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.
The contact owned a 2009 Toyota Camry hybrid. While the contact's husband was driving 5 mph, the brake pedal was depressed and the vehicle inadvertently accelerated without warning. As a result, the vehicle crashed into a brick wall. There were no injuries and a police report was not filed. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was destroyed. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 107,683.
I started the car and everything seemed normal. I started accelerating down the street and the dashboard lights up with all kinds of warning lights. Mileage was between 69000-69450. The traction control, brake, master warning light, ABS and the center display said "check vsc system". I continued to coast until a nearby stop sign and when applying pressure to brake, to my horror the brakes had an almost complete failure. I immediately went home, less than a mile away and the brakes continued to malfunction the whole way. I was able to stop but only with severe pressure to the brake peddle which only produced slight braking. There was no accident. Coming back to the car the next day the warning dash lights were off and vehicle was working normal again. However, this also happened the following day halfway through a short trip across town. I took it to the dealer and they replaced a recall part, the brake fluid reservoir. They checked the computer for codes and these codes did not show up in the code history despite it being 2 days before. The problem has been intermittent and did not happen the day I took it in to the dealership. I explained to them the problems, sent them pictures of the dash lights I took from my phone, and printed out and gave them articles such as this: www.consumeraffairs.com/news/feds-investigate-braking-problems-in-Toyota-Camry-hybrid-012814.html but because they were not able to duplicate the problem they assured me the vehicle was working properly. They did fix the brake reservoir and I picked the car up today. Only time will tell if the safety of the vehicle remains. Thanks for listening. Updated 3/17/16
The warning panel indicated "check vsc system, " along with a loud beeping noise. My brakes went out completely and as I pumped the brakes the went down to the floor. The car slowed but did not come toa complete stop. In order to avoid hitting an 18 wheeler in front of me, I had to pull over to the side and grazed my car against the metal part of a railing. When I brought it to Toyota, they said it was a brake actuator and quoted me $3500 to fix the problem.
Vsc system warning light comes on, and the brakes become very "soft", nearly failing. This only happens when temperatures reach 50 degrees or below, and is quite common when it's around freezing or below.
The check vsc system warning came on along with ABS and brake light warnings. Out of the blue the car was very hard to stop. Was lucky to be in a parking lot at the time. Had the car towed home. The tow driver did not see the warning lights when he was getting the car in position to tow it. Check online and saw that many other people where having the same issue that I was having. I think the car is unsafe and a recall should be issued before people are killed.
- Lancaster, SC, USA
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In the five years I have owned the car, four times it has accelerated rapidly for no reason. The car just jumps forward by 5 or 6 feet. The last time, I was parking the car, with my foot barely on the accelerator. It suddenly leaped forward. I would have hit a pedestrian on the sidewalk, except that the car got stuck on a snowbank. I have reported these incidents to Toyota, which investigated and said there was nothing wrong with the car.
Driving down the road all lights on dash appeared (ABS, trac, brake, check engine, master warning, check vsc system) with no warning and complete brake loss followed with it, then it would disappear and brakes functioned properly, seems temp related as it would only happen on cold days, and when car is cold early in the morning, during day when engine warm everything worked fine, tech could not find anything wrong with the car twice until left over night found out to be faulty brake actuator assembly. This is only related to Camry hybrids not prius or other Toyota hybrids, my whole family drives Toyota hybrids father in law and 2 brothers have priuses I also had prius for long time never had issue, now me and my wife switched to Camry hybrids and both Camry hybrids experienced same brake failure with faulty brake actuator, no coincidence, there is something unique about Camry hybrid brake actuator that makes it go bad in very dangerous way, problem occurs sudden and disappears without trace for technician to find out what's wrong " everything is fine car is safe to drive" is what they said, but in morning commute brakes failed again. I don't care the replacement part costs $1700 but its the same part that will fail again who know when. Toyota needs replace the actuators with ones that are on priuses or address the issue and redesign the unit.
While driving on Sunday, March 30, 2013 I lost the power braking. This is the second time since that this happened. The first time was September 18, 2012. I was able to pull the car over safely but it was an extremely scary situation. Had I been on a highway at 55-65 mph I would have never been able to stop the car and would have likely caused an accident. A message appeared on my dashboard indicating to "check vsc system". several other lights were lit up as well including the word "brake". after doing some online research and finding out that this same thing was reported by other consumers I thought it best that I reach out to see if a recall is warranted.
While pulling into parking lot the warning lite & display said vsc with two brake related symbols turned on & brakes lost its power assist. Was able drive home while driving slowly giving a lot of room to stop, made a appointment with Toyota dealership. Drove down was charged to troubleshoot they found the brake accumulator had internal failure, also was informed for that area of the car is out of warranty, so it would cost $4200 for parts & labor. I don't have that kind of spare coin sitting around. So I brought it home & parked it, I hope we can drive Toyota to make a recall. Brake hydraulic parts should last 100,000 miles.
My 2009 Camry hybrid with 79,000 miles had a complete brake failure. The check vsc system light and the check engine red triangle with exclamation point light came on after the brakes totally failed. There had been a buzzing/ hissing sound that is similar to the normal hybrid battery recharging sound but much more often - almost constant. Car had to be towed to the Toyota dealership as it was unsafe to operate, no braking power whatsoever. Pedal was rock hard. Dealer says it is the brake actuator and gave an estimate of $3000 to repair it! they claim to have no knowledge of problems with this, yet an investigation by the NHTSA was implemented in January of this year due to many complaints. This is an absolute safety hazard, had I been at highway speeds or in a congested area an accident would have occurred. Toyota needs to recall these vehicles and this model year - 2009 - needs to be included in the investigation.
Accelerated to pass car on interstate. Car lunged forward full throttle. Tapped on accelerator to disengage, no response. Braking did not slow car. Put car into neutral, turned on hazard lights. Went another 2-3 miles until car slowed enough to pull over, off road. Turned car off, waited a minute and stated car, it was full throttle. Waited another minute or two, started car with same result. Third time I started vehicle, it reacted in normal fashion. Drove to next exit and called Toyota dealer. Vehicle towed to dealership; given a loaner. 5 days later notified to pick up vehicle. Informed by dealer "the floor mat ticking caused the pedal to stick". same floor mats have been in vehicle since date of purchase 5 years ago.
First incident: Temperature was extremely cold overnight. Parking brake light came on when I started car and remained on throughout my 10-minute trip. Brakes worked fine for 10 minutes though stop signs and red lights. I didn't drive over 35 mph the entire trip. When I arrived at work, I tapped the brakes to turn into the driveway. "check vsc system" message appeared, parking brake light remained on, ABS light came on, exclamation point light came on, one other warning light came on. I thought car had stalled because my brakes didn't seem to work so I coasted past the driveway. I stepped on the accelerator and noticed the car was still on so I slowly drove to the next driveway. I turned off the car, restarted it, and all the warning lights came back on. I slowly drove back to work and noticed the brakes worked albeit not very well. When I stopped the car in the parking lot, all the warning lights disappeared. Second incident: Temperature was extremely cold overnight. Parking brake light came on when I started car and remained on throughout my 10-minute trip. Brakes worked fine for 10 minutes through stop signs and red lights. I didn't drive over 45 mph the entire trip. I came to a red light and tapped the brakes. "check vsc system" message appeared, parking brake light remained on, ABS light came on, exclamation point light came on, one other warning light came on. Although the brakes worked in reduced capacity, I stopped in time but I was driving 25 mph. I was near a Toyota dealer so I slowly made my way there with all the warning lights illuminated and reduced brake capacity. All the warning lights disappeared shortly after I stopped the car in the dealer's maintenance shop. Dealer could find no history of either incident in the computer log.
While driving "check vsc system" warning displayed along with several warning lights. At that time the brakes on the vehicle felt squishy and much less responsive.
While driving at safe speeds, sudden loss of power-brake assist. Vehicle could be stopped but required extra brake pedal force and distance. "check brakes" and "vsc" warning lights illuminated. This occurred a couple of times so vehicle was taken to local Toyota dealership. They could not replicate the problem but determined that most likely problem was the hybrid brake regenerating system and replaced the "brake stroke sensor". note that our Camry is a 2009 model--I recently read about this problem occurring in 2007 and 2008 model years.
Streets wet and snowy vehicle surges without foot on gas. Check vsc light comes on. Checked out by molle Toyota who said unless it acts up while there, they can do nothing. 3-20-13. Streets only wet. Vehicle surges and check vsc light comes on. Have to keep foot on brake to put in garage. Afraid to drive car.
2009 Toyota Camry while on the state highway I set the cruise control to 70 mph, during the exit of the highway on my way home I stopped at a stop sign in back of others cars, switch the car on neutral while looking for some documents on my briefcase, when the light changed to green once again the transmission was switch to the drive position and without touching the accelerator pedal there was uncontrolled sudden acceleration incident of the car, and the tires start squealing, brake were depressed hard but the vehicle would not slow down, immediately was shifted to neutral once again, and turn off, because the car engine was in acceleration mode. Lucky that it did not crashed into the rear of a brand new Mercedes Benz. I had never experienced this situation before. The car had been used but the cruise control has not been set up. This car was already modified with the recall of the mat and accelerator gas pedal modification. The failure and current mileage were approximately 36,500. There are about 150 similar cases all in 2009 Toyota Camry on internet site: www.aboutautomobile.com/complaint/2009/Toyota/Camry/vehicle+speed+control I feel that whatever mechanical fix that Toyota modified, did not worked, and they should be looking at an electronic issue with the acceleration or cruise control system black box.
Having parked the car overnight in the garage, got in car with passenger and attempted to back out of garage. Car lunged forward, then correcting itself and started backward. This has happened on several occasions both in the garage and in parking lots. Mentioned problem to friend with same car and he said he hadn't noticed a problem but came to work several months later and said it had happened to him while his wife was a passenger.
2009 Toyota Camry acceleration problem happened after recall fixes. Was pulling into parking space slowly when acc. Pedal dropped and engine zoomed. I was able to stomp hard on brakes and not hit the building since hybrid gas part of engine disengages when the brake pedal is used.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- San Clemente, CA, USA