The hood prop rod's locking mechanism became faulty. The hood prop rod would no longer stay in place. While accelerating, decelerating, or making turns, the hood prop rod would come into contact with the battery. This would cause huge sparks, and sometimes, would cause my car to stall if I accelerated or decelerated too fast. There was one fender bender as a result of this at a traffic light, but there was no damage. Also, when I would do heavy deceleration, my car's braking power was significantly decreased. Fortunately, I never crashed into anyone as a result (but had to drive into the shoulder to avoid an accident) the solution to this was a very simple quick fix after my mechanic identified the problem - just keep the hood rod in the trunk. However, the locking mechanism should not fail after 8 years.

- Toms River, NJ, USA