On Friday, January 18, 2019, at 6:50 a.m. I attempted to back up my 2015 Lexus ES 350 from my home’s driveway. I had my foot on the brake pedal and shifted the car into Reverse. The car jolted back and rapidly accelerated with my foot still on the brake pedal. Rather than crash into two cars parked across the street from my driveway, I attempted to shift the car into Park to stop the car.

While attempting to shift into Park, the car jolted and accelerated forward. I continued to keep my foot on the brake pedal; however, the car continued accelerating forward. To avoid smashing into my garage doors, I veered the car toward the left. The car crashed into a stucco column, and it continued on until it finally came to a halt when it hit a PVC gate and the cement pole covered in PVC that supported the PVC gate. The gate was completely demolished and rested atop the car.

I called the service manager at Rockville Centre, New York Lexus to report the problem. He directed me to call the corporate legal department at Lexus. He told me it would take a long time for a Lexus engineer to inspect the car. This prompted me to call my insurance company as well as an auto body shop.

While fortunately no one was killed, I had no intention of driving this vehicle. The vehicle was completely out of control. The lease was to end in April and I had been planning on trading it in to Rockville Centre Lexus that same weekend as the Salesperson I have worked with for several years had reached out to me on several occasions to trade it in for a new car. We had been in touch to connect at the Lexus Dealership.

I called Lexus Customer Service to file a complaint. They set up an appointment for an engineer to inspect the "black box". I picked up my car from the auto body shop it was towed to on 2/22/19. Two hours later, I returned the leased vehicle to Lexus since I was too afraid to drive it. The engineer kept the scheduled inspection scheduled for February 28th.

I was told by Lexus Customer Service I am NOT entitled to the inspection report since I am no longer the owner of the vehicle. YET I was the owner when the car took off on its own! My insurance paid $14,000.00 in damages to the vehicle while I paid $2500.00 to repair the column and gate the car plowed into when it accelerated forward and would not brake.

Update from Apr 15, 2019: I received the engineer's report and was told the black box could not be read since the impact was not severe enough. The whole front of the car was smashed in and took 4 weeks to repair. I guess I should have driven into the garage door instead.