2007 Toyota Camry. Consumer states cruise control problems. The consumer stated when he approached a slow moving vehicle, he tapped the brake to cancel the cruise control. When he had the opportunity to pass the slow moving vehicle, he used the resume button and the vehicle started to accelerate. He noticed that when he reached a speed of 77/78 mph, the vehicle continued to accelerate and when it exceeded 80 mph, he disengaged the cruise control and every thing returned to normal under manual acceleration. He later engaged the cruise control and it functioned well. The consumer recently had a 40,000 mile inspection done. Two days later, on a short trip, not driving more than 40 mph, the consumer heard a pop sound in the dashboard and when returning home, he discovered the cruise control did not work.

- Okeechobee, FL, USA

The contact owns a 2007 Toyota Camry. While pulling into a rest area with the cruise control set at 70 mph, the contact could not disengage the cruise control. He crashed into a pole. The vehicle will be taken to the dealer for repair. The manufacturer was notified. The Minnesota state police filed report number 0810176. The current mileage was 12,000 and failure mileage was 11,000. Updated 06/16/08

- Waterloo , IA, USA

The cruise control/transmission on my 2007 Camry causes the car to operate in an unsafe manner. When the cruise control is engaged, due to its sensitivity, the transmission goes through a series of abrupt downshifts causing the car to accelerate and exceed the cruise control speed setting. At this point, the car looses speed and the transmission then shifts back into overdrive. The downshifting starts again until the speed control setting is exceeded. On a long hill, it is not uncommon for the transmission to sequence between overdrive and third gear four or five times. The exceeding of the cruise control setting is very dangerous. I have had to engage the brakes to avoid an accident with traffic ahead of me. I have brought the car back to the dealer for this problem and have been told that he can do nothing until Toyota comes up with a fix. I have written two letters to Toyota asking them to fix this problem they have not replied to either letter.

- Ballston Spa, NY, USA

The cruise control on our 2007 Toyota Camry xle (4 cyl) is an extreme safety hazard to the point we cannot use it. When traveling on a highway with the cruise control set it will downshift and surge 5-10 miles faster than setting when encountering the slightest hill. When we brought this to our servicing dealers attention on two occasions they report it as operating correctly but tell us they and Toyota are aware of the problem but there is no fix for it. The problem is repeated in similar complaints all over this site and needs to be addressed. This problem is serious enough for the NHTSA to demand a recall from Toyota to fix it. If they cannot address this issue in a reasonable time frame they should be prevented from selling another Camry until they can solve the problem. I am urging the NHTSA to take this issue seriously and respond accordingly.

- Succasunna, NJ, USA

I purchased my Camry le 4 cylinder on 1/31/07, and I had no problems initially. However, when I used the cruise control, the car downshifts to third gear on a slight incline for no apparent reason. Three attempts have been made to diagnose/correct the problem with my car's cruise control; however, the service department nor Toyota technical services does not know how to correct the problem. Information was sent the data to Toyota for further analysis. When the car is in cruise control and going down the highway at 60 mph and entering an incline, the car will shift between fourth (2600 RPM surges to 2800 RPM) and third gear (3800 RPM to 4000 RPM). At 70 mph and the car was in cruise control and going down the interstate highway on flat surface, entering an incline, the car skipped fourth and down shifted to third gear. The tack registered 5000 RPM and then settled back to 4500 RPM. It appears that the cruise control is overcorrection when it should do nothing. The car is more than capable of going up small inclines without ever down shifting out of overdrive into third gear. The car performs well out of cruise control. This problem in typical to all 2007 and 2008 4 cylinder Camry's.

- Richfield, NC, USA

I purchased a 2007 Camry le 4 cylinder automatic transmission in 9/06. The performance of this car has been disappointing. On the 1st road trip, I noticed problems with the cruise. The car downshifted 2 gears on inclines and the engine would rev at app. 5000 rpms. At the top of the incline, the car's speed would increase 5-10 miles per hour causing me to have to apply the brakes to disconnect the cruise. My husband took the car to the Toyota dealership where we purchased this car and he was told this was expected and was designed to do this. To correct, the problem we could not use the cruise when driving up inclines. The problem was not corrected. After several road trips and noticing the gas mileage was the same on the highway as in the city, we took the car back to the dealer. This time, we were told that the "computer could not see hills coming and to compensate this problem, we would need to override the cruise on hills by using the accelerator and increasing our speed just slightly." At this visit we also discussed a problem with hesitation upon accelerating from a stop. We were told that a new computer chip may fix that problem and the chip was replaced. Now the problem is intermittent--the car will hesitated intermittently when attempting to pass a vehicle, or accelerating from a stop-- the problem went from only sluggish acceleration from a stop to being intermittent at any time. My husband then asked the Toyota dealership for the southeastern regional office for Toyota to address the problem with them, he was told the number could not be given out to consumers. He then asked if the office could be contacted by the dealer requesting the office to contact my husband. He was told that could not happen either. Toyota has been totally uncooperative. In one hour's time, decelerated and accelerated with the cruise 50 times. The dealership knew this was a problem with 4 cylinder and it was never mentioned to us when looking at the vehicle.

- Easley, SC, USA

Cruise control and hesitation. I recorded one day the number of times the cruise control jumped down 2 gears on the interstate in Florida. 50 times in 1 hour. The tac displays a RPM of 2,300 then it jumps to 3,400 then down shifts again to 5,400 RPM. Yes, it is designed to do this. Toyota said. My previous Camry did not do this. My complaint is, that if Toyota disclosed this 'design flaw' to any potential customer, they would not sell any 2007 4 cyl. Camry. The hesitation is very unsafe, yet they say it is operating as 'designed'. a 1-3 second delay is not acceptable. I am sure that the gas tank was not designed to explode on a rear end collisions on a Ford pinto, but it did. The Ford Explorer was not designed to rollover, but it did. The chev. Vegas aluminum engine was not designed to fail, but it did. The 'corvair' unsafe at any speed was not designed to be unsafe, but it was. Yes, all I hear is that it is 'designed' to do this. I am requesting that due to Toyota neglecting to 'disclose' these known issues that they buy this unsafe car back. I am currently in arbitration. We shall see. If this fails, I will seek the lemon law in my state.

- Easley, SC, USA

On the interstate, the cruise control on my 2007 Camry le 4 cylinder car causes over-aggressive acceleration (5 - 3 downshift) when resume is selected at 10 - 15 mph below set speed. The car overshoots set speed by 2 - 3 mph and often causes a collision potential with the car in front. I have had to slam on the brakes several times to regain control of the car and avoid a collision. The car also over-aggressively accelerates (5 - 4 downshift) when topping out on interstate overpasses - often overshooting set speed.

- The Villages, FL, USA

Cruise control is extremely erratic and is completely unusable. Its is scary and dangerous. I have tried to use it about 5 or 6 times. Always a problem. This may be related to the acceleration hesitation and engine revving problems previously referenced. ODI number 10191074.

- Arvada, CO, USA

I purchased a new 2007 Toyota Camry in June 2006. After returning the car to the dealership several times because of the sluggish acceleration from a stop was consistent and the passing gear downshift felt delayed as if there was a communication lag between the tcm and actual switching of the shift solenoids at speeds less than 50 mph. The cruise control will not set speed. On steeper grades and on the interstate the down shifts are very frequent and at times very dramatic. When cresting a steep hill the transmission down shifts at the crest and takes 2 or 3 seconds to release the throttle, picking up anywhere from 10 to 15 mph and I have to break suddenly in order to slow the car down. I was told by Toyota representative that a technical service bulletin came out in September of 2006 for an ECM calibration enhancement to shifting performance and smoothness and this new computer software had to be downloaded in the car and this would recalibrate ECM (PCM) engine & transmission. The catcher to this is that the customer has to request this download before the dealership will follow through. If you don't know about the bulletin how can an average customer request this? the download was performed on this car but didn't help any. The dealership took the car back and I was given a new one in Dec. 2006. Same thing with this one. I have been through national center for dispute settlement with an appointed arbitrator who had the car inspected by an ase independent inspector. He agreed with the above but in conclusion stated that Toyota should "diagnose and repair as necessary". I feel that this is a no win situation for the consumer and Toyota knows all about the problems but just doesn't know how to correct them. Because of the lack of safety the "lemon law" should be put into effect and these cars recalled. Toyota is not going to take responsibility unless forced. This is my first and last Toyota vehicle.

- Kodak, TN, USA

The contact owns a 2007 Toyota Camry le. While driving 65 mph, the contact activated the cruise control. She accelerated to 75 mph while attempting to pass a vehicle with the cruise control still activated. The contact attempted to decelerate by tapping the brake pedal to release the cruise control. After three to four attempts, the cruise control failed to shut off. The vehicle felt as if it would accelerate and the cruise control remain activated. The vehicle began decelerating once her foot remained on the brake pedal, otherwise, if she were to release the pedal, the vehicle would accelerate again. The contact pulled off the road, applied the emergency brake, and shut off the vehicle. When she restarted the vehicle, it began operating normally, however she did not activate the cruise control again. The Toyota dealer could not locate the cause of failure. A couple of weeks later, a mechanic inspected the vehicle and also found no failure. The current mileage is 16,700 and failure mileage was 16,000.

- Prairie City , OR, USA

Throttle and transmission hesitation when starting out from stop, and when attempting to increase speed, ie: Hazard avoidance, followed by speed overshoot. Cruise control over reacted to slight grade increase, such as an overpass, by down shifting the transmission 1 to 2 gears and accelerating past set speed by 7 to 10 mph. Car will slow to set speed and repeat the down shifting and acceleration until the cruise control was turned off or the road was leveled. During long up hill driving the cruise control has to be turned off completely as it presented a great possibility of causing an accident. The dealer maintaied S that the engine, transmission, and cruise control operated normally.

- Hollister, CA, USA

- the contact owns a 2007 Toyota Camry, and stated that he set the cruise control at 65 mph. While the vehicle was going up hill the cruise control decreased from 65 mph to 55 mph. Once the vehicle was going down hill the vehicle accelerated to almost 80 mph. The contact took vehicle to the dealer, and they stated that the cruise controlwas designed to operate the way it did. The failure mileage was at 6,400.

- Mason, OH, USA

TL - the contact called regarding a 2007 Toyota Camry. The contact stated the cruise control was set to 65 mph. The vehicle accelerated to 90 mph. The contact stated he stepped on the brakes and the vehicle slowed down. The contact has not used the cruise control again. The contact took the vehicle in for diagnosis and was told the 2007 cruise control system is not designed well and that there is nothing they can do. The failure mileage was 4000. Kb this condition only occurs when the consumer is going down a steep hill. No problem was experienced other than on steep down hill roadways. This may be a normal condition as the vehicle apparently does not apply the brake to control vehicle speed, according to the owner's manual and the dealership. * dsy

- Flaggstaff, AZ, USA

When using the cruise control then speed fluctuates on slight grades and the car suddenly downshifts to 4th and sometimes to 3rd this is alarming and should not do this > Toyota says this is normal my other 4 cyl 2002 Camry did not do this.

- Fulton, NY, USA

: the contact stated while driving up a small incline at 40mph with the cruise control activated, the vehicle accelerated without warning. Upon inspecting the vehicle the dealership determined the sudden acceleration was normal.

- Montrose, PA, USA