This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
I am the owner of the 96 Toyota Camry identified by the VIN number provided. I have experienced an abnormal speeding of my car as explained below: This past Friday, Jan 13th about 6:30 pm central time, I was traveling on I-65 South (from birmingham, Alabama to hoover, Alabama). About 15 to 20 minutes on the road, when I was just about to reach my destination, my vehicle started accelerating abruptly even when the foot was off the pedal. I stepped on the brakes but the engine kept revving upwards of 3000 RPM. In great distress, praying to jesus, I kept hardly pressing the brakes and was able to shift gear to neutral. It started reviving up higher in neutral. Shifted to park and stopped the engine. It seems, there is something wrong with the design of throttle or the parts involved in the vehicle's speed control system. I towed the vehicle to my place. Please investigate this issue and advice me if I have to reach out to the manufacturer for a car repair or replacement.
The contact owned a 1996 Toyota Camry. While driving 65 mph, the contact heard an abnormal clicking noise coming from the vehicle. The vehicle began to speed up in excess of 100 mph and crashed head on into a guardrail. The air bags deployed. A police report was filed. The contact sustained brain injuries that required medical attention. The vehicle was towed and deemed destroyed. The contact stated that this was the second time the vehicle accelerated independently. The manufacturer was contacted after the first occurrence and advised to have the vehicle diagnosed at a Toyota dealer. The vehicle was taken to the dealer; however, the specific details of the diagnosis and repair could not be provided. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure recurred. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 100,000...updated 05/09/17 consumer replaced the part causing unintended acceleration with new part on July 26,2013. Consumer had a car accident on November 25,2013. Updated 9/5/18
The contact owns a 1996 Toyota Camry. While driving the vehicle, it independently accelerated. The contact engaged the brake pedal and shifted into neutral to bring the vehicle to a stop. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The VIN was not available. The manufacturer was not notified. The approximate failure mileage was 165,000. Updated 10/06/16
On September 19, 2014, when my wife was driving a 96 Toyota Camry car home, all of the sudden, the vehicle automatically accelerated, she hit the brake hard but the vehicle still went 40 mph. She almost hit several vehicles before she managed to shift it to the parking mode and stop the vehicle in the up-slope driveway. At this time, the vehicle was still roaring and smoke came out and she turned off the engine. We felt this is a very serious safety issue and is similar to accident happened several years ago. We would like to report it to NHTSA and wish you start a swift investigation. Thank you.
96 Toyota Camry with 185K miles accelerated to a high speed for unknown reasons. Trying to halt the car, a landscaping tree was hit, the wheel blew out, eventually stopping the car. Vehicle did not respond to gear, pedal or shut off of vehicle from commands given. Instead, after hitting landscaping tree runover, near miss pedestrians, tire blowout, then halted. Police tested (on police report verified) turn on of vehicle in which car resumed high speed revving.
- Hammond, IN, USA
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Stuck accelerator pedal entered I-75 S on-ramp at ellenton fl and was accelerating. At about 60 mph, rapid acceleration occurred. I was quickly approaching a tractor trailer about mid-river ( manatee river), checked the cruise control light (not on) and hit the brakes. The brakes slowed the vehicle from 70mph but the engine continued to race. I had the brake petal fully engaged, which decreased speed to about 40 mph. I pulled onto the berm about one-half mile past bridge and while keeping foot on brake pulled gear shift into neutral. Engine was fully engaged producing a loud screeching sound. I brought the car to a stop. The car was towed by aaa to a local transmission repair shop.. wording on repair estimate is as follows: Work requested: Accelerator pedal stuck. Work performed: Diagnose to air intake boot deteriorated, found small piece fell off and jammed into throttle plate, install new air intake boot. (air mass meter boot). (the defective deteriorating boot is in my possession.)
This event occurred twice: I was driving at approximately 30-40 mph w/out the cruise control engaged. When I took my foot of the gas pedal to apply the brakes the vehicle accelerated. I had to depress the brake pedal as hard as I could to stop the vehicle. In the second incident I had to take the car out of gear which caused the RPM to jump significantly. Once the car was turned off and restarted the car functioned normally. I took the vehicle to the dealer who could not find any open recalls nor could the dealer identify any problems with the vehicle. I also took the vehicle to a mechanic who was unable to identify any problems.
The contact owns a 1996 Toyota Camry. The contact stated that while driving 65 mph with the cruise control activated, the contact was unable to disengage the cruise control function. In addition, the vehicle would increase acceleration speeds independently. The contact notified the dealer and they advised that there was a recall for the failure under NHTSA campaign id number: 96E001000(vehicle speed control) but the contact's vehicle was not included in the recall. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact notified the manufacturer but did not get a response. The failure mileage was 85,000.
The contact owns a 1996 Toyota Camry. The contact stated that the vehicle would frequently exhibit an abnormal increase in engine rpms. In addition, the emergency brake was inoperable. While driving and attempting to avoid a crash, the brakes were depressed but there was no response. The contacted had to steer abruptly to avoid the crash but the vehicle then abnormally accelerated. The contact was unable to stop the acceleration until crashing into the rear of another vehicle. The vehicle was destroyed. The vehicle was not inspected for the failures. The failure mileage was 122,000.
The contact owns a 1996 Toyota Camry. The contact was driving 45 mph when the vehicle suddenly accelerated. The brake was depressed and the gear was placed in neutral but the engine rpms increased to 5000. The contact noticed that the accelerator pedal did not return to idle position and remains stuck in open throttle. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer to be diagnosed or repaired. The failure and the current mileage was 185,257.
We had a situation described below. I shall be grateful if you could shed some light on it. This incident involves Toyota Camry 1996. It is a critical situation. Your assistance will be greatly appreciated. [xxx] description of the accident: Monday (4/25/2011) was the trash collection day at our development. We have two cars: Camry and Lexus. We had to pull one car out to bring the trash can in. It was approximately around 6 P.M. my wife volunteered to pull the car out, so that I could bring the trash can in. My wife pulled the car out on the driveway and parked, still her foot was on the brake. As she was bringing the gear to drive, as soon as it reached the reverse gear, the car speeded backward in an uncontrollable speed and with in seconds it hit and shattered our neighbor"S mail box and its metal post. The car stopped. I was standing and was shocked to see what was happening. She thought that she was in our neighbor"S lawn, and wanted to bring the car to the side of the road. As soon as she brought the gear to the drive, it again raced forward in high uncontrollable speed and hit our brick wall of our house and was pinned down and stopped. The car was totaled, wrecking the front and the back with two impacts. Both airbags were deployed. She had her seat belt on. These two devices probably saved her life. She was taken to the hospital by ambulance. Police arrived and accompanied us to the hospital. We spent four to five hours in the hospital. Report enclosed. She has seen her personal physician. She has seen orthopedic surgeon. She is also going to physical therapy. Information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
I just recently bought a 1996 Toyota Camry, the car runs great besides the fact that it sometimes starts to self accelerate. The pedal gets stuck in press mode and the car just picks up incredible sudden speed. In prior occasions I have suddenly just put the car in neutral and then the engine revs up to 6500 RPM. I've also noticed that this problem occurs when the outside temperatures are really hot. On certain occasions I have came very close in becoming involved with an accident. In these scenarios I have even put the car in neutral and shutting it down. I have even opened the hood many of times and have seen that the cars accelerator wire is fully clinched to the max. This has been a very big safety concern for me and has endangered my life many of times. I have contacted a local Toyota dealer about this problem, they said they really don't know anything regarding a 1996 Camry and accelerator problems. This is indeed a very big issue and it is very apparent that this problem of accelerators do exist from long time before and not just in the recent Camry's. I do not want to get involved in any sort of accident as I've come very very close.
My 1996 Toyota Camry experienced unintended acceleration and became difficult to control on April 12, 2010. While driving home from work (a distance of 26 miles) I entered the freeway and gave my car gas to move into the second from the left hand lane. After getting into the proper lane, the car behaved in the same way as a car after pressing the resume button, after disabling cruise control. This happened at 4:30P during the start of rush hour traffic. The only way I could keep from hitting another vehicle was to floor the brake. At one point the car raced to speeds of 65-75 mph. I could tell that at the 75 mph range that I was very likely to hit the car in front of me. To prevent this I briefly placed the car in neutral, then switched it into reverse twice in quick succession. The Camry made a horrible noise, but did slow down after that. The brakes seemed to be unable to engage properly from that point, possibly due to excessive use. I was able to successfully drive to the dealership after that. The dealer examined the car, test drove it and stated that they could find no problem with the car. Statement from spouse: As a recently retired engineer from a large research laboratory, I'd like to add my comments: I spent 33 years designing laboratory experiments to run safely and reliably. Over those years, I formed the opinion that lab equipment should be designed so that malfunctions cause only minor problems, not major ones. Since Toyota's problems with unintended acceleration seem to affect vehicles of various ages and designs, I suspect the root cause is not a specific piece of hardware, but rather a failure to design their equipment so that malfunctions cause only minor problems, not major ones. Perhaps there are components of their vehicles that fail in a way that gives the vehicle full power, whereas a safer failure mode would be have no power.
Re: inspection of 1996 Toyota Camry involved in 2006 fatal crash, 1996 Toyota Camry 4 door, model lxs (Minnesota vehicle license kjl 696) state of Minnesota V. koua fang lee(criminal vehicular homicide). Updated 9/29/11 the driver of the Toyota was convicted in 2007 of criminal vehicular homicide-gross negligence which killed three people and severely injured two others. The defendants attorney has raised concerns that a sudden acceleration defect in the Toyota Camry may have caused the crash. Updated 03/30/10. (county attorney requested that NHTSA participate in the inspection of the vehicle) updated 04/07/10 received follow-up letter. Updated 04/07/10.
-the contact owns a 1996 Toyota Camry. The contact was driving approximately 45 mph. When pressure was applied to the accelerator pedal the vehicle surged forward repeatedly. The brakes were engaged and the vehicle slowed down. The vehicle had not ben repaired at the time of the complaint. The failure mileage was 50,000. The current mileage was 62,000. The VIN was unavailable
I entered the freeway on-ramp and accelerated. The car continued to accelerate even after I took my foot off the gas pedal. I kicked the pedal down a couple times to get it unstuck. Instead of coming unstuck, it stuck all the way to the floor. (the engine accelerated to the maximum amount. I think the actual pedal came back up to the idle position.) the brakes slowed the car some when I pushed on the pedal with both feet with my hands on the steering wheel and standing up so all my weight and strength was on the brake. The brakes smelled of burning and I thought for a second that maybe I was getting it under control. However, when I looked at the speedometer, it read 95 and the brakes were smoking and smelling quite strong. I put the car into neutral and continued to push hard on the brake. It slowed down to maybe to 65 or so. By then the engine was running so fast I thought it would blow up and it was night on a relatively deserted freeway so I put it back into gear and continued this pattern for approximately 8 miles - speeding up to way past 95, riding the brakes until they smoked and smelled too much (I thought they would become useless if I let them burn up) putting it into neutral and slowing down for as long as I thought was ok before blowing the engine, repeat, etc.. just prior to my exit, the unintended acceleration stopped and I got off onto the side streets. When I accelerated after a stop sign, the accelerator stuck but I immediately put it into neutral and then shut the key off, stopping the engine. It did this two more times. The repair shop cleaned the throttle body and it has not happened again. I was in the army infantry during the 60's but had not had a flashback for a very long time. I had flashbacks of this experience several times when entering a freeway entrance ramp. It was a most terrifying experience and research has shown that our ability to respond logically is greatly diminished under that high stress.
1996 Camry was stopped at a red light then surged forward into the intersection where it was struck by a motorcycle and pick-up truck. Camry and motorcycle both totaled. Airbags in Camry didn't deploy on impact but had a delay. Police involved with case. Camry driver cited for failure to yield to a red light which driver was stopped at initially. No further investigation. With Toyota in the news, found reports of other 1996 Camry's with sudden acceleration so filed this complaint. Family member was owner and driver of Camry. Motorcycle driver sustained injuries that resulted in death 5 years later. Updated 05/10/10 updated 07/08/10.
S10 appropriate handling re Toyota safety recall for sudden acceleration. During the months of may through July 2009, the consumer experienced problems with the brakes. Off and on, the brake pedal would go all the way to the floor. The vehicle would not stop, until the ignition was turned off. There was a strange odor coming from under the hood. However, the consumer was able to control the vehicle. It would generally happen when attempting a routine stop. The vehicle was taken to a repair shop, but they couldn't find anything wrong with the vehicle. Then on August 19, 2009, the vehicle suddenly accelerated; the brakes did not work and the vehicle was accelerating at a high rate of speed. As the consumer desperately shifted from neutral, second and third gear, she was unable to control the vehicle. She was able to weave in between cars as there was no place for her to pull over without crashing. She put on her hazard lights and beeped the horn to warn other drivers. She then swung into a wide parking lot entrance and slammed the gear into park and came to an abrupt halt.
The contact owns a 1996 Toyota Camry. The contact states that while driving at 65 mph when placing her foot on the brake and slowing down, the vehicle accelerated on its own. By putting extreme pressure on the brake, she was able to pull over and turned off the vehicle. The contact then turned the vehicle on and the vehicle resumed normal operation. This has occurred only once. The vehicle was then taken in to the dealer and they stated that there was nothing wrong with the vehicle and that her vehicle was not involved in the recent recall for Toyota. There have been no repairs done to the vehicle. The current mileage is 101046. Updated 03/09/10. Updated 06/14/10.
Our 1996 Camry, which has recently been safety checked and had new tires put on, began to accelerate out of control. We were able to stop it by using the brakes, the emergency brake and had to put car in neutral. No accident occurring, but it was a very dangerous situation. Our mechanic was unable to find anything wrong with the car. Since this acceleration problem has been in the press with other Toyota's we decided to report this same experience. I realize the car is older, but it otherwise functions well. Thank you.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Birmingham, AL, USA