I was pulling into a parking spot in front of my doctor's office. As I slowed to park I pressed on the brake and the car kept moving forward, no matter how hard I pressed on the brake. Once it entered the parking space it kept moving forward, jumped over a curb, crossed a sidewalk and slammed into the building. A pedestrian walking in front of the car jumped out of the way but it nicked his ankle, causing a cut similar to being kicked in the shin in a soccer match. Once the car hit the building it continued to rev up, the tires spun for several seconds before the engine finally died. It was a totally helpless feeling. Police were called, I was not cited, but the pedestrian eventually sued my insurance company, collecting a $10,000 cash settlement after racking up more than $11,000 in medical bills for a contusion to his ankle. What a joke. My insurance company declared me a fault and raised my premiums approximately 25% for five years. I had the car repaired and continued to drive it, but never felt safe doing so.
Then, about 13 months after this first incident, I was pulling into another parking spot at a different location when I put my foot to the brake and the same thing happened; the car kept moving forward no matter how hard I pressed on the brake. This time I recognized what was happening and managed to stop the car with the emergency brake, stopping just inches away from slamming into another car.
I drove my Camry Hybrid to Beaverton Toyota the very next morning and told them what had occurred and that I refused to drive the car another mile. I was forced to sell it back to them at a substantial loss. Reading other comments posted on this website, I am now convinced that other drivers of 2012 Toyota Camry Hybrids have suffered the same consequences as mine. I am waiting and hoping for an eventual recall so I can recover my losses; but the worst part of all this is the fact that eventually someone is going to lose their life over this matter. I did have my car's codes pulled and read, but was stonewalled as Toyota said it was too difficult to read the date collected. That's nonsense. If they have difficulty reading their own data, how do they expect a driver like myself to interpret the readout?
Here's what I feel is causing the problem. Hybrids depend on computers to keep a car running smoothly. When you're sitting at your desk and your computer crashes, which all do from time to time, you simply reboot. No harm, no foul. However, if you're driving a hybrid, and the computer crashes, you don't have the luxury of rebooting. Computer fails, your brakes are disabled, you crash. Now you have harm and foul. I will never own a hybrid of any kind ever again. I say a class action suit is worthy of consideration.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
I was pulling into a parking spot in front of my doctor's office. As I slowed to park I pressed on the brake and the car kept moving forward, no matter how hard I pressed on the brake. Once it entered the parking space it kept moving forward, jumped over a curb, crossed a sidewalk and slammed into the building. A pedestrian walking in front of the car jumped out of the way but it nicked his ankle, causing a cut similar to being kicked in the shin in a soccer match. Once the car hit the building it continued to rev up, the tires spun for several seconds before the engine finally died. It was a totally helpless feeling. Police were called, I was not cited, but the pedestrian eventually sued my insurance company, collecting a $10,000 cash settlement after racking up more than $11,000 in medical bills for a contusion to his ankle. What a joke. My insurance company declared me a fault and raised my premiums approximately 25% for five years. I had the car repaired and continued to drive it, but never felt safe doing so.
Then, about 13 months after this first incident, I was pulling into another parking spot at a different location when I put my foot to the brake and the same thing happened; the car kept moving forward no matter how hard I pressed on the brake. This time I recognized what was happening and managed to stop the car with the emergency brake, stopping just inches away from slamming into another car.
I drove my Camry Hybrid to Beaverton Toyota the very next morning and told them what had occurred and that I refused to drive the car another mile. I was forced to sell it back to them at a substantial loss. Reading other comments posted on this website, I am now convinced that other drivers of 2012 Toyota Camry Hybrids have suffered the same consequences as mine. I am waiting and hoping for an eventual recall so I can recover my losses; but the worst part of all this is the fact that eventually someone is going to lose their life over this matter. I did have my car's codes pulled and read, but was stonewalled as Toyota said it was too difficult to read the date collected. That's nonsense. If they have difficulty reading their own data, how do they expect a driver like myself to interpret the readout?
Here's what I feel is causing the problem. Hybrids depend on computers to keep a car running smoothly. When you're sitting at your desk and your computer crashes, which all do from time to time, you simply reboot. No harm, no foul. However, if you're driving a hybrid, and the computer crashes, you don't have the luxury of rebooting. Computer fails, your brakes are disabled, you crash. Now you have harm and foul. I will never own a hybrid of any kind ever again. I say a class action suit is worthy of consideration.
- Wayne F., Beaverton, US