On July 10, 2010 I was parking my '09 Toyota Corolla behind a Ford on the side of the road. As I pressed the brake to come to a stop the car bucked and the engine made a revving noise. My car accelerated into the back of the Ford damaging my bumper and the Ford’s back bumper. On July 12, I called my insurance company and reported the incident. They sent out someone to assess the damages and told me where to take my car to get it fixed. I was told to have a Toyota certified technician check the brakes and inspect what may have caused this. I called my local Toyota dealership and they told me they could not look at the car until the end of July. Since I didn't feel safe driving the car, I decided to take the car to get repaired first and see if the repair place had a Toyota certified technician there. I was told they didn’t but while they waited on parts they would take it to the dealership.
On July 14th, the Toyota dealership told me that they couldn't inspect the brakes because of the recalls and I would have to call the Toyota 800 number and report the incident. On July 15th I called Toyota and relayed the incident to a man on the phone. I was asked what I wanted Toyota to do about it. I said I wanted them to find out what the problem was and fix it, and as it was a Toyota malfunction to have them take the responsibility of the accident. A few days later someone from Toyota called me and told me that within 10-14 days an inspector would be in contact with me about looking at the car. About 3 days later a woman called me to begin what I thought was the inspection process.
Over a week I was continually calling my inspector to talk to her about what was going on. Every time I called I got her voicemail and it would take her between 3 hrs to 2 days to call me back, while I continued to leave her messages. After a week of this, I called left 2 messages over 2 days and asked her for a timeline of when this inspection would be done so my Toyota could be fixed and I could get my car back. She told me an inspector would contact me in 5 days. I have been without a car for almost 3 weeks now and my insurance company can only give me a rental for 3 days, since that's the estimated time of the repairs. But they can't repair the car until it is inspected. Toyota refuses to give me a rental car and basically told me to pay for one myself. Toyota is not taking an ownership of faulty construction and runaway brakes.
On July 10, 2010 I was parking my '09 Toyota Corolla behind a Ford on the side of the road. As I pressed the brake to come to a stop the car bucked and the engine made a revving noise. My car accelerated into the back of the Ford damaging my bumper and the Ford’s back bumper. On July 12, I called my insurance company and reported the incident. They sent out someone to assess the damages and told me where to take my car to get it fixed. I was told to have a Toyota certified technician check the brakes and inspect what may have caused this. I called my local Toyota dealership and they told me they could not look at the car until the end of July. Since I didn't feel safe driving the car, I decided to take the car to get repaired first and see if the repair place had a Toyota certified technician there. I was told they didn’t but while they waited on parts they would take it to the dealership.
On July 14th, the Toyota dealership told me that they couldn't inspect the brakes because of the recalls and I would have to call the Toyota 800 number and report the incident. On July 15th I called Toyota and relayed the incident to a man on the phone. I was asked what I wanted Toyota to do about it. I said I wanted them to find out what the problem was and fix it, and as it was a Toyota malfunction to have them take the responsibility of the accident. A few days later someone from Toyota called me and told me that within 10-14 days an inspector would be in contact with me about looking at the car. About 3 days later a woman called me to begin what I thought was the inspection process.
Over a week I was continually calling my inspector to talk to her about what was going on. Every time I called I got her voicemail and it would take her between 3 hrs to 2 days to call me back, while I continued to leave her messages. After a week of this, I called left 2 messages over 2 days and asked her for a timeline of when this inspection would be done so my Toyota could be fixed and I could get my car back. She told me an inspector would contact me in 5 days. I have been without a car for almost 3 weeks now and my insurance company can only give me a rental for 3 days, since that's the estimated time of the repairs. But they can't repair the car until it is inspected. Toyota refuses to give me a rental car and basically told me to pay for one myself. Toyota is not taking an ownership of faulty construction and runaway brakes.
- Gwenna C., Canonsburg, PA, US