2003 Toyota Corolla: adaptive cruise control problems

Filed Aug 16, 2011 · Acceleration · MN

Letter from congressman on behalf of constituent re sudden uncontrolled acceleration of a toyota corolla automobile dot/I#2011-2068. *kb the consumer stated she was traveling at the posted speed limit, when the sign ahead indicated to reduce speed ahead. The consumer reduced her speed to the posted limit by pressing down on the brake. As she attempted to brake, the vehicle continued to increase in speed and a loud noise was present. The consumer stated she continued to press harder on the brake and she could feel the ABS activating. The ABS sounded like a high pitched noise and pulsating very fast. The consumer finally came to a complete stop, before going through an intersection. However, the engine was emitting a loud roaring sound. The consumer shifted the gear from drive 1 to drive 2 and the vehicle shuddered. She tried to shift to park, but as she got to reverse the vehicle tried to buck, so she put the gear in neutral and turned off the vehicle. The consumer stated her cruise control wa activated at the time of the incident. However, the dealer stated the problem had nothing to do with the cruise control. *jb updated 11/10/11 *bf updated 11/16/11

Filed Nov 3, 2010 · Acceleration · 60,000 miles · CO

Sudden acceleration on 2003 toyota corolla. Just returned from first road trip with this car, from oregon to colorado, and car suddenly accelerated. It happened 5 times - 3 of the times while the car was in cruise control. In particular - while going up hill -- the car picks up speed to get over the hill but after reaching the top, car fails to slow down and only after hitting brakes several times would the acceleration stop and car would begin to slow. In one instance, I had to take the car off the freeway and onto an uphill on-ramp to get it to slow and brakes finally worked at top of hill. I could actually feel the gas pedal pushing down on its own - without my foot applying pressure. The first couple of times it happened, I thought it was because the car was going down hill and was just naturally picking up speed. It was only after putting the car in cruise control that I noticed the problem was the car, not the environment. In the first incident, the car went from 52 to 83, the second incident - 57 to 90, the 3rd incident - 65 to 88, the 4th instance 75 to 84 and the scariest incident of all - the car went from 70 to 105 MPH!! I could have been killed and the only thing that slowed the car down (besides my continual braking) was that I started climbing a large hill. One of the incidents was witnessed by a wyoming highway patrol officer - out in the middle of nowhere and many miles to a town - who thoughtfully gave me detailed instructions how to get the car to stop safely (turn on your emergency flashers, put the car in neutral and apply even pressure to brakes - putting car in neutral gives more power to brakes). This car has 60,000 miles on it and had never been on a long trip before and very rarely on a freeway. I had never used the cruise control before and will not be using it again. Toyota needs to add the 2003 corolla to the recall as it obviously has the same problem as the 2005 - 2010. Toyota will be hearing from me tomorrow.

Filed Jul 11, 2010 · Acceleration, Airbags · MD · crash

I was driving on cruise control on a highway (approx. 60mph) in my 2003 toyota corolla s. Suddenly, it started accelerating on its own and started swerving. I hit the brake pedal and attempted to counter-steer but lost control of the car and crashed front-end into the guard rail, then the car started spinning and I believe it must have hit the guard-rail further down. The front is demolished, the driver side was bent in so could not open the door fully, the back bumper was gone and the passenger side was heavily scratched. The airbags never deployed.

Filed Apr 14, 2010 · Acceleration · 110,000 miles · NY · crash · fire · 1 injury

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 toyota corolla. While driving at speeds of 45 MPH, the cruise control light illuminated. She was unable to deactivate the cruise control since the rpms began increasing excessively. The vehicle abnormally accelerated and would not stop despite her attempts to apply the brakes. The contact was able to shift into neutral gear and continue to apply the brakes. There was smoke present in the vehicle as it began to decrease in speed to 15 MPH. Since the contact was unable to stop the vehicle, she then jumped from the drivers side as the vehicle proceeded and plowed into a snow bank before stopping. The vehicle sustained substantial body damage. The dealer stated that the transmission was destroyed due to her shifting into neutral gear from the park position. The transmission was replaced and a representative from toyota was scheduled to further investigate the failure. The investigator could find no failures within the vehicle speed control. There were no repairs made to the body of the vehicle. The failure mileage was approximately 110,000 and the current mileage was approximately 118,000.

Filed Mar 16, 2010 · Acceleration · 59,500 miles · MD

I had unintended acceleration on toyota corolla 2003 le model. This problem happened to me two times during one year of 30,000 miles drive. I suspected the cruise control system was the cause of the problem.

Filed Mar 4, 2010 · Acceleration · 7,000 miles · MA

I had a 2003 corolla that I purchased in 2002, one of the first delivered to a worcester ma dealership. In 2003 when I was driving on a highway going up a hill the car started to accelerate. First I thought maybe I had hit the cruise control button but I hadn't. I was probably going at least 65mph when it started to accelerate, I had to keep hitting the brakes to make it stop accelerating.

Filed Feb 20, 2010 · Acceleration · 299,999 miles · 00

2003 toyota corolla le automatic transmission 4 door. First time incident. Westbound highway 401 near woodstock ontario with cruise control @ 100 kmh in right lane and slightly accelerated to middle lane to avoid merging incoming traffic from roadside gas station. Accelerator pedal went to floor without driver assistance. Strong braking did not stop car. Stomping on accelerator did not stop car. Turning off cruise control did not stop car. Fastest speed was 150kmh @ 7500 RPM. Shifted into neutral and when speed at 120kmh @ 4000 RPM, the brakes started working. Slowed and pulled off onto shoulder and parked the car. Two minutes later, still in park, idled at 1900 RPM. Able to drive to work. Over the phone, dan from competition toyota told me that probably the throttle box or throttle cable had become gummed up and should have been cleaned as part of the toyota 60,000km maintenance. I have not used toyota dealer to service the car due to affordability. I do have a regular mechanic who services the vehicle. Took it into competition toyota and problem was a dirty throttle plate which was cleaned at a cost of $70. Dealer also did a recall repair on a window and said there were too many mats on the drivers side which should be removed. I told dan that driver mats were not the cause and in the presence of two toyota employees, I showed him photos that I took of the dashboard just after I pulled off the highway. I asked if the car was safe to drive, he said yes, and I have been driving the car since. Reported this incident to transport canada.

Filed Feb 16, 2010 · Acceleration · PA

The cruise control on my wife's 2003 toyota corolla has acted up on occasion while driving on interstate highways. When using "resume" the car would accelerate well past the previous set point. Mostly this was a minor annoyance as the car doesn't have a big enough engine to take off like a rocket, and switching off the cruise control and restarting it seems to cure the problem. I never was able to figure out the sequence that would reliably repeat the problem and pretty much figured we'd live with it. (she doesn't use cruise control and I use it when we are taking trips.) with the recently identified cruise control problems on the newer corollas, I'm suspicious that the problem may go back further than reported. This problem has occurred at various times over the past three or four years(while we have owned the car), so the date indicated below is a dummy date to get tot the next screen.

Filed Feb 4, 2010 · Acceleration · 2,000 miles · TX

Check cruise control wiring/electronics toyotas!! I had failed cruise control causing RPM 7,000-8,000; could not shut off; stomped on brakes to shut cruise off. Pulled parking brake; downshifted to neutral; turned car off. Turned it back on when recovered from hysteria and cruise had rotations going into red zone, though the accelerator pedal was pulled up and car wasn't going forward - it was gunning engine. Turned cruise off. Turned car off/on/off/on. Finally stopped. Took back to dealer. They had added toyota cruise to 2003 new model corolla, 5 speed manual after factory. Dealers weren't authorized to do it - toyota wanted cruise control only added at factory. But dealer got ahold of one - they probably weren't sure how to wire and connect it in. Took it back. Demanded new one be installed. Has been okay. Still driving 2003, 5 speed manual transmission. But it was frightening to have cruise stuck on wide open like gas pedal was down stock. It wouldn't stop hitting brakes or anything. Check the cruise control wiring and electronics on these recall toyotas!!!!!!!

Filed Feb 3, 2010 · Acceleration · 15,000 miles · OR

Purchased new 2003 toyota corolla le in 2003 and new 2006 toyota corolla le in 2006. From 2003 thru 2006 six incidents occurred with vehicle stopped and my foot on the brake pedal not on accelerator pedal where engine raced as if cruise control kicked into "resume" and vehicle began to accelerate. By reflex, I shifted into park or shut turned off the ignition key to control the vehicle. I reported the incidents to lassen toyota, albany oregon no response from them. The 2006 toyota had the same incident occur once in the last four years. It has the same engine and equipment as the 2003 model I owned and I reported the incident again to lassen toyota with no response. I am on my guard now that I know this occurs and I don't panic and know how to deal with it, but anyone who doesn't keep a clear head and know what to do instinctively could be in trouble. I am sure this is a computer problem that has some link to the acceleration program in the cruise control area even with the cruise control off and the car in drive with the foot on the brake pedal and the foot no where near the accelerator pedal. This problem existed in two different years of the same model toyota. Just thought you should be aware that this does occur randomly in these cars and that complaints are ignored.

Filed Nov 18, 2009 · Acceleration · NC

I was driving on an interstate highway with my cruise control engaged and my car began to accelerate beyond the speed that I had set. I disengaged the cruise control but that did not slow the car down. Next, I tried braking, which slowed the car down a little, though I needed to use an unusually large amount of force to press the brake pedal down. Once I released the brake, the car began to speed up again. I made repeated attempts to brake but, eventually, the brake pedal locked up. At this point, I put the car into neutral and the engine revved (I don't know what the maximum RPM was, but I know it was well above normal driving RPM). I pulled off onto the shoulder and turned the car off. I tried turning the ignition on (my foot was not on the accelerator pedal) but the engine revved up so I immediately turned the car off. Over the next 30 minutes, I tried turning the car on a few more times with the same result. After I had been waiting for 1-1.5 hours, a tow truck arrived. The driver turned the ignition on and the car started normally; somehow the problem had resolved itself so we were unable to determine the cause.

Filed Dec 14, 2005 · Acceleration, Fuel system · 28,300 miles · SC

I purchased a 2003 certified pre-owned toyota corolla le on 9/17/05. I love the car, and it gets excellent gas mileage. However, I recently encountered a couple of problems with the car: -the car stalls at the traffic light and sputters and jerks like it is running out of fuel. -the resume function on the cruise control works occasionally, but not all of the time. I've taken it to two toyota dealers in this area, but they can't fix the problems because they claim they can't duplicate the problem. On 12/16/05, I'm taking the car back to the toyota dealer that I purchased the car from, and hopefully they will fix it.