I have a 2006 Toyota Avalon. I took it in a few weeks ago to have the accelerator recall problem "fixed". today (3/14), I was traveling thru a shopping center parking lot at 10 to 12 mph. As I touched the brake, the car started to accelerate, grinding thru the brakes. I pushed it into neutral and jammed the brake. There was a very loud "thunk" and the car stopped and ceased trying to accelerate.

- Kenmore, WA, USA

The contact owns a 2006 Toyota Avalon. The contact was traveling at speeds of 5 mph, attempting to make a left turn when he heard an unusual noise coming in the engine area. Immediately, the vehicle began hesitating and within seconds, resumed normal operation. On a separate occasion while driving in reverse, there was an unusual increase in the rpms. The vehicle then accelerated with a loud sound coming from the engine. The failure would occur whenever the vehicle was in operation. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer on five separate occasions for the identical failures. The dealer was unable to duplicate or diagnose the failures. The failure mileage was 500. Updated 06/04/10. The consumer stated he difficulty starting the vehicle, the engine had a high idle, the transmission would hesitate into gear at 10-15 mph and then catch would catch up and disengage and the drivers door wouldn't open. Updated 10/14/10

- Little Elm , TX, USA

I have a 2006 Toyota Avalon limited. On 2 occasions, while in cruise control, I attempted to uptick the stalk to increase speed one mph. The car accelerated rapidly well over one mph whereupon I canceled cruise control and everything became normal.

- Aiken, SC, USA

My wife was driving her 2006 Toyota Avalon and came upon a four way stop. There were two vehicles in front of her that were stopped at the four way stop street. She experience sudden acceleration and the car was uncontrollable and crashed into the back end of a van in front of her that was standing still. It caused $9,000 damage to her car and she was taken to MA hospital for injuries to her leg and knee. The injury to her leg caused her to have a operation on it and daily medical attention for over two months. Now she has a knee problem that will require a replacement operation in the near future. We tried to trade in our Avalon into a Toyota dealer for a new Avalon and the dealer said he would have to reduce the trade value $8,000 due to the car being wrecked. We have had the car into the dealer for all of the recalls fixes but the wife will not drive it because the fear of another sudden acceleration.

- Indianapolis, IN, USA

This morning as I was backing my 2006 Avalon, it backed out on its own without me hitting my gas pedal. When I stopped and put it in drive it then accelerated on its own. I hit brake and turned off car. Last Wednesday (March 3) I had the recalled accelerator fixed at my Toyota dealer.

- Palestine, AR, USA

The contact owned a 2006 Toyota Avalon. While driving approximately 3 mph, the vehicle began spinning around. When the driver applied the brakes, it accelerated and crashed into the fence. The dealer repaired the vehicle; however, the failure continued to occur. The dealer told them that they were unable to fix the vehicle a second time when the failure recurred since there was nothing wrong with it. The contact was able to trade the vehicle in for another vehicle by paying $1,600 on the lease of the failed vehicle. The contact was expecting Toyota to refund them the $1600. The VIN was not available. The failure mileage was 300 and the current mileage was 25,000.

- Sanjacinto, CA, USA

The vehicle does not want to stop. While driving 1 block from an office to an intersection at a speed of less than 30 miles per hour I had to place both feet on brake pedal and mash the pedal to the floor to stop the vehicle at a stop light. Mileage on the vehicle is 23,000 and I have told Toyota this was occurring since I owned the vehicle. I have consistently had Toyota check for problems and none are found. This happens about once every three months. The car is an automatic and this is the best way to describe what it feels like. If you were driving a manual transmission vehicle and were on a hill trying to maintain your position you would be engaging the clutch and the gas pedals, one would be fighting the other. That is what this feels like, the brake fights the gas pedal.

- El Paso, TX, USA

I own a 2006 Toyota Avalon. Before the recalls there was only two occasions where my vehicle acceleration malfunctioned slightly. On Thursday February 25, 2010 I had the recall repairs completed, and now my vehicle acceleration malfunctions every time I drive it. I almost hit another car moving up at a stop sign because my vehicle took off when I pressed slightly on the pedal. The brakes are now malfunctioning, where it doesn't stop upon pressing the brakes.

- Meridian, MS, USA

The contact owns a 2006 Toyota Avalon. She stated that while driving at 35 mph the vehicle accelerated on its own without a warning. She had to increased pressure on the brakes to be able to decrease in speed. This has been occurring ever since the vehicle was purchased. The dealer was contacted and they told her to bring the vehicle in to be diagnosed. The dealer stated that there was nothing wrong with the vehicle.the vehicle had been taken to the dealer 4 additional times and they still cant find the problem. There had been no repairs done to the vehicle. The failure mileage was 400 and current mileage was 39600.

- Crystal Lake , IL, USA

Unintended acceleration of 2006 Toyota Avalon and headlight went off during the emergency stop (note: The Toyota Avalon has not gone through the recall repair but recall repair has been scheduled) I was driving on 101S near mountain view during evening commute hour. I was tapping the gas pedal as 101S was in stop-and-go traffic condition. I felt the Avalon went faster than I was expecting and I did not depress the gas pedal more than light tapping. The Avalon was at 40mph. I applied the brake to slow down the car immediately. I managed to stop my car in time to avoid a collision with a fully stopped vehicle in front of me. I noticed my auto headlight was off when I was in complete stop. I quickly turned the headlight switch from auto position to on and the headlight did not go on. I turned the switch to off position and on position. Then, the light came back on.

- Sunnyvale, CA, USA

Information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6). Was driving on New Jersey turnpike, at around exit 7 tried to avoid a car all of a sudden the car totally was uncontrollable, the brakes would not stop slow it down, ended up crashing against the jersey wall, backed up by itself and turned to face the traffic in the middle lane w/ the utmost effort finally stopped. My husband and I were injured and transported to hospital, when I complained to my insurance co. That what we experienced was beyond normal they suggested we should complain to Toyota, we contacted Toyota and complained asked them to investigate this occurrence and were assured that they will check the wrecked car. State farm insurance received my permission to release the car, and documented the date of communication and the person at Toyota in charge of this investigation but Toyota is playing games or would not return our calls. This has happened before all the news reports about carpets and recalls. The irony is we went ahead and bought a 2009 Toyota Avalon that is how much we trusted this company. We both are still suffering from the injuries of this crash of the car that seemed to be ( possessed ) as I told my insurance adjustor. We do not know which way to go to prove our case and at this stage I am retracting my consent for Toyota to inspect my car. I hope to hear from you [xxx].

- Silver Spring, MD, USA

After having my 2006 Toyota Avalon recall supposedly repaired a week later I was pulling up to my mailbox and applied my brakes, however I realized the car was still accelerating. In order to stop I put my car in neutral and turned the engine off. When I called the dealership to tell them they told me I hadn't had the complete recall done and I needed to bring it back in. They said I needed to have the floor mat as well as the brake override recall done. I tried to tell them the first time I took it in I was suppose to have the floor mat portion of the recall done but they told me my VIN number was not on the list as needing it done. It was not the floor mat that caused the problem though because my floor mat was still attached to the hook and in place. My complaint is mainly because they didn't do the complete recall when I had it in the first time. I had my 9 year old granddaughter with me, if we had been at a busy intersection I could have been hit because my car went at least a half of car length beyond my mail box by the time I got it stopped.

- Whitesville, KY, USA

My car has had the unintended acceleration since I purchased it. I have taken my car in for the repair but my car is still accelerating. While driving car sped up but slowed itself back down to normal speed. This is how its been since purchase. I notice this last time that the speedometer does not reflect the change in speed so I don't know how many mph the car sped over my normal speed of 45mph. I have contacted maker but have not received a response as of today. I am thinking this could be the Prelude to my car speeding up and not stopping.

- Charlotte, NC, USA

The engine surged in my 2006 Toyota Avalon beginning just after purchase (when I thought I must have done something the first few times). This has continued sporadically --the last time was in early December, 2009--about ten times. I have reacted counter-intuitively, tapping the gas pedal lightly, and the engine settles down. Because I have put 89,000 miles on the car driving from san francisco to la each week, I have practiced putting the car in neutral as a first response if my lightly tapping the pedal does not work. The surge has felt as if there is a gremlin in the works of the car pushing the engine. I doubt if this is connected, but my emergency brake sets itself periodically--and I now know if the car is running a bit oddly that I need to check to see if the brake has set itself again. (about 30-40 times since I have owned the car) but the dealers have reacted quizzically. One of my sons has been adamant that I get rid of the car, but I am convinced that if it began to go out of control, by shifting into neutral and then turning off the car if need be should things should remain controlled. I am not near the car or the VIN information but would be happy to provide this at a later date.

- Orinda, CA, USA

S10 appropriate handling re Toyota vehicle sudden acceleration problem, owner of a 2006 Toyota Avalon experienced acceleration problem. Immediately after purchasing the vehicle, the consumer noticed a problem in accelerating, decelerating and shifting gears in the transmission. Since the vehicle was still under warranty, he took the vehicle back to the dealer a few weeks later. The dealer informed the consumer there was no major problem and that a minor adjustment was made to the shifting points in the transmission. The vehicle functioned fine for a while, but then the same problems quickly resurfaced. A Toyota representative stated the problem was not a defect; rather it was the way the vehicle was intended to handle due to its drive-by-wire system. The representative went on to say the drive-by-wire system did not have a traditional rod that connected the pedal to the engine; rather, the pedal went to an electronic system that sensed the intended acceleration and causes the engine to accelerate as directed by the driver. The consumer was told the hesitation he complained of was normal as the system was determining how much to accelerate. The consumer did not believe the sudden acceleration was due to a sticking pedal; rather a problem within the electronic transmission control module, throttle or onboard computer.

- Houston, TX, USA

Dear NHTSA, I own a 2006 Toyota Avalon XLS, purchased used in summer 2009. A few days after ownership, I felt the car wanted to 'speed up on it's own', momentarily. I took it to our local Toyota dealer (Toyota of Iowa city) who felt the problem might be due to 'gear shift set points' in the automatic transmission's computer programming. They reprogrammed the revolutions at which transmission would shift gears while driving. However, the surge problem persists. As time goes by and I read more about Toyota's accelerator problems, I think this might be part of the same issue and so I would like to give you some detailed information on my observations. I have been studying it and made some careful observations about which conditions the surge occurs during, and would like to detail this for you. Perhaps under these conditions you might even be able to reproduce my surge situation in other Toyota. The problem occurs when the engine is warm. In order to ensure that the transmission shifting is not the issue, put the transmission manually into '3'. drive on level road at about 30mph, the engine RPM's will typically be about 2000. Then, release foot from gas pedal. The engine RPM's will drop to about 1000, then spontaneously surge upward to about 1500 RPM. At that point, something seems to limit the RPM's from increasing further. This cannot be the correct operation; when one is not stepping on the gas pedal, the engine should slowly revert back to idle speed (or be governed by 'engine braking effects' if going downhill)...correct? I think that in a situation where this spontaneous limitation of RPM surging might not occur, I could experience a 'wide-open-throttle' situation that everyone is talking about. Please contact me for more details, I think my car might hold some secrets to the mysteries of the Toyota throttle issue. This could potentially save lives.

- Iowa City, IA, USA

The contact owns a 2006 Toyota Avalon. The driver crashed into a post. The vehicle rolled onto the right side of the road. The driver died at the scene. A police report was taken. The contact stated that it was considered a high speed crash. After the crash occurred the contact received a recall notice from the manufacturer concerning the floor mats. The vehicle was destroyed. The insurance company notified the contact that there was nothing that could be done. Another driver stated that the vehicle previously accelerated multiple times. The current and failure mileages were 30,000. Updated 06/24/10 according to the police report, the driver drifted into the median striking a post. The driver overcorrected crossing both westbound travel lanes and the on ramp lane. The vehicle rotated ninety degrees as it crossed the travel lanes and went off the right shoulder facing eastbound and began rolling. The driver was ejected at the right of way fence. The vehicle continued rolling and came to rest on its wheels on the West side of the fence. Updated 06/25/10. Updated 9/29/11

- Boulder, CO, USA

The contact owns a 2006 Toyota Avalon. The driver stated that entering her driveway at 5 mph when the gas pedal was engaged, the vehicle accelerated up to 35 mph. The failure caused the contact to crash into her motor home. There were no injuries. The failure mileage was 1,500. The current mileage was 52,000.

- Harbor Springs, MI, USA

Our 2006 Toyota Avalon (limited) was in cruise control set to highway speed, about 60 to 70 mph. For a reduced speed zone, the car was slowed by 10 mph using cruise control. After the reduced speed zone, cruise control setpoint was increased 10 mph to return to the previous highway speed, and the car continued to accelerate uncontrollably to more than 80 mph. Then, the brake was applied which took car out of cruise control. The car slowed, and cruise control was reset to highway speed. The problem did not recur on that trip in 2006, but there have been other cases of uncontrolled acceleration since the above incident.

- Sioux Falls, SD, USA

I was driving home in my grandmother's 2006 Toyota Avalon at 5:00 a.M. on Jan. 23, 2010 on South lamar in austin, Texas. I was attempting to make a left-hand turn on to barton skyway, I released my foot from the accelerator, the accelerator got stuck, and my vehicle sped up which caused me to crash into a traffic light pole. I suffered a fractured humerus and broken nose.

- Austin, TX, USA