I had driven for over an hour on the highway coming home from work. I was in city traffic coming to a stop sign with a car in front of me. The weather was inclement, with snow banks still on the sides of the street. I slowed down coming up to the car in front of me, but was unable to stop, I thought that I had hit a patch of ice. I was standing on the brakes, but I kept rolling forward. The engine was racing, and so I threw the car into neutral. The engine continued to race, but since it was in neutral; the car did finally stop.

I was in the middle of the turn so cars were honking, and people being so understanding, were yelling at me. I had to move the car, but as soon as I put it back in gear the car tried to take off again. I put it back in neutral and called my husband. I noticed smoke coming from under the hood of the car so thinking I might have to evacuate the car, I put it in park. and shut off the car.

After waiting for a few minutes, I restarted the car and tried to move the car around the corner and park, but the car only inched forward. I finally got to a safe spot, and parked the car out of traffic. The Toyota dealership was closed, with a gate across the front of the yard so I couldn't have the car towed there. There was a garage we were familiar with, about 500 feet away, so we called a tow truck and took the car there.

Had I been driving on the highway when the engine started racing I would have been killed or severely injured, and possibly injured or killed others I know that Camary have had the same problem, but haven't heard of Avalons having this issue.