NHTSA complaint: 2016 TOYOTA CAMRY — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
WITH RIGHT FOOT ON THE BRAKE, THE CAR WAS VERY SLOWLY MOVING FORWARD WITH A PLAN TO PARK IN FRONT OF A PALM TREE THAT IS SURROUNDED BY CONCRETE BORDER APPROX. 8' HIGH. THE CAR UNEXPECTEDLY AND ABRUPTLY ACCELERATED THEN HIT THE PALM TREE. ALTHOUGH, THE CONCRETE STOPPED FURTHER FORWARD MOVEMENT, THE CAR HAD SIGNIFICANT FRONT END DAMAGE. I BROUGHT THE CAR TO AUTONATION DEALER FOR INSPECTION ON 04/23/18, WHO ADVISED ME TO CALL TOYOTA CLAIMS DEPT. TOYOTA CLAIMS DEPT. ASSIGNED AN INSPECTOR TO REVIEW THE EVENT ELECTRONIC DATA RECORDER (EDR). THE INSPECTOR DOWNLOADED THE DATA FROM THE EDR, GAVE ME A COPY AND FORWARDED TO TOYOTA CORP. THE INSPECTOR ALSO TEST DROVE THE CAR. ON 04/04/18 I RECEIVED A MAIL FROM TOYOTA INDICATING THAT THERE IS NO EVIDENCE OF A DEFECT WITH THE THROTTLE CONTROL SYSTEM THAT CAUSED THE INCIDENT BASED ON THE EDR READOUTS. THE READOUTS COVER THE PRE-CRASH DATA AS FOLLOWS: 1. THE EDR READOUTS INDICATED THAT THERE WAS A MOMENTARY ACCELERATOR INPUT THAT BROUGHT THE ENGINE RPM FROM 700 TO 1500. HOWEVER, THE EDR READOUT ALSO INDICATED THE ENGINE RPM INCREASED FROM 1500 TO 1900 WITHOUT ACCELERATOR INPUT. 2. THE EDR READOUTS ALSO INDICATED AT 0 SEC, THE ENGINE IS AT 1500 RPM WITH ACCELERATOR AND BRAKE INPUTS AT THE TIME. ON 04/08/18 I SENT A LETTER TO TOYOTA CLAIMS ADMINISTRATOR REQUESTING FURTHER REVIEW OF ABOVE ITEMS 1 & 2. ON 07/10/18, TOYOTA CLAIMS ADMINISTRATOR RESPONDED MAINTAINING THAT THERE IS NO EVIDENCE OF DEFECT. ON 07/17/18 I SEN
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration — Office of Defects Investigation