2012 Toyota Corolla: sudden unintended acceleration

Filed Dec 9, 2025 · Acceleration · 57,000 miles · NJ · crash · 1 injury

The contact owned a 2012 Toyota Corolla. The contact stated that while parking in a post office parking lot and depressing the brake pedal, the vehicle experienced sudden and unintended acceleration, crashed into a tree, and shut off. There was no warning light illuminated before or after the crash. There was no property damage. The air bags did not deploy. The contact sustained a hematoma and pain in the right arm. The contact's friend transported the contact to Urgent Care, where the contact received medical assistance. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to a tow yard, where it was totaled by the insurance company. The dealer and the manufacturer were not notified of the failure. The contact stated that she had reported a similar incident to the federal safety agency via mail in 2012. The failure mileage was approximately 57,000.

Filed Nov 2, 2014 · Transmission · 17,000 miles · MN · crash

Sudden unintended acceleration from stop. Put car in drive after backing out and it shot forward about 25' into a tree. Major damage to car. No injuries.

Filed Apr 23, 2014 · Brakes, Engine · 18,000 miles · OR

While waiting for the traffic light to change and my foot on the brakes, the car suddenly accelerated and despite shifting to park and pulling on the emergency brake the car continued to rev very high for several minutes. Just prior to acceleration, the car's brakes became very soft and sunk all the way to the floor of the car as if someone had depressed the power in the brake line. I turned off the engine and waited for about 2 minutes and restarted the car. The engine raced again at very high speeds with the emergency brake on and the car set at "park." I turned the car off again and waited five minutes. The car started normally and I then called my wife to pick me up. She drove the car back home and noticed the brakes were very mushy and she felt a slight acceleration. We took it to our toyota dealership since it was still under warranty and they found nothing wrong with the car and asserted that I depressed both the brake and the gas pedal at the same time, which is utterly ridiculous. We have owned the car for 18 months and nothing like this has ever happened. There were more than five witnesses to this as I had blocked traffic at the light's intersection while other cars went around me while the car was racing. I have filed an incident report with toyota but it does not look as if anything will be done with the unintended acceleration issue. I am a former lawyer and I take my complaints very seriously. Please help.

Filed Mar 27, 2014 · Acceleration, Brakes · 36,509 miles · TX · crash

As I was approaching a stop light, I began applying my brakes & slowing down.as I got closer to the vehicle in front of me I applied full pressure. My vehicle surged forward & I had the brake pedal completely to the floor. I could not swerve due to oncoming traffic. This resulted in me rear-ending the vehicle in front of me. I had only purchased the car a week before! I took the car into the dealership & explained what had happened. They checked out the braking system & said that it was working properly & they could find nothing wrong with it. This did not surprise me after reading the other complaints. As a result, I had to file with my insurance company which raised my rates. I am not happy about this! I have to drive 40 miles, one way, to work, and I am constantly fearing that it will happen again & that the results will be much worse. What recourse do I have?

Filed Mar 14, 2013 · Acceleration, Steering · NE

2012 toyota corolla. Consumer writes in regards to vehicle sudden acceleration and steering problems. *smd the consumer stated when she slowed/braked for a dip in the road, the vehicle surged and then idled at a speed of 10-15 MPH, without her applying the gas pedal. The consumer stated due to the sudden acceleration and high idle she had to use her brake and put the vehicle into neutral in order to de- accelerate. Also, the vehicle would veer to the left, which made the steering hard to correct. The tires were balanced and checked.

Filed Jan 5, 2013 · Acceleration · 1,300 miles · FL

The speed control was set to 60mph over a stretch of empty interstate. As soon as the vehicle encountered a slight elevation in the road, the engine revved to over 4,500 RPM and increased my speed to almost 70mph. This sudden acceleration was unexpected and not within normal speed control operating limits.