2009 Toyota Camry Hybrid acceleration problems

Filed Feb 26, 2018 · Acceleration, Brakes · 107,683 miles · CA · crash

Tl* the contact owned a 2009 toyota camry hybrid. While the contact's husband was driving 5 MPH, the brake pedal was depressed and the vehicle inadvertently accelerated without warning. As a result, the vehicle crashed into a brick wall. There were no injuries and a police report was not filed. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was destroyed. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 107,683.

Filed Jan 1, 2015 · Acceleration, Brakes · 69,300 miles · AZ

I started the car and everything seemed normal. I started accelerating down the street and the dashboard lights up with all kinds of warning lights. Mileage was between 69000-69450. The traction control, brake, master warning light, ABS and the center display said "check vsc system". I continued to coast until a nearby stop sign and when applying pressure to brake, to my horror the brakes had an almost complete failure. I immediately went home, less than a mile away and the brakes continued to malfunction the whole way. I was able to stop but only with severe pressure to the brake peddle which only produced slight braking. There was no accident. Coming back to the car the next day the warning dash lights were off and vehicle was working normal again. However, this also happened the following day halfway through a short trip across town. I took it to the dealer and they replaced a recall part, the brake fluid reservoir. They checked the computer for codes and these codes did not show up in the code history despite it being 2 days before. The problem has been intermittent and did not happen the day I took it in to the dealership. I explained to them the problems, sent them pictures of the dash lights I took from my phone, and printed out and gave them articles such as this: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/feds-investigate-braking-problems-in-toyota-camry-hybrid-012814.html but because they were not able to duplicate the problem they assured me the vehicle was working properly. They did fix the brake reservoir and I picked the car up today. Only time will tell if the safety of the vehicle remains. Thanks for listening. *tr updated 3/17/16

Filed Dec 9, 2014 · Acceleration, Brakes · 90,000 miles · LA

The warning panel indicated "check vsc system," along with a loud beeping noise. My brakes went out completely and as I pumped the brakes the went down to the floor. The car slowed but did not come toa complete stop. In order to avoid hitting an 18 wheeler in front of me, I had to pull over to the side and grazed my car against the metal part of a railing. When I brought it to toyota, they said it was a brake actuator and quoted me $3500 to fix the problem.

Filed Oct 27, 2014 · Acceleration, Brakes · 100,000 miles · KY

Vsc system warning light comes on, and the brakes become very "soft", nearly failing. This only happens when temperatures reach 50 degrees or below, and is quite common when it's around freezing or below.

Filed Aug 10, 2014 · Acceleration, Brakes · 194,000 miles · SC

The check vsc system warning came on along with ABS and brake light warnings. Out of the blue the car was very hard to stop. Was lucky to be in a parking lot at the time. Had the car towed home. The tow driver did not see the warning lights when he was getting the car in position to tow it. Check online and saw that many other people where having the same issue that I was having. I think the car is unsafe and a recall should be issued before people are killed.

Filed Jun 4, 2014 · Acceleration · 50,000 miles · MA

In the five years I have owned the car, four times it has accelerated rapidly for no reason. The car just jumps forward by 5 or 6 feet. The last time, I was parking the car, with my foot barely on the accelerator. It suddenly leaped forward. I would have hit a pedestrian on the sidewalk, except that the car got stuck on a snowbank. I have reported these incidents to toyota, which investigated and said there was nothing wrong with the car.

Filed May 23, 2014 · Acceleration, Brakes · 70,000 miles · MI

Driving down the road all lights on dash appeared (ABS, trac, brake, check engine, master warning, check vsc system) with no warning and complete brake loss followed with it, then it would disappear and brakes functioned properly, seems temp related as it would only happen on cold days, and when car is cold early in the morning, during day when engine warm everything worked fine, tech could not find anything wrong with the car twice until left over night found out to be faulty brake actuator assembly. This is only related to camry hybrids not prius or other toyota hybrids, my whole family drives toyotas hybrids father in law and 2 brothers have priuses I also had prius for long time never had issue, now me and my wife switched to camry hybrids and both camry hybrids experienced same brake failure with faulty brake actuator, no coincidence, there is something unique about camry hybrid brake actuator that makes it go bad in very dangerous way, problem occurs sudden and disappears without trace for technician to find out what's wrong " everything is fine car is safe to drive" is what they said, but in morning commute brakes failed again. I don't care the replacement part costs $1700 but its the same part that will fail again who know when. Toyota needs replace the actuators with ones that are on priuses or address the issue and redesign the unit.

Filed Mar 31, 2014 · Acceleration, Brakes · 134,631 miles · PA

While driving on sunday, march 30, 2013 I lost the power braking. This is the second time since that this happened. The first time was september 18, 2012. I was able to pull the car over safely but it was an extremely scary situation. Had I been on a highway at 55-65 MPH I would have never been able to stop the car and would have likely caused an accident. A message appeared on my dashboard indicating to "check vsc system". Several other lights were lit up as well including the word "brake". After doing some online research and finding out that this same thing was reported by other consumers I thought it best that I reach out to see if a recall is warranted.

Filed Mar 31, 2014 · Acceleration, Brakes · 59,247 miles · HI

While pulling into parking lot the warning lite & display said vsc with two brake related symbols turned on & brakes lost its power assist. Was able drive home while driving slowly giving a lot of room to stop, made a appointment with toyota dealership. Drove down was charged to troubleshoot they found the brake accumulator had internal failure, also was informed for that area of the car is out of warranty, so it would cost $4200 for parts & labor. I don't have that kind of spare coin sitting around. So I brought it home & parked it, I hope we can drive toyota to make a recall. Brake hydraulic parts should last 100,000 miles.

Filed Mar 22, 2014 · Acceleration, Brakes · 79,000 miles · AZ

My 2009 camry hybrid with 79,000 miles had a complete brake failure. The check vsc system light and the check engine red triangle with exclamation point light came on after the brakes totally failed. There had been a buzzing/ hissing sound that is similar to the normal hybrid battery recharging sound but much more often - almost constant. Car had to be towed to the toyota dealership as it was unsafe to operate, no braking power whatsoever. Pedal was rock hard. Dealer says it is the brake actuator and gave an estimate of $3000 to repair it! They claim to have no knowledge of problems with this, yet an investigation by the federal safety agency was implemented in january of this year due to many complaints. This is an absolute safety hazard, had I been at highway speeds or in a congested area an accident would have occurred. Toyota needs to recall these vehicles and this model year - 2009 - needs to be included in the investigation.