— The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has been petitioned to investigate alleged slow-speed unintended acceleration events in model year 2010 Lexus HS 250h cars.
The Virginia driver said she was slowly turning into a parking space when the Lexus suddenly accelerated and crashed into a brick building. The car was considered a total loss from the crash.
The driver said a contractor was hired by Toyota to investigate the event data recorder. The recorder allegedly indicated the driver was applying light pressure to the gas pedal five seconds before the crash until less than a second before the crash. Allegedly the data recorder proves the brake pedal was applied at .8 seconds before the crash and the car was almost at full throttle.
During the last second of the crash, the Lexus allegedly went from 5 mph to 9.9 mph and the engine jumped from 1200 to 2800 rpm, although the driver says she wasn't touching the gas pedal.
The driver says faulty electronic throttle control software is to blame for the crash and NHTSA should open an investigation into 18,000 model year 2010 Lexus HS 250h cars.
Toyota and Lexus Slow-Speed Unintended Acceleration
This isn't the first time NHTSA has been petitioned to investigate alleged slow-speed unintended acceleration events in Toyota and Lexus vehicles.
In September 2014, a Rhode Island man petitioned NHTSA to open an investigation into Toyota after the man's wife said her 2010 Toyota Corolla accelerated while the brake pedal was applied, with one event allegedly causing a minor accident.
NHTSA declined to open an investigation after the agency said it proved the brakes could keep the car from moving even with the engine at full throttle.
And in July 2015, the owner of a 2009 Lexus ES 350 petitioned the government to investigate slow-speed acceleration issues after the car allegedly accelerated suddenly and crashed into large bushes.
In August, NHTSA denied the Lexus ES 350 petition by saying allegations are based upon misconceptions about the manner in which the data recorder works in pre-crash data in the Lexus ES 350. The government said all the evidence points to a driver applying the gas pedal instead of the brake pedal.
CarComplaints.com has complaints from owners of Lexus cars.
