unintended acceleration & brake failure
 

Just brought my 2007 TCH to dealer after using a small tree to park the car. This is 2nd occurrence of unintended acceleration and brake failure.
The first, in my garage, with 6 inches to go, had foot on brake lightly
and was moving at 3 KPH. Sudden acceleration caused my foot to slam
down on brake, but still required almost 18 inches to stop the car. Had 1 inch to spare before using the front bumper to get some beers out of the fridge.

Then, yesterday, was parking again at 3 KPH with 12 inches to go when 'TCH-HAL' took over. Slammed on the brake, but too little, too late. The brake pedal felt like the car was totally turned off and I was braking without any help from 'TCH-HAL'.

Unfortunately, can't recall for sure if I was on battery and the ICE kicked-in, or if I was still running with the ICE on.

There are no floor mats to blame and I know the difference between gas and brake.

This time it was a tree, what if it was a human being !!!!!!!!!

Anyone out there experience this before. No, it's not your imagination, no you didn't get your pedals all mixed up, no, no, no.:angry:

Re: unintended acceleration & brake failure
 

lubo,

Several questions and one statement.

1) Have you owned the car since it was new?
2) How many miles are on the car?
3) Do you left foot brake?

After 23,000+ miles I admit that this has never happened on my Camry and the last case of "unintended acceleration" I experienced was 20 years ago on a horse. Note: I no longer own a horse...

Re: unintended acceleration & brake failure
 

You don't say how long you've had the TCH. I say that because 'newbies' to the TCH are often surprised at how easily the TCH keeps on rolling even after you have your foot off the gas pedal. Wth no engine braking to help slow you down you have to be quicker to hit the brakes even at slow speeds. I notice this effect every time I switch between my TCH and my wife's Avalon.

Unless you have a true malfunction, it doesn't matter whether the ICE was on or not since all power goes through the PSD to the wheels.

Re: unintended acceleration & brake failure
 

:rolleyes:Ya, this happens all the time when you let your brain disengage!Called a brain F#$%.ROTFFLMAO

Re: unintended acceleration & brake failure
 

Did I read some idiot's comment on this matter?

Well, I'll raise my (wife's) hand in our '06 Prius. She was driving support for me during a cross Wisconsin bike tour. From her description of the event, the Prius suddenly accelerated.

She **** near stood on the brake before she finally got the car stopped, left front brake afire, the right one smoking. Fortunately she was able to find a farmer who was waiting for his mail to run into his house and get a fire extinguisher.

The dealer in Wausau, Wi (where the car was towed and repaired) showed me a pict of the carpet over the accelerator pedal, tho my test of this possibility was not able to confirm.

Shortly after I posted the event on this website, an owner of a new Prius emailed me telling me of that problem, I think, exiting a freeway in Washington state.

I have a friend who is a freelance photographer and does some shooting for Toyota. So, when she asked what the cause could be, she was told that the problem was with doubling of floor mats (do you have the nifty Toyota all weather mats atop your faux felt mats).

So, not wanting to argue with her I just removed the original mats and made sure I've anchored the rubber mats.

Re: unintended acceleration & brake failure
 

Is this comment offered as a solution?

Re: unintended acceleration & brake failure
 

There is a recall on the floor mats, because they could trap the accelerator pedal. A lot of people put the winter (rubber) mats on top of the summer (carpet) mats. The two mats, together, were too thick to engage the hook on the floor. The result was that the rubber mat would slide forward and catch the lower edge of the pedal. When that happens, you can still see most of the accelerator pedal, so it is difficult to even realize what has happened.

The replacement rubber mats just have a warning to remove the carpet mats, use only one floor mat at a time, and to make sure the hook is engaged.

The photos in the recall notice show clearly that, when the rubber mat catches the lower edge of the pedal, it is not obvious. When the rubber mat is operating the gas pedal, you can still see (almost) the entire gas pedal.
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/portal/site...earSelect=2007

Re: unintended acceleration & brake failure
 

Thanks, Steve.

That doesn't seem to solve the problem of the originator of this thread and the Washington acceleration.

I've removed that original mats, and so - over 40,000 miles later the car runs beautifully.

Recall? When did Toyota put out a recall?

Re: unintended acceleration & brake failure
 

The carpet slips forward and gets trapped under the brake pedal but OVER the gas pedal and then when you step on the brake pedal and it moves forward so does the gas pedal.

Re: unintended acceleration & brake failure
 

Martin,

Toyota recalled the all weather mats over a year ago. The new ones have a cutout for the gas pedal as noted above. I gave up waiting on them and bought Weathertechs instead.