1996 Toyota Camry: sudden unintended acceleration

Filed Nov 22, 2016 · Acceleration · 100,000 miles · MI · crash · 1 injury

Tl* the contact owned a 1996 toyota camry. While driving 65 MPH, the contact heard an abnormal clicking noise coming from the vehicle. The vehicle began to speed up in excess of 100 MPH and crashed head on into a guardrail. The air bags deployed. A police report was filed. The contact sustained brain injuries that required medical attention. The vehicle was towed and deemed destroyed. The contact stated that this was the second time the vehicle accelerated independently. The manufacturer was contacted after the first occurrence and advised to have the vehicle diagnosed at a toyota dealer. The vehicle was taken to the dealer; however, the specific details of the diagnosis and repair could not be provided. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure recurred. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 100,000. ..updated 05/09/17 *bf consumer replaced the part causing unintended acceleration with new part on july 26,2013. Consumer had a car accident on november 25,2013. Updated 9/5/18

Filed Aug 28, 2015 · 171,750 miles · ME

I had driven the car for about 15 minutes when the gas pedal seemed to be sucked to the floor. The car suddenly accelerated to 50 and I could barely get it to stop. I had it towed to a repair shop; but they could not find anything wrong. I'm not crazy. This is the 2nd time in 2 weeks that this has happened. What is wrong?

Filed Aug 15, 2015 · Fuel system · 77,000 miles · NE · crash

Unintended acceleration. I was turning a corner with my foot slightly on the brake. Suddenly the car lunged ahead at a fast speed without me having my foot on the gas pedal. Then jumped a curb and flattened a stop sign. The car was then heading towards a chain-link fence surrounding a multitude of high electrical towers. I turned the wheel to my right and bounced down the curb onto the street. I was heading towards some lawn mower trailers. I had both feet on the brake pressing down as hard as I could, but the car did not slow down. Suddenly the engine died and the car stopped. Toyota towed the car in for inspection. They said they couldn't find anything wrong with it. I am afraid to drive it now and I am without a car. I checked the internet and saw that this unintended acceleration happened with many 1996 models. It was a terrifying experoence. I could have killed someone. There was a lawn crew working in the area at the time this occurred. Do I have any recourse? The date this happened was first mid-week in april, 2015. Thank you.

Filed Oct 20, 2011 · Acceleration · 185,257 miles · VA

Tl* the contact owns a 1996 toyota camry. The contact was driving 45 MPH when the vehicle suddenly accelerated. The brake was depressed and the gear was placed in neutral but the engine rpms increased to 5000. The contact noticed that the accelerator pedal did not return to idle position and remains stuck in open throttle. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer to be diagnosed or repaired. The failure and the current mileage was 185,257.

Filed Apr 15, 2010 · Acceleration · 183,000 miles · TX

My 1996 toyota camry experienced unintended acceleration and became difficult to control on april 12, 2010. While driving home from work (a distance of 26 miles) I entered the freeway and gave my car gas to move into the second from the left hand lane. After getting into the proper lane, the car behaved in the same way as a car after pressing the resume button, after disabling cruise control. This happened at 4:30p during the start of rush hour traffic. The only way I could keep from hitting another vehicle was to floor the brake. At one point the car raced to speeds of 65-75 MPH. I could tell that at the 75 MPH range that I was very likely to hit the car in front of me. To prevent this I briefly placed the car in neutral, then switched it into reverse twice in quick succession. The camry made a horrible noise, but did slow down after that. The brakes seemed to be unable to engage properly from that point, possibly due to excessive use. I was able to successfully drive to the dealership after that. The dealer examined the car, test drove it and stated that they could find no problem with the car. Statement from spouse: as a recently retired engineer from a large research laboratory, I'd like to add my comments: I spent 33 years designing laboratory experiments to run safely and reliably. Over those years, I formed the opinion that lab equipment should be designed so that malfunctions cause only minor problems, not major ones. Since toyota's problems with unintended acceleration seem to affect vehicles of various ages and designs, I suspect the root cause is not a specific piece of hardware, but rather a failure to design their equipment so that malfunctions cause only minor problems, not major ones. Perhaps there are components of their vehicles that fail in a way that gives the vehicle full power, whereas a safer failure mode would be have no power.

Filed Mar 24, 2010 · Acceleration · MN · crash · 2 injuries

Re: inspection of 1996 toyota camry involved in 2006 fatal crash, 1996 toyota camry 4 door, model lxs (minnesota vehicle license kjl 696) state of minnesota v. Koua fang lee(criminal vehicular homicide). *twx updated 9/29/11*cw the driver of the toyota was convicted in 2007 of criminal vehicular homicide-gross negligence which killed three people and severely injured two others. The defendants attorney has raised concerns that a sudden acceleration defect in the toyota camry may have caused the crash. Updated 03/30/10. (county attorney requested that the federal safety agency participate in the inspection of the vehicle) updated 04/07/10 received follow-up letter. Updated 04/07/10.

Filed Mar 17, 2010 · Acceleration · 102,000 miles · MA

Tl* the contact owned a 1996 toyota camry. While traveling at speeds of 40 MPH depressing the brake pedal, the vehicle would not stop and proceeded to abnormally accelerate. She was able to finally stop the vehicle and upon further inspection, observed that the accelerator pedal had collapsed in the open throttle position. The vehicle was towed to a local mechanic who released the wedged accelerator cable. On a separate occasion, while depressing the brake pedal, the vehicle abnormally accelerated a second time. She was able to bring the vehicle to a stop and drive onto the emergency lane without incident. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where repairs were made for the previous failure. The contact experienced the unintended acceleration failure one additional time while traveling in snowy weather conditions. The contact stated that she did not feel safe in the vehicle and had a relative follow her home in case of additional failures. The approximate failure mileage was 102,000 and the current mileage was 104,000.

Filed Mar 16, 2010 · Acceleration · 50,000 miles · NJ

Tl*-the contact owns a 1996 toyota camry. The contact was driving approximately 45 MPH. When pressure was applied to the accelerator pedal the vehicle surged forward repeatedly. The brakes were engaged and the vehicle slowed down. The vehicle had not ben repaired at the time of the complaint. The failure mileage was 50,000. The current mileage was 62,000. The VIN was unavailable

Filed Mar 2, 2010 · Acceleration · 311,000 miles · MN

I entered the freeway on-ramp and accelerated. The car continued to accelerate even after I took my foot off the gas pedal. I kicked the pedal down a couple times to get it unstuck. Instead of coming unstuck, it stuck all the way to the floor. (the engine accelerated to the maximum amount. I think the actual pedal came back up to the idle position.) the brakes slowed the car some when I pushed on the pedal with both feet with my hands on the steering wheel and standing up so all my weight and strength was on the brake. The brakes smelled of burning and I thought for a second that maybe I was getting it under control. However, when I looked at the speedometer, it read 95 and the brakes were smoking and smelling quite strong. I put the car into neutral and continued to push hard on the brake. It slowed down to maybe to 65 or so. By then the engine was running so fast I thought it would blow up and it was night on a relatively deserted freeway so I put it back into gear and continued this pattern for approximately 8 miles - speeding up to way past 95, riding the brakes until they smoked and smelled too much (I thought they would become useless if I let them burn up) putting it into neutral and slowing down for as long as I thought was ok before blowing the engine, repeat, etc.. Just prior to my exit, the unintended acceleration stopped and I got off onto the side streets. When I accelerated after a stop sign, the accelerator stuck but I immediately put it into neutral and then shut the key off, stopping the engine. It did this two more times. The repair shop cleaned the throttle body and it has not happened again. I was in the army infantry during the 60's but had not had a flashback for a very long time. I had flashbacks of this experience several times when entering a freeway entrance ramp. It was a most terrifying experience and research has shown that our ability to respond logically is greatly diminished under that high stress.

Filed Feb 26, 2010 · Acceleration, Airbags · 80,000 miles · OK · crash · 3 injuries

1996 camry was stopped at a red light then surged forward into the intersection where it was struck by a motorcycle and pick-up truck. Camry and motorcycle both totaled. Airbags in camry didn't deploy on impact but had a delay. Police involved with case. Camry driver cited for failure to yield to a red light which driver was stopped at initially. No further investigation. With toyota in the news, found reports of other 1996 camry's with sudden acceleration so filed this complaint. Family member was owner and driver of camry. Motorcycle driver sustained injuries that resulted in death 5 years later. *tr updated 05/10/10 *bf updated 07/08/10.

Filed Feb 25, 2010 · Acceleration, Brakes · GA

S10 appropriate handling re toyota safety recall for sudden acceleration. *tgw during the months of may through july 2009, the consumer experienced problems with the brakes. Off and on, the brake pedal would go all the way to the floor. The vehicle would not stop, until the ignition was turned off. There was a strange odor coming from under the hood. However, the consumer was able to control the vehicle. It would generally happen when attempting a routine stop. The vehicle was taken to a repair shop, but they couldn't find anything wrong with the vehicle. Then on august 19, 2009, the vehicle suddenly accelerated; the brakes did not work and the vehicle was accelerating at a high rate of speed. As the consumer desperately shifted from neutral, second and third gear, she was unable to control the vehicle. She was able to weave in between cars as there was no place for her to pull over without crashing. She put on her hazard lights and beeped the horn to warn other drivers. She then swung into a wide parking lot entrance and slammed the gear into park and came to an abrupt halt.

Filed Feb 3, 2010 · Acceleration · CA

Tl* the contact owns a 1996 toyota camry. The contact states that while driving at 65 MPH when placing her foot on the brake and slowing down, the vehicle accelerated on its own. By putting extreme pressure on the brake, she was able to pull over and turned off the vehicle. The contact then turned the vehicle on and the vehicle resumed normal operation. This has occurred only once. The vehicle was then taken in to the dealer and they stated that there was nothing wrong with the vehicle and that her vehicle was not involved in the recent recall for toyota. There have been no repairs done to the vehicle . The current mileage is 101046. Updated 03/09/10. *lj updated 06/14/10.