I have a new 2010 prius with less than 1k miles. On 4-9-10 while pulling into a parking spot I experienced a simultaneous loss of braking combined with unintended surge of acceleration. My prius jumped the curb that was perpendicular to the parking slot and stopped as it slammed into a brick building about 8 feet beyond the curb. I utilized my safety connect button to record the time of the accident and had the vehicle towed to the dealer. I contacted toyota customer experience center and now have a case #. I was told that someone would contact me within 2 business days. I am not at all comforted by this very scary incident. I would just like to have my 2005 prius back as I never had any problems with it. I am seeing that my problem is not unique based on many similar problems on this the federal safety agency complaint site.
2010 Toyota Prius acceleration complaints
Page 5 of 11: complaints 101 to 130 of 287, newest first, as owners wrote them.
2010 prius with about 14,500 miles driving on smooth, wet, paved road 20 miles an hour on a curve. Neither foot was not on a pedal - car was coasting for several seconds as expected, slowly decelerating. In the middle of the curve, with both feet still not on either gas or brake, I felt and heard a notable surge of hard acceleration despite both feet being off the gas and brake. My wife in the passenger seat also noticed the surge. I immediately braked hard. The car slowed safely, and the unrequested acceleration seemed to stop as soon as I engaged the brake pedal. Nothing was touching the accelerator before the surge, during the surge, or when the surge ended as I braked - not a floor mat, not a stray object, not my foot. This is the first time we have experienced this exact pattern of symptoms. In the past, before the brake software recall was downloaded to our car, we had many episodes of temporary loss of braking power on bumpy roads. At least one of those prior episodes had unexplained acceleration accompany the temporary braking failure on a bumpy road. Today's incident was very different - I was not braking, and the road was not bumpy. Note that the 2010 prius is not on the recall lists for the accelerator modifications, and that a sticky accelerator would not explain this behavior.
Tl*the contact owns a 2010 toyota prius. The contact stated as she was pulling into a parking space, the vehicle suddenly surged forward as she was making a relatively sharp left turn into the space. The contact stated she was probably going 3-5 MPH when the vehicle accelerated. She slammed on the brakes and was able to stop the vehicle before it crashed into a parked vehicle. The consumer stated she had the recall performed on the vehicle in early march. The failure mileage was approximately 2,700. Updated 05/26/10 *bf updated 10/05/10
Although I took my vehicle in for the recall (2010 prius) last week, the vehicle repeated the loss of brake/surge issue this morning. I also reported to my toyota dealer last week about abnormal, sudden braking. When applying normal pressure to the brakes, on several occasions the brakes have locked violently, sending me and my passengers against our seat belts. Toyota claimed that the recall may make that better. It has not. Thirdly, I reported last week to toyota that the car has on occasion shaken violently and made a loud clanking noise (like a washing machine off balance) upon start up, causing me to jump out f the car for fear of it blowing up. They said they had never heard of this. My co-worker, a fellow 2010 prius owner, reported the same issue.
2010 prius still accelerates after "fix".
Tl*the contact owns a 2010 toyota prius. The contact was driving approximately 65 MPH with the cruise control activated. There was pressure applied to the brake pedal with a sudden increase of acceleration up to 70 MPH. The failure occurred on one occasion. The failure mileage was 13,364. The current mileage was 13,647.
Tl*the contact owns a 2010 toyota prius. When the contact shifted into drive gear, the vehicle suddenly accelerated in reverse. The brakes were applied but did not stop the vehicle, the contact pushed the power button which turned off the vehicle and stopped the acceleration. The vehicle was taken to the dealership where the federal safety agency recall# 10v039000 service brakes, air antilock control unit/module was performed on the vehicle. The contact was concerned that the defect was electrical or a defect in the computer. The approximate current and failure mileages were 5,300.
Tl * the contact owns a 2010 toyota prius. The first time she experienced sudden acceleration was on january 15, 2010. While stopped at the red light with her foot on the brake the vehicle suddenly accelerated. She put the gear in neutral and the vehicle stopped, as soon she took the gear out of neutral the vehicle accelerated again. She experienced the failure five times. She took the vehicle to the dealer february 13 2010 the dealer replaced accelerator pedal and reset the accelerator computerized system. And on march 18, 2010 she experienced the failure again while stopped at the red light the vehicle continued to accelerate. The contact stated she will take the vehicle back to the dealer. The current failure mileage was 2,000 and the current mileage was 4,200.
S10 appropriate handling re 2010 toyota prius safety complaints. *tgw the consumer stated the cruise control does not immediately cancel, controlling the throttle under light braking. This allowed the vehicle to accelerate up a hill while the consumer was simultaneously applying the brakes. The brake lights did not come on under light braking and the brakes did not work when braking over rough surfaces such as railroad tracks.
My 2010 prius was "repaired" last month. It intermittently accelerates without my prompting after hitting a bump. This acceleration is as intense as the car seems to allow, as if the pedal were to the floor or worse, and persists for at least one second and has not subsided since the ABS actuator ecu was updated in the recall appointment. This acceleration is terrifying as it can't be anticipated as it does not happen every time I hit a bump, and can't be suppressed by the braking system. I have on several occasions been safely coasting to a stop with the brakes on and experienced this problem. In a few cases this acceleration almost caused me to hit the car in front of me at stop lights. I never did experience the symptoms described by toyota relating to the delayed braking problem, but I fear this problem as much or more.
My 2010 prius was delivered on december 17, I took it on two long road trips and used my cruise control on both trips. On both trips with cruise control on there was a surge of acceleration. Nothing stuck and when I applied the brakes the cruise control cut off and the car slowed. I have experienced this one other time and again it was interstate driving with cruise control on.
I have been having two issues with the 2010 prius since I bought it on 29th dec 2009. 1. Unable to stop and sudden acceleration when hitting rough /uneven road condition and trying to stop and control the vehicle. 2. Unable to stop some times when drive at city speed limit and going between slow and stop and slow and fast and slow kind of driving, sometime when pressing brake, instead of decelerating it start to accelerate and takes longer to stop. I have already been to toyota dealership 3 times over this issue. First time they fixed brake issue. Second time it was recall that they told will fix the problem I am having. 3rd time they said they can reproduce the problem. But I know I feel the issue sometime. And I can not just leave the car with them for days to investigate and I can change my driving pattern or behavior either for this car.
My make: toyota model: prius year: 2010 complaint number: 10311958 summary: my 2010 prius completed its "recall" service yesterday. Today, the car lost power and died while I was driving on to the freeway. I was able to pull over to the side of the freeway and turned it on and off several times until it started. When I called the dealer which is located in thousand oaks, california, I was told by the consumer complaint person that the dealer would not fix the problem unless I was able to recreate the problem with a technician in the car.
Sudden acceleration or surge while going over a pothole or bump.
Tl* contact owns a 2010 toyota prius. The contact stated he took his vehicle in recently for the recall repair and the failure continues to happen, and it is worse than it was before the repair was done. The contact stated when the road is wet he lightly depresses the brake and it feels as if his vehicle accelerates instead of stopping. The failure happens when driving approximately 20mph. The contact called the dealer and he left a message. The failure mileage was 3,000 and the current is a 5,200. Updated 11/16/10.
Tl*the contact owns a 2010 toyota prius. He stated when driving over uneven road surfaces or speed bumps in the road the vehicle would momentarily lose braking power. Also, when depressing the brake pedal over any type of uneven road surface the vehicle would surge momentarily. The dealer was contacted and informed the contact that there was nothing wrong with the vehicle. The failure persisted and the dealer was contacted a second time where the contact was informed that they were aware of the issue, however did not have an explanation or a remedy for the failure. The failure persisted and the dealership was contacted a third time where the contact was advised there was an open recall on the vehicle the federal safety agency recall number: 10v039000:service brakes, air:antilock:control unit/module) and to bring the vehicle in to perform the recall service. After recall repairs were performed on the vehicle, the contact experienced the exact same failure. The failure mileage was approximately 1,000 and the current is 7600.
Tl* the contact owns a 2010 toyota prius. While driving approximately 20 MPH and approaching a traffic light, he placed his foot on the brake pedal. The vehicle then abnormally accelerated as he traveled over a pot hole. Upon contacting the dealer, he was advised that he would have to wait until he received recall notification from the manufacturer before making any repairs to the vehicle. The VIN was not available. The approximate failure mileage was 4,000 and the current was 4,200.
Tl*the contact owns a 2010 toyota prius. The contact was driving approximately 35 MPH, proceeding to make a turn. The brake pedal was depressed and the vehicle surged forward with a loud noise. The contact was able to slow the vehicle down. The contact will not drive the vehicle due to the potential safety hazard. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer. The vehicle was not repaired for the malfunction. The failure mileage was 6,000. The current mileage was 10,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2010 toyota prius. While driving 10 MPH over railroad tracks, with her foot off of the accelerator pedal, she noticed that the vehicle suddenly began to accelerate without driver intent. She immediately depressed the brake pedal and the vehicle momentarily decreased in speed, however the vehicle soon began to accelerate again. She then put the vehicle in neutral and shut the engine off. She was able to stop the vehicle and within a few minutes, restarted the engine. The vehicle began to function normal. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was test driven. The dealer found nothing wrong with the vehicle and could not duplicate the failure. The contact stated that she had experienced the unintended acceleration over 12 times. There were no repairs made to the vehicle. The failure mileage was 4,000 and the current mileage was 8,352.
When braking, all of a sudden the car lurches for a second or so, as if on ice. This happened 3 times in different circumstances, once not related to a pothole. Toyota dealer in avon ct applied the correction to the software, and the next week (last week) the same thing happened again, when I hit a wide, but not deep pothole while braking, just before stopping at the end of a highway exit ramp. In this situation, it was fortunate that no car was in front of me at the light. Additionally I had a problem with sudden acceleration a couple times when driving at slow speed.
Tl*the contact owns a 2010 toyota prius. The contact was driving approximately between 50-55 MPH on a snow covered road surface, while braking the vehicle suddenly surged forward unexpectedly. The driver was unable to control the vehicle and crashed into a ditch. There were no injuries. A police report was filed for the incident and the vehicle was able to resume normal operation. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic for the front end damage. The manufacturer was notified and requested that the vehicle not be repaired until a engineer inspected it. The vehicle has not been repaired at this time. The current and failure mileages were 11,000.
My 2010 prius has had these problems, which are not being addressed by toyota. 1)gas pedal stopped working at all on two occasions going 20-30 miles an hour. Had to pull over, turn car off, restart it. Then it worked. Hasn't happened again. 2)cruise control is very difficult to stop with brake. This is consistent. I have stopped using the cruise control because it has almost caused me to rear end another vehicle on several occasions.
Toyota vehicles in all of the information I have read, toyota nor the department of transportation has informed drivers to shift the vehicle to neutral when it accelerating by itself. By shifting the transmission to neutral it should allow the driver to bring the vehicle to a safe stop.
2010 toyota prius - I was driving my 2010 toyota prius for a short period as a company car. I noticed that when the battery got low while in park the engine would kick in to recharge the battery. The engine would cause the car to slightly jerk forward or back which would be expected by the force of the engine thrust. What was strange is that when I was crossing the street after coming out of an oil change, my foot was on the brake waiting for traffic to clear only to have the engine kick in and slightly jerk the car forward. It surprised me! Like I said my foot was on the brake and kept the car from moving. I visited the toyota dealership to discuss and emailed toyota to make them aware of it. After hearing more news about toyota I felt I needed to share this information. I no longer have the car because I did not feel safe, with all of the problems with toyota, so I turned it back in to my fleet who manages the company cars. I have also noticed a winding sound in the steering wheel when it is turning. I cannot recall the exact date of the incident so I have mentioned feb 19 2010 as the approximate date. If you need an exact date please contact me since I can go to the site where I got my oil change and look up my records to provide an exact date.
Tl*the contact owns a 2010 toyota prius. The contact was driving approximately 20 MPH with the brake engaged when the vehicle accelerated. The contact crashed into the rear end of a nissan. The weather was not a factor. The contact observed smoke coming from the vehicle. The rear suspension was damaged after the crash occurred. The insurance company authorized the vehicle to be towed to an impound lot. The VIN was not available. The approximate failure and current mileages were 36,000.
Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6). I left a message on your voice mail. I have a 2010 prius. I called my dealership this am with concern about the incident last night with the gas pedal. The gentleman that spoke to me was very arrogant stating "I don't know what everyone is so worried about, all he had to do was put it in neutral". I asked him to stay on the phone with me while I did a test run in my car. I got in the car (with him on the phone) started driving and put my foot on the brake and pushed the joy stick to neutral, nothing happened, the car remained in drive. I proceeded to do this 13 times with the dealership on the phone, it only engaged in neutral 2 times out of the 13. I was getting upset and voicing my concern. I asked if I could bring it in and have it checked out. The dealership said to me "sure you can bring it in but I don't know what I can do about it". I was furious, I called the local channel 3 and they came out and did a story on it. We drove the car around and I put it in neutral probably at least 30-50 times and it did not engage 90% of the time. I tried calling toyota headquarters and they are not taking any calls at this time, this was a quote and animated, you cannot talk to a real person. I don't want the car, I am afraid to drive it. [xxx]
I have owned 4 toyota prius hybrid vehicles (2005, 2007, 2008, 2010). I experienced a slight feeling of acceleration sometimes when depressing the gas pedal in the 07 and 08 models. I also felt a slight surge sometimes when braking. When I asked the toyota mechanic about this I was told that stored energy from the hybrid system was being expelled. I never thought it might be a safety issue because of what he said. Now I drive the 2010 prius, had the brake recall done last week and a couple days later, when driving over 3 slight bumps when entering a parking lot, I felt that same slight acceleration. Please continue demanding toyota fix this dangerous problem. Please talk to the us congress about investigating these cars before there are more accidents. I think the 2010 prius also has issues with acceleration as well as braking because I have experienced what I described in the 07, 08, 10 models.
Tl* the contact owns a 2010 toyota prius. She confirmed she has experienced brake failure several times in the vehicle. While attempting a right turn over railroad tracks with her foot on the brake pedal, the vehicle abnormally lunged forward and began to accelerate. She continued to depress the brake pedal until the vehicle came to a stop. She also noticed that when driving uphill, the vehicle was hesitant to accelerate. The vehicle had not yet been taken to the dealer for inspection. The failure mileage was 65,000 and the current was 96,077.
On friday 2/26 at ~ 1:15pm, I was driving my 2010 prius. It was raining hard outside. As I put on brakes, the car seemed to accelerate / did not brake and drove into a parking lot curb. Damage was done to the front end of the car. There have been multiple occasions during which my husband and I have separately noticed this same type of acceleration / failure to brake - particularly when driving in the rain, down a hill, or over an uneven surface (like a pothole). None of these other occasions have resulted in any injury or damage. Following the 2/26/2010 incident, I contacted toyota that same day. I was told that a customer relations manager would call me back by tuesday 3/2. Did not hear back. On wednesday 3/3 I called to follow up. After being on hold for 1 hour, I gave up. Sent an e-mail to customer service advising of the situation. Still did not hear back. On saturday 3/6 I called again. Was again on hold x 1 hour and told customer service representative of what happened - they apologized and said they did not have my contact information. Was told I would get a call back by 3/9. Did finally speak with an agent on 3/8 who now tells me that I will get a call within 10 days. At that time, I will be offered an inspection appointment within the following 30 days. And, within 30 days after the appointment I will receive written notification of the outcome of the inspection. I feel unsafe driving my car. I would hope for a faster resolution to this situation. I would like for the ABS fix for which the 2010 prius is being recalled to be completed as soon as possible. And, I would like for the damage to my car to be repaired.
There are several problems I've experienced with the 2010 toyota prius purchased new 10 december 2009. 1. When using cruise control: ~ there's regularly what feels like an engine surge when the foot brake is applied to turn off cruise control. This happens regularly, including on smooth, level, dry roadways and freeways and at speed settings from 45 to 60 MPH. Because of concern about this I now manually turn off cruise control. Three days ago the car was test driven by a toyota dealership service department employee, who reported using cruise control 6 times and turning cruise control off by applying the foot brake; the report was 'cruise control shut off immediately when enough pressure applied [emphasis added] to pedal.' ~ on saturday, february 27, 2010 after the car had been set at 60 in cruise control for some time there was a strong odor (like a car being driven with the "hand" brake on, but my car's wasn't engaged) while on a dry freeway downgrade (gradual, not steep). I turned off the cruise control, continued at the same speed and the odor stopped. This was the first such occurrence. I've used cruise control regularly because of usually driving on freeways 6 days/week. The toyota service department's test drive three days ago reported 'not evident.' 2. Shifting from park to drive several times this shifting was successful only after multiple tries. On one recent occasion after several tries and also turning the car off, on again, and then unsuccessfully retrying, I resorted to using the safety connect sos button. There were no doors ajar and no indication of the cause. While talking with the person who responded I periodically continued to try shifting from park to drive; after several attempts the car responded.
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