2009 Toyota Corolla: jerking or lurching

Filed Oct 18, 2016 · Acceleration · 54,000 miles · NY

Tl* the contact owns a 2009 toyota corolla. The contact stated that while coming to a stop at a red light and slowing down to 10 MPH, the vehicle would suddenly surge forward and jerk. The contact indicated that the failure had occurred on multiple occasions. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the failure was unable to be duplicated. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 54,000.

Filed Jul 31, 2016 · NM

I had no problems with my vehicle after driving it for about 110k miles to the work and leisure, but it suddenly started "jerking" I took it to a transmission shop where no results came back after connecting it to a diagnosis computer. The jerking problem increased, and the transmission solenoids were replaced as well as an oil change was done. Problem was not fixed. I've been doing some research, and seems the transmission for this specific car model has been failing. Very expensive fix, and I guess to replace to another "faulty" transmission for this model of vehicle.

Filed Jan 21, 2015 · Steering · 87,000 miles · CA

There is a loud clunking noise coming from the steering column. The road surfaces causes the steering wheel to jerk and creates a rattling clunk noise and low speeds. If the steering wheel shook side to side, the apparent noise is clicking. I suspect this is a faulty steering intermediate shaft. At highway speeds, the car tends to drift out of the lane. Uneven road surfaces causes the wheel to jerk at city and highway speeds. Wheel balancing and vehicle alignment were performed. The issue has not been fixed. Replacing the intermediate shaft should be a recall as well as the replacement/reprogram of the eps module.

Filed Aug 8, 2014 · Engine · 88,083 miles · CA

Ecu is defective in 2009 model just like in 2005-2008 model. When it reaches 90,000 it brakes. The car starts jerking and doesn't want to change gears. At home all of us drive toyota corollas and all of them had the same problem at 90,000 mileage.

Filed Apr 10, 2014 · Brakes · NH

After reading other brake complaints I'm realizing that I have had the same problem since I've had the car. Any bit of precipitation causes the brakes to lock when barely pressing them to slow down (not stop). It happens at just a few MPH or higher. They lock to the point that the car jerks to a stop at slow speeds and slides several car lengths at higher speeds. I have learned to pump my brakes before placing the car in drive.

Filed Jan 14, 2014 · Steering · 60,000 miles · ID

Driving at highway speeds the car seems to jerk right or left without warning. Must keep hands on wheel firmly while on the freeway to correct when it happens. Sometimes I over correct or under correct seems like sometime there is no predicting what the steering will do. Just doesn't feel safe to drive, scary when it does it at freeway speeds.

Filed Apr 8, 2013 · Engine · 68,041 miles · CA

The water pump seized up while driving and shot the remains of the serpentine belt out of the bottom of the car. The change in the handling was immediate, and I am thankful I was not on the highway. The car is not high mileage and is just out of the warranty period. No injuries, it happened late at night, thankfully no one was around, the jolt did cause me to jerk the wheel a bit.

Filed Mar 7, 2013 · Brakes · 43,000 miles · NJ · crash

Tl* the contact owns 2009 toyota corolla. The contact stated that while driving 25 MPH, the driver depressed the brake pedal and the vehicle erroneously accelerated then crashed into a parked vehicle. There were no injuries. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer for inspection. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage was 43,000. Updated 04/03/13*lj the consumer stated she was traveling east at 25 MPH. As she turned into her cul-de-sac there were two parked cars on the side of the road facing each other. She moved to the left to avoid them . As she applied the brake to reduce her speed, as she was near her turn, there was a sudden jerk in the steering wheel, quickly pulling the vehicle to the right into the left rear of the first parked car. She had no control over the vehicle. It then moved slightly away from the first vehicle and then the vehicle went in the direction of the second car. The consumer then hit the other vehicle. The consumers right tire blew out and the rim and wheel were in the extreme right position that appeared greater than the wheel would move.

Filed Apr 25, 2011 · Steering · WA · crash · 1 injury

This morning while driving at 55 MPH on the highway our 2009 corolla seemed to jerk itself out of the middle of 5 lanes of traffic, started spinning, hit the guard rail with the right rear tail section. The car essentially bounced off the rail, continued to spin across the lanes of traffic and back, coming to a rest back on the same side I hit the guard rail. I was extremely lucky that no other cars managed to be involved in this accident. From the minute the car first jerked out of control until it came to a rest I could not gain any control over the steering or movement of the car. The car has done this to a lesser degree on a few occasions over the past few months (car was purchased used, from a dealer, 3/13/2010) which we thought might be due to hydroplaning (we're in seattle where the roads are often wet but we've driven here for 35 years with nothing like this feeling in any other car) or a need for new tires but this was clearly not the only issue. On those occasions it also felt like the car was suddenly floating and the steering jerked it to the left (but I was not going through a deep puddle/hydroplaning). It was momentary but enough to scare me and make me wonder what had just happened. It was raining this morning at the time of the accident but something else caused the car to jerk itself out of the lane and lose control of the steering. It is currently in the body shop awaiting an estimate for repair. The toyota dealer didn't want to look at it despite my description. I'm left traumatized, with likely whiplash and a wrecked car. This car is not safe! We are afraid to drive this car anywhere! I will also be contacting toyota corp. Regarding the apparent problem, the accident and the dealership's dismissal.

Filed Jul 28, 2010 · Steering · 50 miles · 00

My complaint is regarding the electric assisted power steering of my corolla xrs 2009, at an approximate speed of 60kmh is very unstable at the wheel maneuvering, starts to move unexpectedly or jerking feel towards the left hand side or right.

Filed Jul 6, 2010 · Steering · 4,000 miles · WA

I have a 2009 toyota corolla, purchased last year and have driven it only 7000 miles total. I had gotten work done on it when I experienced a delayed stop after putting my foot on brake. Now I am having to have it worked on for the floor mat recall. I want to report that I have noticed when I am driving the steering is very touchy. I can feel my wheel jerk me all over. I fight it on the freeway so much I do not drive on them anymore unless I really have to at high speed because I feel like I cannot control the steering because it is so touchy! I get pulled all of a sudden to one side when I am on a slight turning road and it will adjust but instead of straightening it pulls the other direction! It is as if I am skating on ice and one time I was merging onto a highway and looked over my should to see if there were any cars in my blind side for a split second and I look back and was almost in the ditch, thank god I had a quick reflex and I knew then to always be aware of the car jerking me all of a sudden! Something has got to be done...I did not buy a brand new car to put myself or my kids lives in danger...

Filed Mar 18, 2010 · Acceleration · 39,400 miles · NC

On my 2009 corolla, I have continued to have an issue with slight acceleration and sudden RPM increase while the accelerator is not being applied, and usually when the brake is being engaged. This mainly happens while going downhill and it causes a forward motion jerk in the car that is felt by all passengers. I have had the recall regarding the metal accelerator patch, fixed. I have also taken my car into the dealership since the recall fix to address this problem and I was informed that all toyota cars do 'this' and that it is normal. They did hook my car up for a health diagnostic which showed nothing abnormal. I have driven a large number of cars which include other toyotas, and I have never experienced this phenomena. I have also had multiple third parties in my car and they have shown surprise and concern when the car exhibited this behavior. I do need to say that I have never felt like I have lost control of my car while this occurs. However, based on recent accounts from other people that own toyotas, and corollas specifically, I am not inclined to take a 'wait and see' approach to this matter. This problem happens on an almost daily basis, sometimes multiple instances in one day with 8-10 separate instances being the most counted in a 24 hour period of time. The mechanic that ran the health diagnostics (3/18/10) told me that given the number of computers that 'run my car' there could be a number of things going on that would cause this to happen but that any abnormalities would come up on their computer system, once the tests were run. Nothing apparently showed up. Approximate incident date below shows the date that this last occurred in my vehicle, but since there is not an option for date range, it is not going to accurately reflect the amount of time this has been going on (which has been almost the whole time I have owned the car, 2 years in july 2010).