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2018 TOYOTA 4RUNNER — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL

crash · 2076980 · 2025-03-25

Vehicle

Make
TOYOTA
Model
4RUNNER
Year
2018
Manufacturer
Toyota Motor Corporation
Component
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL

Severity

Deaths
0
Injured
0
Fire
No
Crash
Yes
Police report
No
Medical attention
No
Vehicle towed
No

Narrative

While my father was exiting his 2018 Toyota 4Runner SR5, the vehicle unexpectedly started reversing fairly quickly, despite no foot being on the brake. He was dragged by the vehicle while attempting to stop it outside the car, and it continued moving backwards then down a hill before crashing into a fence, causing significant damage to both the car and the fence. This vehicle should not have rolled back at this speed, and it appears to be related to a potential design flaw in the vehicle’s brake-shift interlock system or automatic reverse functionality. This incident is concerning, and after reviewing discussions in various forums, it seems that similar issues may not be isolated to this particular vehicle and could point to a larger defect in Toyota vehicles. I am very disappointed that there are no built-in safety features that could have prevented this incident. It is extremely concerning that the vehicle shifted into reverse while the driver was in the process of exiting. A vehicle should not be able to reserve this quickly or move into reverse unintentionally without the driver’s control. This poses a serious safety risk to drivers and bystandards, and I strongly urge the NHTSA to investigate this issue and determine whether a defect or design flaw contributed to the incident. Implementing proper safeguards could prevent similar accidents in the future.

Source

Authoritative
NHTSA ODI Flat-File Downloads
ODI Number
11650452
Machine
JSON-LD · Markdown