Bulletins
| Bulletin | Bulletin date | Replacement Bulletin | Item no. | Summary | Added |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL - ACCELERATOR PEDAL | |||||
| TSB-0087-12 | 06/13/2012 | 10045140 | Toyota: accelerator pedal sensor assembly information regarding the inspection, removal, and installation, if lubrication or oil, is applied. *pe | 08/21/2012 | |
Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL | |||
| 12/06/2011 | 85000 | 1 | |
| Car accelerated and chased into house in nov 20011. car accelerated in parking lot dec. 2012. no damage this time but in 2011 there was 14,000 $ damage to house and car. car was checked out at toyota twice ,no problem found. wife will never drive the car again. she is infear of hurting someone. *tr | |||
| 01/26/2011 | 90000 | ||
| Tl-the contact owns a 2003 toyota highlander. while driving approximately 25 mph he engaged the brakes and the vehicle would not stop and began to accelerate. the contact stated he tried several ways to stopped the vehicle he engaged the vehicle in neutral,the emergency brake and the vehicle continued to rev and the the tires were spinning. he stated he put the vehicle in neutral and turned the vehicle off and that stopped the vehicle. the vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer for the failure. the dealer advised him that the transmission drop and that since he had an extra floor mat on the floor at time that caused the failure. the dealer advised him since that was the case he would have to pay for the repairs. the vehicle had not been repaired yet. the contact stated this was the first time he experienced a acceleration failure. the vin was unavailable. the failure and current mileage was 90,000. vwb | |||
| 05/16/2008 | 55000 | ||
| Tl* the contact owns a 2003 toyota highlander. while driving at 75 mph utilizing the cruise control mechanism, he attempted to shut off the cruise control when the vehicle abnormally accelerated up to 90 mph. he immediatley put the vehicle into neutral and depressed the brake pedal almost to the floor. the vehicle finally came to a stop when he noticed that the driver | |||
| 02/16/2010 | 62300 | ||
| Tl*the contact owns a 2003 toyota highlander. he stated that while driving 2 mph with his foot on the brake pedal, it accelerated on its own without a warning and crashed into a building . there were front end damages to the vehicle. there were no injuries. the vehicle was towed. a police report was available. the dealer was contacted and they stated that his vehicle was not on the recall list. there were repairs made to the vehicle. the failure and current mileages were 62,300. | |||
| 08/10/2008 | 75752 | 2 | |
| Tl* the contact owns a 2003 toyota highlander. the contact was driving 5 mph when the vehicle accelerated to 90 mph. the contact applied the brake which did not work. the contact then put the gear neutral which slowed the vehicle down and she was able to bring the vehicle to a complete stop, however the engine was still racing. the contact called the manufacturer but no action was taken. failure mileage was 75,752. updated 04/09/10. *lj updated evoq 06/08/10.*jb updated 06/15/10.*jb | |||
| 04/28/2008 | 56546 | 1 | |
| On monday, april 28, 2008 at approximately 7:45 a.m. cdt, i drove my 2003 toyota highlander on to the employee parking lot at unigroup, inc. as i always did, i pulled up past my assigned parking spot, stopped, and put the vehicle in reverse to back into my space. when i moved my foot from the brake to the accelerator and turned the steering wheel to back into space 304, the suv suddenly accelerated at a tremendous speed, hit and bounced off the ford explorer parked in space 305 and then hit the subaru legacy wagon parked in space 317 immediately behind space 304. one witness who was in the parking lot at the time later told me that while he did not see the crash, he heard a huge roar of a motor and the crashing noise of the impact. the owner of the subaru also did not see the initial acceleration of the suv, but heard the tires screeching and turned in time to see my suv hit his subaru. both of the two witnesses helped me load the back bumper of my highlander into the cargo area. prior to going into the office, i checked the floor mat under the steering wheel, but could not see any indication that it in any way had moved. i am convinced that the only thing that stopped my highlander was the fact that it hit the two vehicles in spaces 305 and 317. later that day (4.28.2008), i called toyota to report the incident. i was told by a representative by the name of barbara that there were no problems or recalls on the highlander, only the camry (this according to the nhtsa.) my report was given . there was extensive damage to my suv and the two other vehicles that were hit. thus far, toyota has not acknowledged that my vehicle (2003 highlander) is included in the recall and since the vin # begins with a j, i am told that there is no problem with any vehicle made in japan. therefore, i cannot even take it to a dealership for repairs. i am left in limbo with a defective toyota. *tr | |||
| 01/01/2010 | 80000 | 1 | |
| 2003 toyota highlander, i have a randomly occurring problem with the gas pedal sticking when you are trying to accelerate from a stop. my year model is not included in the current recall but i wanted to make you aware that there are other possible problems out there. i have called the dealership and they said without being able to duplicate the problem there is nothing that i can do and it is randomly occurring. *tr | |||
| 01/01/1901 | 1 | ||
| 2003 toyota highlander uncontrolled surge in acceleration. consumer states there was limited to no use when the brake pedal was depressed. *kb the consumer stated the floor mat played absolutely no role in the sudden acceleration incident. the truck was taken to the dealer where they replaced numerous parts, but could not explain the cause. *jb | |||
| 08/08/2008 | 82467 | ||
| Tl* the contact owns a 2003 toyota highlander. while driving 45 mph the accelerator pedal became stuck. he down-shifted , then shifted the vehicle into neutral, and then applied the brakes. he was able to stop the vehicle. during the failure, the floor mat was not under the pedal. the vehicle was taken to the dealer for inspection. the technician stated that the throttle was open, which could affect the speed. however the dealer could not duplicate the problem or locate any diagnostic error codes.. the failure mileage was 82,467. | |||
| 06/10/2009 | 112000 | 2 | |
| Throttle stuck open and continued to accelerate on my 2003 toyota highlander limited while driving north on rt 4 in calvert county, md. it was necessary to weave in and out of traffic until i could safely get off road. had vehicle towed to nearest garage. mechanic blamed throttle body assembly and cleaned. drove vehicle home without incident. throttle again stuck open next time i started vehicle and began to drive away from house. i had the towed vehicle to bayside toyota, prince frederick, md with throttle still stuck open for them to see what was occurring. service manager said it was necessary to replace throttle body assembly which was bad. replaced to the tune of $1,668.74. service manager, who suggested my floor mat may have pushed down throttle before tow truck arrived, said i was lucky to get the car to the garage since the worn throttle body assembly made driving dangerous. i sent a letter to toyota motor sales usa, inc, torrance, ca on 07/10/2009, and explained the incident, the possible dangerous results, and the high cost of repair. toyota responded with an acknowledgment dated 07/25/2009, and said i could call their office if interested in discussing incident. i called and their representative said they had no record of similar incidents, and the vehicle had to many years and miles for a warranty consideration of a credit on the new throttle body assembly. i don't know if this conversation resulted in a record being made since i received a duplicate of the 07/25/2009 acknowledgement letter in 09/2009. unfortunately, i was unaware of the throttle body assembly being a problem in toyota vehicles prior to the repair, and i did not request the old part be returned to me. i do have my copy of correspondence to toyota and their acknowledgment of receipt. *tr updated 06/14/10. *jb | |||
| 10/01/2007 | 5 | 1 | 07/04/2003 |
| While attempting to park my 2003 toyota highlander at a mcdonald's, as i was applying the brake and almost parked, the car suddenly accelerated, jumped the curb and crashed through the entrance of the mcdonald's. i continued to apply the brake when this happened, and it would not stop. *jb | |||
| 08/26/2004 | 10000 | 1 | 10/11/2003 |
| My 2003 toyota highlander accelerated at a high rate of speed while the brake was fully applied as i turned into a parking spot. luckily, it happened when i was 60% or so into the space, as i only accelerated into a brick wall, not another car or person. *ak | |||
| 1 | |||
| While the brakes were being applied vehicle surged forward abruptly. vehicle jumped an embankment and went through a fence. *ak | |||
| 02/24/2004 | 14709 | 1 | 03/15/2003 |
| Sudden acceleration while brake was depressed. vehicle went up a two foot embankment and thru a chain link fence. vehicle was stopped by placing into park. this all happened while brake was depressed fully. | |||
| VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL - ACCELERATOR PEDAL | |||
| 10/27/2010 | 1 | ||
| 2003 toyota highlander. consumer submits documentation related to unintended acceleration issues with vehicle *tgw the consumer stated the vehicle accelerated out of control and subsequently, crashed into a concrete divider, struck a palm tree and then a metal light pole. even after the vehicle came to rest, the engine continued to rev very fast. it finally stopped a few seconds after the impact. *jb | |||
| 12/05/2009 | 76500 | 1 | |
| )n the morning of 12-05-09, as i pulling into my garage the car very suddenly lurched forward with an unexpected increase in speed. before i could brake, the car slammed into a steel shelving unit on the back wall which resulted in extensive damage to the wall ( both interior & exterior) and what appeared to be minimal damage to the auto. i took the vehicle to my toyota service on that same day because i/we felt that this could constitute an unsafe driving condition. total costs from this incident were as follows: covered by insurance- $3607.81 (plus 703.31 pd. directly to the dealer?) and $916.27 ( 500.00 insurance deductible and an additional mechanical charge for a fuel/air sensor that failed on 12-26-09). i have not previously experienced sudden acceleration with this vehicle. i have notified both my local dealer, southeast toyota distributors and toyota customer relations regarding the problem stating that there may be other vehicles beyond the scope of their current recall that should also be considered as potentially dangerous. *tr updated 05/03.10 | |||
| 6000 | 1 | ||
| Backing out of garage in a highlander and the engine suddenly raced w/o foot on gas pedal, causing consumer to react by applying the brakes. consumer's foot slipped off brake pedal and landed on the accelerator resulting in the vehicle hitting the neighbor's house. a 2003 camry was supplied as a rental vehicle when the highlander wastaken for repair. while using the camry, the consumer went to apply the brake for a stop sign and inadvertently applied both the brake and accelerator pedal. consumer raised his foot then reapplied the brake pedal (only) and was able to stop before entering the intersection. | |||
| 07/06/2003 | 4529 | 1 | |
| Consumer feels that the location of the brake/gas pedal are too close. this resulted in accidental acceleration while reversing.*ak | |||