Toyota Camry sudden acceleration problems

Filed Nov 8, 2026 · Acceleration · PA · crash

On XXX in [XXX], my well-maintained 2003 Toyota Camry LE (69,019 miles) experienced Sudden Unintended Acceleration (SUA). After stopping with my foot on the brake, I shifted into reverse without touching the accelerator. The engine surged to full throttle, launching backward into a parked car (totaled) and then surging forward uncontrollably around my cul-de-sac while I slammed on the hard, ineffective brake pedal. No Check Engine light was on before or after, and two local mechanics found no stored Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs). I filed Toyota Claim #XXX. On XXX, Toyota’s contractor, Engineering Analysis Associates (EAA), inspected the car and read the EDR at Peruzzi Toyota. On XXX, Toyota denied my claim, finding no mechanical defect and noting an aftermarket floor mat over the OEM mat. Toyota's denial ignores key facts: (1) The aftermarket mat has a heavy nibbed rubber backing, cannot slide, sits well clear of the pedals, and never trapped the accelerator. (2) As proven in Bookout v. Toyota, transient ETCS-i software freezes ("task death") hold the throttle open without setting fault codes and self-clear when turned off, while an open throttle depletes engine vacuum and starves the power brakes. (3) Toyota excluded 2002–2004 Camrys from its Brake Override System software updates. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Filed Oct 16, 2026 · Airbags, Brakes · PA · crash

Sudden Unintended Acceleration: I had been out doing errands in the morning. I returned home, pulling up in front of my townhouse which is on a cul de sac. After gently coming to a stop, I planned to back up just a bit to park my car along the curb. (I did not have my foot on the accelerator, as the car normally goes gently backwards when you put it in reverse.) When I put it in R, the car accelerated backwards and crashed into a car that was parked along the curb about 15-20 ft behind me. I instinctively put the car in D to stop going uncontrollably backwards. The car shot forward; the brakes did not work. The car was out of control, making very loud revving sounds and loud screeching sounds from slamming on the brakes. Somehow, it did finally come to a stop by itself ¾ of the way around the cul de sac. Wanting to get out of the middle of the street, I instinctively turned the car back on and drove it slowly to my driveway. The car functioned normally. I could have badly injured or killed someone; in my cul de sac, there is often a lot of activity involving people of all ages, including children and babies. A police report exists. The car I hit was totaled. I had the car towed to my mechanic. He said the car didn’t throw any codes. He inspected it, but did not find anything wrong with it. The local Toyota dealership refuses to touch it because it’s been in an accident. I called Toyota (Plano TX) on 10/5: filed a claim with them on 10/7. A 3rd third-party inspector from Engineering Analysis Associates inspected the car and did a Bosch download from the black box on 10/14. There were no warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure. I don’t absolutely know which component or system failed or malfunctioned. I am wondering if it’s a "ghost" software glitch (see Bookout vs Toyota litigation). Something similar happened to my husband in April 2025 when he was parking in a parking lot. The car is available for inspection upon request.

Filed Oct 3, 2026 · Acceleration · MD

I own a 2024 Toyota Camry LE. The vehicle has an intermittent and unpredictable hesitation when I press the accelerator. At times, the vehicle does not respond normally to accelerator input and hesitates before providing power. After the hesitation, the vehicle can suddenly surge forward. This creates a significant safety concern because predictable acceleration is necessary when merging into traffic, entering an intersection, making a turn, or accelerating from a stop. I have experienced situations where I could not rely on the vehicle to accelerate when needed, followed by an unexpected surge in acceleration. The problem appears to involve the vehicle's powertrain/transmission and/or its electronic control system, although I cannot identify the specific cause. I am reporting this as a safety defect because the unpredictable loss of acceleration followed by sudden acceleration could increase the risk of a collision. The vehicle is available for inspection. I request that the federal safety agency investigate whether this condition represents a safety-related defect affecting the 2024 Toyota Camry.

Filed Jun 15, 2026 · Engine · UT · crash

June 9,2026 I was in gig harbor washington visiting my son. I pulled into the right side of the drive way as I have done a 1000 times over the years. I was slowly pulling up to the right side of the garage and the car surged forward at full speed 5 ft away. It smashed the front of the house. Filed a claim with USAA car insurance. Last year in August of 2025 I was in the Tag n Go car wash. I pulled up they stopped me and I put the car in neutral. This let the car wash pull my car throught the car wash on a one track driver side system. My windshield was covered with soap and the car surged forward and hit the SUV in front of me. When the soap rinsed off I wash under the car in front of me. I put the car in reverse from neutral. It caused no damage to the car in front but caused about $1700.00 damage to my car. The car wash had video that showed my car surge forward and hit the car in front of me. This is two incidents in 11 months of my camry surging forward.

Filed Jun 13, 2026 · Transmission · CT

The 8-speed automatic transmission (Aisin UB80, the 4-cylinder variant of the UA80 family) failed at approximately 53,000 miles. Symptoms prior to failure: harsh shifting, RPM flare to 4,000 between gears before hard engagement ("thud"), loss of power in Reverse, and a metal-on-metal noise from inside the transmission when power was applied. No dashboard warning lights illuminated at any point. Safety risk: the vehicle would not shift normally and lost power in Reverse, with the engine revving to high RPM before abrupt gear engagement. This created a real risk of sudden loss of forward propulsion in traffic, abrupt unintended acceleration on engagement, and inability to safely reverse. The failure occurred without prior warning indicators. The problem was confirmed by both an independent service center and an authorized Toyota dealer. The Toyota dealer performed a road test and a transmission fluid sample analysis. The dealer documented, verbatim: "vehicle will rev up to 4k before shifting and will only shift if you let off the gas... took a transmission fluid sample and found fluid was burnt with clutch pack material suspended in fluid. Transmission will need to be replaced." Quoted repair: approximately $10,747. The failure mechanism — burnt fluid with suspended clutch pack material from heat-driven internal wear — matches the defect alleged in three active federal class-action lawsuits naming this transmission family (filed in U.S. District Courts in Texas, California, and New Jersey, late 2025 through early 2026). It also matches multiple Toyota Technical Service Bulletins (T-SB-0330-17, T-SB-0010-18, T-SB-0152-19) and the defect Toyota has acknowledged on the 2017-2018 Sienna and Highlander under Customer Support Program ZJC by extending warranty to 10 years/unlimited miles on the same transmission family. The failed transmission is no longer in my possession; the vehicle has been sold. Diagnostic documentation is available upon request.

Filed May 11, 2026 · Engine · 10,000 miles · PA

The contact owns a 2023 Toyota Camry. The contact stated that while stopped on several occasions, the vehicle suddenly accelerated inadvertently to approximately 6000 RPM. The contact stated the the failure lasted for approximately 15 seconds and came down to normal RPMs. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where the failure was not able to be replicated. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximal 10,000.

Filed May 6, 2026 · Acceleration · 75,000 miles · MA · crash · 1 injury

The contact owns a 2003 Toyota Camry. The contact stated that the vehicle would suddenly accelerate or lunge forward and had done so several times, both while idle, pressing the brakes, and while driving at various speeds. Suddenly accelerated downhill, and when approaching the inner section, the contact immediately turned the vehicle to avoid hitting another vehicle and ended up crashing into a nearby residence's garage, causing the vehicle to stop. The air bags did not deploy. The garage door was damaged, and the contact's vehicle's front-end was damaged. A police report was filed. The contact had stated they had experienced sleep issues and a fear of driving the vehicle since the incident. The vehicle was able to be driven to the contact's residence. The vehicle had not been driven since. The contact spoke with a certified mechanic who informed them it was a known issue and of the federal safety agency Campaign Number: 09V388000 (Vehicle Speed Control), which related to their experienced failure. The mechanic did not repair the vehicle. The dealer was contacted, and it was confirmed that the VIN was not included in the federal safety agency Campaign Number: 09V388000 (Vehicle Speed Control). The manufacturer was informed of the failure, and they too confirmed that the VIN was not included. The manufacturer referred the contact to the federal safety agency Hotline to file a complaint. The failure mileage was approximately 75,000.

Filed Jan 8, 2026 · Airbags · CA · crash

The entirety of the front of my car was destroyed and was deemed a total loss by insurance and repair shop. Yet, the air bags never went off. Everyone, including the police officers at the scene were surprised that it did not go off. The other vehicle in the incident had their airbags deployed. Due to my airbags not deploying, my head was shot forward and backwards. I went to the ER that night because my head had been in serious discomfort and pain. Additionally, to this day (1/8/26), my upper back and neck has been in pain and sore. There were no warnings and problems prior to the failure of the airbags being deployed.

Filed Oct 12, 2025 · Acceleration, Brakes · CA · crash

When slowly finishing my entry into a parking spot and braking the car suddenly accelerated to a high speed and bolted over the curb with a planter zone into another parked car directly facing my parking lane hitting the front passenger side. My car was still accelerating and hit another car to the left of the first parked car, hitting it in the rear driver side door. My car kept going until I was finally able to get the brake to work and it stopped just before another parking lot curb with planter zone. As far as I can tell the brake and or accelerator malfunctioned dangerously and suddenly. It could also have been a malfunctioning TPS (throttle positioning sensor). I would like my car inspected to determine what caused this malfunction. While everyone involved said they felt fine. One person, in the first car hit, was sitting in the driver seat, luckily no one was in the front passenger seat. That driver said she was ok. The second car was unoccupied. This dangerous incident had no warnings or symptoms prior to the accident. My online research shows that there was a recall that included my make and year for sticky pedal, floormat, and deformed accelerator cable housing. These can cause unintended acceleration or unresponsive pedal. According to the Toyota website my VIN has no outstanding recalls though. I would like my car checked out because any recall repair, if done, may not have been done thoroughly enough to prevent the collision I experienced on September 28, 2025, some 15 years or so after the 2010 recall.

Filed Jul 31, 2025 · Acceleration, Engine · CA · crash · 2 injuries

Uncontrollable Sudden Acceleration 3 times while I drove the car, it suddenly and rapidly accelerated. Eventually, the car crashed and was totaled. The first time was 3/31/25 when my wife and I went to the car wash. To exit the car wash, I put the car in drive and lightly applied the accelerator pedal and suddenly the car accelerated rapidly and made a loud noise. I immediately braked and the car went back to normal. Over 3 years nothing like this happened before. The 2nd time was only 8 days later. On 4/8/25, I was driving the car at moderate speed in the center lane of a large street and while changing from the middle lane to the right lane to prepare to turn right at the next street, the car started accelerating rapidly and to make a loud noise. Fortunately, I was able to brake and the car went back to normal. We went to the Toyota dealer the next day 4/9/25 and told our concerns to the service advisor and the shop foreman. They checked the car, including with a computer. The foreman and I both drove the car. He said they did not find any mechanical/electronic issues and the only explanation is that if I hit the cruise control (which I never use), as he saw my hand close to that button while I drove. He said to avoid the cruise control and it will be ok. They did not charge us for the visit. The third time was on 6/15/25 when we again went to the car wash. I was very careful as this was the same location as our first time. Just like before, I lightly applied the accelerator pedal and suddenly the car accelerated rapidly and made a loud noise. However, the acceleration was much more rapid than before and I was not able to brake in time and the car crashed into the pole of the car wash about 45 feet away. The airbags deployed and the car was totaled. We were pulled from the wreckage and ended in the emergency room. Luckily no one was seriously injured. Enclosures: My 4/8/25 text, 4/9/25 dealership visit paperwork, and photo after the crash on 6/15/25.