2003 Toyota Corolla acceleration problems

Filed Mar 12, 2025 · Acceleration, Brakes · CA · crash · 1 injury

My mother got in the car and as soon as the car was put on drive, the car accelerated to its max potential, but when she attempted to hit the brakes they did not respond. So max acceleration, on its own, and brakes did not work. She ended up in the hospital for 9 days suffering a broken rib, front teeth missing, they had to sew her tongue back together, both cheeks shattered, broken clavicle and she has a hole right under the back of her skull. Miraculously, after she flipped to the side and took out two trees, the third tree flipped her back to right side up, and stopped the vehicle completely.

Filed Sep 23, 2021 · Acceleration, Electrical · FL

My car is accelerating when my foot is off of the pedal and when in park, it is revving like I am pressing down on the gas pedal. I put it in reverse to test it to make sure I was experiencing what I just thought had happened. As soon as I put the gear in reverse, and released my foot from the break, the car spead down my driveway. I breaked, put gear in drive, and when I released my foot from the break pedal, again it sped up almost crashing into my house. When I put the car in park, the engine became louder as if I was pressing down on the gas pedal. I checked the pedals below. The rug or nothing else was near the pedal, as can happen at times. This morning I tested it out again on my way to work. It was a repeat of yesterday. The car is speeding up without me putting my foot on the drive pedal, by me simply lifting my foot of of the break. And when I park, it gets loud as if I am pressing on the gas pedal. This is very dangerous and I am afraid to drive my car until I can get it to a mechanic.

Filed Jul 2, 2020 · Acceleration, Suspension · 2 miles · CA · crash

I was driving along the street when I got hit by a car traveling opposite direction, person hit ne on a green light but besudes that my syspension brakes and tires not sitting right, I also I hear chains the car doesnt drive straight and car seems lopsided when driven and breaks squeel

Filed Apr 19, 2018 · Acceleration, Brakes · 188,000 miles · CA · crash

I was parking at about 3 MPH, took my foot off the accelerator pedal and pressed down on the brake pedal to slowly ease the car to a stop at the parking spot. The vehicle jolted forward and accelerated. I hit a pole and the vehicle sustained terrible frontend damage. I have a 2003 toyota corolla and it is over 188,000 miles.

Filed Feb 28, 2017 · Acceleration, Brakes · 203,000 miles · CO · crash

We were parked in a parking lot. My wife got into the car, put her foot on the brake to take the car out of park, and put the car in reverse. The car accelerated rapidly backward with the engine revving and no effect from the brakes, and hit a pole. With the engine still racing, my wife then put the car in drive, still with her foot on the brake, and it sped forward running into the back of a pickup truck. The engine was racing and there was no effect with pushing on the brake. The pickup truck was pushed forward about a foot hitting a guard rail in the front of the parking space.

Filed Nov 26, 2015 · Acceleration · 230,000 miles · MA

My 2003 toyota corrola (odometer reading approx. 230,000 miles) never had this problem till this year around march when my wife noticed that the car suddenly accelarated and she couldn't reduce the speed by braking. Fortunately there was no accident, and the problem went away suddnely as it came. This thing happened twice afterwards the car was taken to sears auto center, natick, ma and they cleaned a dirty throttle. The problem went away till three days ago the problem came back. I was driving this time in broad daylight with medium traffic. Suddenly the car started accelarating and I couldn't reduce accelaration by braking. I cleared the floor mat area in case there was any blockage. But there was none, and the car kept on accelarating. It scared the wits out of me, and I had to stop the car by moving the gear to 'park'. I intend to take the car back to sears auto. But, it may be a chronic problem of 'sudden accelaration and failure to brake' with many toyota automobiles.

Filed Nov 2, 2015 · Acceleration · 183,500 miles · OH

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 toyota corolla. When the brake pedal was released, the vehicle accelerated quickly without warning. The failure recurred twice. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 183,500.

Filed Mar 31, 2015 · Acceleration, Electrical · 81,766 miles · AZ

Camelback toyota took care of a recall on the wiring harness and since that date I have had numerous problems - lost my keyless entry, lost my speedometer, lost my horn. D & b auto found some problems at the tune of $428.70 (got my horn, speedometer and keyless entry working again - this was 8/12/13). Then approximately september or october, my car would start lurching and felt like it went into neutral and I would loose my speedometer - no engine light would come one - we tried several time to find out what was wrong - d & b auto checked out my speed sensors and found them to be okay and suggested it was my instrument panel and told me to call dick's speed-0-tech - I did and was informed that it could not be the instrument panel on a 2003 toyota corolla - suggested I call sam's compu -tech - I did and he said he could not help me until an engine light came on. In the meantime I found [xxx] the tech and he found the ecd connector (e8) not fully seated (locked) - not this is after the recall by camelback toyota and then I still had the problems of the car lurching, going into neutral and loosing my speedometer so [xxx] the tech came back and we spend approximately 8 hours checking out the instrument channel and guess what we found (done by camelback toyota) - first he looked at the wiring under my dash and said "this is not factory" and then we found 6 zip ties holding the wires going into the instrument panel box and again he stated this is not factory. We found the wires would not stay in the box because it had obviously been twisted - so we fixed them and the car has been okay since - this was 10-20-14. Now you are telling me I have another recall on this - I cannot go through all this crap again so what are you going to do about it? Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).

Filed Jan 7, 2015 · Acceleration, Engine · 103,154 miles · OH

I experienced a stuck accelerator pedal in my 2003 corolla.I tried to kick the pedal loose and could not.I ended up grabbing the key and shutting the engine down to avoid losing control on the snow covered road and hitting traffic in front of me.I later determined that the throttle linkage had lost normal freedom of movement in the cold weather,even though I had cleaned the inside of the throttle body some months earlier.I believe most people would have had an accident in my situation.the only thing that saved me from an accident was my mechanical knowledge of cars enabling me to make the right decisions to avoid an accident.

Filed Jan 7, 2015 · Acceleration · PR · crash · 1 injury

Tl-the contact owns a 2003 toyota corolla. The contact stated that while at a stop sign, the vehicle accelerated independently and the brakes failed causing the contact to lose control of the vehicle. As a result, the contact crashed into ten vehicles and into a concrete wall where the vehicle came to a stop. A police report was filed. The contact sustained whiplash injuries to the neck and back including numerous hematomas on the waist that required medical attention. The vehicle was destroyed. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown. Djr