While heading up my driveway in my 2004 prius, the car began to accelerate, I threw it into reverse and turned back toward my garage where it crashed thru the wall.
2004 Toyota Prius acceleration complaints
Page 2 of 3: complaints 11 to 40 of 52, newest first, as owners wrote them.
1) events leading to failure: post-"90l campaign" recall maintenance performed on 2004 toyota prius, vehicle driving at ~15 MPH on a flat clear road. 2) the failure: unintended acceleration observed. Accelerated, without accelerator depressed, to ~27 MPH. Brakes successfully applied. Release of brake resumed unintended acceleration. "rode the brake to deliver vehicle to safe parking location. Consequence: unintended acceleration controllable by braking. 3) nothing has yet been done to correct failure. Vehicle has not been driven or moved since failure, since deemed unsafe to drive by owner pending any useful response to notification of this incident by toyota inc. (no useful response as of yet.) the dealer was unable to duplicate the consumers concern. Updated 08/30/10 update ivoq 09/01/10*jb
The automobile was stopped at a intersection and the pavement was wet from a light rain. I applied normal pressure to the accelerator and felt the car move forward as expected. Then the problem occurs, I felt the tires slip due to a lost of traction with the wet pavement. At that point the anti-skid/traction control engaged and stopped all power to the wheels. This left me part way into the intersection and no power to the wheels. Pressing the accelerator even to the floor resulted in no change, no motor or engine power. This has occurred three time in similar conditions, with mixed results. Twice the problem could of lead to an major accident. In summary this problem disable the drive train in a unpredictable manner that takes the driver out of the process.
2004 toyota prius accelerates due to gas pedal getting stuck in the floor mat. This morning I was driving my toyota prius 2004 that I bought from the original owner who mentioned all recall issues were addressed by toyota dealership. He mentioned the dealer shaved off the gas pedal to make it shorter. But today, while on I 495 going eastwards just before entering the hov lane, I pressed the gas pedal all the way down to over take another slow vehicle. The car engine kept raising noise, and car started to accelerate on its own. I braked, the car slowed a bit but engine kept running fast... I realized this is potentially same issue that people reported on press and with lot of struggle trying to brake and slow down, realized and put the car into n, neutral position. I am lucky to know this from media reports, otherwise I would have been another dead guy on a prius! While I was still on highway, needing to maintain speed I put the car back on drive mode, d and the problem continued. I realized, I can lift the gas pedal with my left foot, and succeeded in untangling the pedal from the floor mat. After I did that it was fine. I arrived at work, but with extreme shock and disappointment. I am wondering how this problem can still remain after a recall repair is done on this vehicle. This is completely unacceptable and my life was in total risk and I survived today purely because of my technical skills and knowledge about this car issue. I am an engineer in profession, a mechanical engineer with a masters degree and I understood how to react. If it was for my other family members in this situation the outcome would have been totally different. I am very very disappointed with toyota corporation and also with you, the federal safety agency for not making sure that all prius out there are safety compliant. This is really terrible ! ...because its a known issue, and old issue that should have been corrected. [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).
2004 toyota prius. Consumer states acceleration problems *tgw when the consumer attempted to stop at a red light, the vehicle continued to accelerate. The consumer swerved into the next lane to avoid hitting the vehicle in front of her. The motor revved and the vehicle began to fishtail. Then the motor returned to normal and the vehicle stopped. The consumer called the dealership to make an appointment, but was told the vehicle was not a part of the recall and the diagnostic testing would not be covered by toyota. The dealer was unable to find anything wrong with the vehicle.
Tl*the contact owns a 2004 toyota prius. While driving at approximately 20 MPH, the floor mat became stuck inside the accelerator pad. The vehicle accelerated and the contact pressed a button to turn off the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealership but the dealer could not duplicate the failure. The failure occurred two times after recall repair was performed for recall 09v388000 (vehicle speed control: accelerator pedal). The failure mileage was 56,767. The current mileage was 71,734.
Tl*the contact owns a 2004 toyota prius. While driving at approximately 55 MPH the contact depressed the accelerator pedal and the vehicle surged forward. The vehicle would not stop until repeated pressure was applied to the brakes. The contact called the manufacturer who stated that the issue was not a big deal. The failure and current mileages were 102,595.
Within the first year of owning my 2004 prius I experienced unintended acceleration. In the old days (I'm 71) if you experienced unintended acceleration you would right off check your gas pedal and floor mats. That kind of problem wasn't all that uncommon when you owned old cars. If you didn't find a problem in the area of the gas pedal you would pull off the side of the road and usually find the throttle spring on the carburetor messed up in some way or something along those lines. Well, when it happened on my prius going about 40 MPH on a stretch of road not so far from my home I instinctively checked my floor mats and throttle shaft for interference or sticking. No problems found. I got the car stopped - don't remember how (with years of driving experience you instinctively try things until you find something that works). Anyhow, after that I went directly to mytoyota dealer where they checked it out but found nothing. The problem never occurred again. Now I see this claim that it's not an electronic problem on this drive-by-wire car. I don't believe it. If you think about it, if it happens just one time on my one prius in thousands of miles of driving, that makes an incident of this sort pretty rare, rare enough to where it's unlikely to occur under controlled tests (it would be infinitely easier to find the proverbial needle in a haystack). Virtually every microprocessor controlled product I've ever used has required a reset now and then. Usually there's no indication of why the product locked up (or whatever). If you use satellite tv, a dss modem, or own a pc I'm sure you've experienced it. Why it should be any different with car microprocessors is beyond me. The answer is for the government to require some kind of fail-safe apparatus on every drive-by-wire car in the future (I see toyota is already implementing this concept into their 2011 cars). Heck, my life or the life of my children or grandchildren might very well depend on it.
Tl*the contact owns a 2004 toyota prius. The contact was driving approximately 40 MPH when the vehicle suddenly accelerated and crashed into a vehicle as she attempted to slow down. The air bags did not deploy and the contact was injured. The vehicle was destroyed. The failure mileage was approximately 74,000.
S10 appropriate handling re toyota vehicles recall, owner of a 2004 toyota prius experienced sudden unintended acceleration. *tgw the consumer stated as he was driving, he approached a slower moving vehicle, but when he attempted to apply the brake, the vehicle instead accelerated. As he hit the brake harder, the vehicle accelerated even more. The consumer had to avoid an accident by crossing over the double yellow line into oncoming traffic. The consumer managed to avoid an accident and quickly moved back over to the correct side of the road. The consumer stated the gas pedal was not stuck as toyota is claiming there is a quick fix and placing the blame on the accelerator pedal. Prior to the incident, the consumer stated as he was waiting in a line, with his foot firmly on the brake, the engine seemed to suddenly rev up and the vehicle lurched forward but did not move due to his foot being firmly on the brake. The consumer also stated on several occasions when he hit the brake the radio and air condition would come on. The dealer claimed there was nothing wrong and that the consumer must have hit the radio and climate control buttons on the steering wheel. The consumer believed that the braking system influences the electronics or computer and causes the acceleration of the vehicle.
While driving to work this morning in rush hour traffic, my car suddenly accelerated as I was merging to my left. As I was merging I felt the car accelerate and the decrease in pressure against my foot as the pedal depressed on it's own. I was able to regain control of the car after forcefully stepping on the brakes twice, at which time the gas pedal came back up.
Tl*the contact owns a 2004 toyota prius. He experienced sudden acceleration twice on january 16, 2008 and march 6, 2008. While he was driving at approximately 30 MPH the vehicle suddenly accelerated up to 100 MPH. He continuously applied pressure to the brake pedal until he was able to bring the vehicle to a complete stop. The vehicle was towed to the dealer. The dealer stated that the vehicle accelerated, because the floor mat was trapped under the gas pedal. The dealer replaced and secured the floor mat. The manufacturer was contacted. The manufacturer stated there were no related recalls. He has not experienced the failure again. The failure mileage was 42,154 miles and the current mileage was 61,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 toyota prius. While merging onto the highway at approximately 50 MPH the accelerator pedal became stuck. The vehicle accelerated to 80 MPH before the pedal released.the vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer. No repairs had been made. The failure occurred once. The failure mileage was 65000. The current mileage was 71000.
I was turning my 2004 prius into a parking garage at between 2-5 miles an hour, applied the brakes as I was going in over a small lip/bump in the pavement, and the car accelerated on it's own. I was lucky enough to swerve and reapply the brakes in time to avoid hitting an oncoming exiting car. It was very scary and I almost hit the other driver. I have never had this happen before. There has been a couple similar incidences where I was braking while coming up to a stop, hit a bump or pothole in the road and the brakes felt like they stopped working for a split second and then seemed to have resumed. It is a strange sensation when you are expecting a stop. The car has always been serviced at a toyota dealership every 5,000 miles since it was new and will be due again in about 2 weeks.
I was entering a major highway from a parking lot when the engine suddenly accelerated at full speed. Visibility was good. There was a small pothole so I did touch the accelerator. Next I was in the middle of the highway & hit by a car going 65mph. I do not think I hit the accelerator rather than the brake although that was the only explanation at the time.
Tl*the contact owns a 2004 toyota prius. While the contact was driving 12 MPH she was hit by another vehicle damaging the brake line which caused the contacts vehicle to contunially move after the crash. In order to stop the vehicle the contact had to engage the emergency brake. The contact called the manufacturer and was informed that the vehicle was difficult to stop due to the damaged brake line. The failure and current mileages were not available.
Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6). My 2004 prius almost killed us in 2004. It accelerated so fast, that I had to go in the median. We could not sow it down or stop it, there was a bridge ahead, so I managed to get back on the highway shoulder and take it out of gear and slow it down. Since then has blamed eveyrthing on me, I fell asleep,etc. I did not know until know that it was the car that caused it. We could have been killed! She insisted we get rid of the car, I sold it to carmax in las vegas,where we lived. [xxx]
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 toyota prius. While driving in clear, normal road conditions at speeds of 50 MPH, the contact attempted to accelerate into the flow of traffic. She then applied the brake pedal, however the vehicle did not decrease in speed. The brakes would not engage and the rear of the vehicle spun out of control or fish tailed. The contact could not maintain control of the vehicle and crashed into a guard rail and a nearby tree. The vehicle was destroyed. The VIN was not available at the time of the complaint. The current and failure mileages were 100,000. Updated evoq. 05/27/10
2004 toyota prius with brake problems. Consumer states that when applying the brakes the vehicle skids out of control.
2004 prius: after driving at 10mph on gravel road with potholes and then turning on to smooth paved road engine speed and speedometer started to vary wildly with speedometer going up to 45mph down and back up again for a 5 minute period while driving on the paved road at about 30mph. This continued but car itself did not accelerate abnormally despite change in engine speed and wild speedometer.
I have a 2004 toyota prius. On october 19, 2009, the car accelerated by itself to 65 MPH. I was able to press on the brake, slow down the car and pull to the side of the road. I had the car tolled to the local dealership and they said they could not "duplicate the problem." they told me to take the floor mat out. In the meantime, they charged me $1400 to replace a water pump and perform other maintenance services. The recent acceleration recall by toyota does not include my car although I had the acceleration problem with this car. When I called the company to inquire the reason for this, they told me that this model was made in japan with a different part manufacture, thus it is not under the acceleration recall, just the floor mat recall.
May 29, 2006 - I was pulling into a school parking space when the prius accelerated on its own, and although I hit the brakes, the engine started to roar, and the car jumped a concrete parking lot curb, went into a drainage swale, and stopped only when it hit an iron fence around the school where I worked. I took it to toyota to be fixed. Told them what happened. They put it down as "car jumped curb." I wrote to toyota on october 11, 2009, describing the incident and enclosing documentation for the repairs. They said they were sorry about the incident "however, as we were not provided the opportunity to inspect your vehicle at the time of the incident, we have no way of addressing your specific claim and are unable to offer further assistance to you in this matter." toyota wanted me to have them inspect my car for a problem that they didn't know existed.
Tl*the contact owns a 2004 toyota prius. While at a complete stop, the rpms suddenly increased and the vehicle attempted to move forward while the contact's foot was on the brake pedal. The dealer was contacted and he was awaiting a response. No repairs were made to date. The failure and current mileages were 103,690.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 toyota pruis . The contact stated that while driving he attempted to slow down by applying the brake, but the vehicle accelerated on its own . The dealer was contacted and they advised the contact to bring the vehicle in to have it diagnosed. The dealer stated that there was nothing wrong with the vehicle and they could not duplicate the failure. The contact believes that there is something wrong with the braking system. There have been no repairs to the vehicle. The vehicle is at the dealer. The contact does not want to pick the vehicle up due to the safety risk. The failure and current mileage was 52000. Updated 03/04/10 *bf updated 07/23/10
Twice my toyota prius has "surged" unexpectedly. I was coasting into a parking space both times, so was able to stomp on the brake and stop the car. When the first recall was issued I knew it wasn't the floor mat. Mine was the original one and was firmly attached. It did not move and "entrap" the pedal and I did not have my foot on the gas when the surges happened. I did not bother to report it at the time, as I am an older female and have been treated like an idiot at the dealership when I spoke with the service people. The car has been fine in every other way. I believe this is a throttle or computer/electronic problem and I believe that they know it.
About 40% of the time, my toyota prius doesn't want to stop or slow down when the brakes are applied. Under these conditions, I have to apply the brakes hard and then the car will slow down. It feels like the car wants to "run away" when the brakes are applied. It exhibits this behavior in many circumstances: stopping at a stop light, slowing down on an expressway, or slowing down on a city street. *tr updated 11/23/09 *bf the check engine light illuminated. The passenger front window switch wasn't opening or closing the window unless the master switch was used. The throttle body had to be cleaned. The fan belt and brake light switch were replaced. Updated 11/24/09 updated 01/06/10 *bf updated 01/07/10.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 toyota prius. While entering an interstate highway during traffic, the vehicle accelerated without intention. She shifted the vehicle into neutral and coasted to the side of the road. The vehicle was then taken to the dealer for inspection. A technician concluded that the floor-mat was the cause of the failure. However when the failure occurred she noticed that the floor-mat did not interfere with the accelerator pedal. The failure mileage was unknown. The current mileage was 80,000.
Tl*the contact owns a 2004 toyota prius. When he applied pressure on the brake pedal at 50 MPH in the dark, the vehicle would not stop. The anti-lock brake system activated, but the vehicle did not stop. Consequently the vehicle crashed into a tree. The vehicle was completely destroyed. He sustained injuries. The failure mileage was 62000. The vehicle identification number was unavailable.
I was driving on the 605 freeway in the carpool lane at approximately 70 miles per hour when without warning, the car suddenly lost power and the check engine and master hybrid warning lights came on. I had to cross four lanes of rush hour traffic to pull to the right side of the freeway as the car lost power. I was barely able to drive the car safely to the right shoulder of the freeway. The car was towed to the dealer since it was not drivable. This was a very dangerous and scary experience. Fortunately, a serious accident was narrowly avoided. The dealer attributed the problem to a short. The hybrid vehicle control computer was replaced. The replacement part number is 89981-47270.
2nd occurrence of toyota prius acceleration. While wife leaving daughters school, car accelerated (pedal off the accelerator!), she jammed on brakes, but was close in provoking an accident on main street. This is the second occurrence. First time, she hit a taxi while stopped in a red light. Accident was reported by police (no injuries). First time took car into the dealer (no apparent problems). Planning on taking car again to dealer tomorrow.!
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