policeman arrived to assist in the records and arranging for the damaged cars to be towed. My wife suffered only a bloody nose, which was remarkable considering that the airbag did not deploy.
My wife was unaware of the Sudden Unintended Acceleration problem and thought it was a brake failure. She attempted to demonstrate to the policeman the brake problem by starting the car. When she started the car, the engine's RPM's immediately reached a very high RPM value. She wisely aborted the brake test and the ignition off.
The wrecked Avalon is now stored in our garage. The floor mat is not even touching the accelerator pedal.
We have informed Toyota that the Sudden Unintended Acceleration problem applies to 2004 models. We hope to have an independent forensic investigator examine the Avalon's black box to see all the events which occurred up to the time of the accident. This includes engine rpm, computer signals, and driver operations. If the engine is throttle is at maximum RPMs and the brake is being applied, that would prove that the accelerator signal came from a faulty computer.
This was the second occurrence of the Sudden Unintended Acceleration problem for my 2004 Avalon. Unlike the first occurrence which occurred on a highway exit with no traffic, this time it happened in a parking lot. It caused four cars including the Avalon to be wrecked. Fortunately the cars were all unattended. The driver, my wife, suffered minor injuries.
My wife just emerged from a car wash and intended to leave the parking area. Suddenly the engine's RPMs surged and the car accelerated rapidly. My wife applied the brakes, but the engine's power was too much for the brakes to slow or stop the car. Afraid of the high speed she elected to side swipe several parked cars to slow down. It actually stopped after hitting the third car. The Avalon and three other cars were wrecked.
A policeman arrived to assist in the records and arranging for the damaged cars to be towed. My wife suffered only a bloody nose, which was remarkable considering that the airbag did not deploy.
My wife was unaware of the Sudden Unintended Acceleration problem and thought it was a brake failure. She attempted to demonstrate to the policeman the brake problem by starting the car. When she started the car, the engine's RPM's immediately reached a very high RPM value. She wisely aborted the brake test and the ignition off.
The wrecked Avalon is now stored in our garage. The floor mat is not even touching the accelerator pedal.
We have informed Toyota that the Sudden Unintended Acceleration problem applies to 2004 models. We hope to have an independent forensic investigator examine the Avalon's black box to see all the events which occurred up to the time of the accident. This includes engine rpm, computer signals, and driver operations. If the engine is throttle is at maximum RPMs and the brake is being applied, that would prove that the accelerator signal came from a faulty computer.
- Walter P., Happy Valley, OR, US