My Toyota Corolla started surging while stopped - with my foot on the brakes - about a year ago. It also hesitated at times, starting out. It had never had these problems before - all through 250,000 miles of use. It has run well all along, and I was a bit miffed when it started acting strangely.

At first, I thought the throttle positioner had malfunctioned. But I found out that my car came with a throttle body that was electronically controlled, and so, it did not have a separate throttle position sensor. Then, I thought that the drive by wire gas pedal had gotten bad. I had gone ahead to locate the parts I needed - the throttle body, and the gas pedal assembly. But as they were quite expensive, I did not put the order in.

As the car had not been tuned up, I thought it was time for one. It had gone 250,000 miles! I put a set of new plugs in it. But it did not correct the problem. But, on thinking it through, I felt the problem could be fuel delivery. Why? The car did not surge or hesitate ALL of the time. The problem came and went. So, it wasn't electrical. It could not be the computer too.

I decided to try a few tankfuls of good name-brand gas - like BP and Shell... After about four tankfuls, the problem started to go away. I have been using name-brand gas for awhile now, and the car now runs like new - at 285,000 miles. I think I have found the problem. If you want more info, e-mail me: johnshanton@msn.com. I keep very good records, and intend to write about my car after it has gone 500,000 miles.

My mother-in-law has had four episodes where her 2006 corolla had power surges. The first time she was backing out of her driveway, she put on her brake to put the car in forward and the car surged while in reverse hit the snowbank. The second time she was pulling into a parking spot and put on the brake to stop but the car shot ahead about a foot narrowly missing the car parked ahead. The third time she came to a stop to drop off a friend. Her foot was stopped with her foot on the brake and the car shot ahead 4 to 6 feet. The 4th time she was traveling over an overpass, she applied her brake to slow down as she saw cars stopped ahead at a red light. She heard the engine audibly rev up. She slammed the brake to the floor but it did not stop. She could not stop the car and it ran into the car ahead of her. The roads were dry. The insurance adjuster is blaming it on her tires. She is now afraid to drive her car now.

During the Month of February 2012, the accelerator in my moms car stuck on three different occasions when she stopped making a turn, parking at a store and when stopped in traffic. I asked my mom to take the car to the local Toyota dealer where she purchase the care and have them check. They informed her she had a dead cell in her car battery and the battery was six years old and needed to be replaced and since they could not make the accelerator stick on its on they said that was the problem. WHAT A JOKE HERE WE GO AGAIN. I told my mom to GET RID OF IT AND STAY AWAY FROM TOYOTA. KEEP IT USA !!!!!

This accident happened to my mother in the above make/model car listed......even though Toyota apparently does not have any recalls listed for 2006 Corolla's, the same thing that has happened with the surging/sudden acceleration in these later-model cars happened to her while stopped in traffic at a red light. She was completely stopped and not moving, when all of a sudden the engine revved and surged uncontrollably into the car ahead of her. I guess we should be thankful the traffic stopped her from causing further damage, or that she was not driving at any rate of speed when the surge occurred nor could she travel very far before collision, but she is now very nervous about driving the vehicle, as you might imagine. Anyone else with this sort of problem needs to let others know!!

When the engine first surged I was leaving work. The engine was cold. I came to a stop and the engine surged. Rpm's jumped to almost 4. I had both feet on brake, and my car wanted to jump into the intersection. When I was able to take foot off brake, and continue everything went back to normal. I thought it was a fluke. The same thing happened again a couple months later, after car was warm. I knew something was not right, and made an appointment for dealer to look at car. The dealer kept car overnight as to get a cold start on car. They concluded it was my workboot hitting the gas pedal. I accepted there diagnosis. The engine serge did not happen again. A year later I had a problem with a high idol. I took the car in to the dealer and they replaced the computer chip. The car had 37,000 miles on car. The warranty had expired, but dealer replaced for free. I thought that was great. I still have a high idol problem. When the car starts after being cold it takes at least 4 minutes to idol down. I believe Toyota has an issue with the computer. The recall on the gas pedal scares me. This is a bigger problem than we know. I am hoping more owners come forward.

I had nearly the same experience as the other reviewer. Today I was coming up to a red light so I slowed down, applied the brakes, and was at nearly a complete stop (could not have been going more than 1 mile/hr) . All of a sudden with no warning, the car surged forward. I immediately pressed the brake very hard, and the car didn't seem to respond as I was still going forward. So I slammed both feet on the brake as hard as I could and the wheels locked up, and I skid approximately 10 feet! I had to steer away from rear-ending the car stopped ahead of me, it is only by some divine intervention that I did not ram right into that car. All of this happened in about three seconds--it was shocking and upsetting to say the least, and not knowing what happened only made it worse. It was as if the car lurched forward by some unknown force I couldn't control. I immediately looked at the street behind me thinking i had run into an oil slick or something, but there was nothing there. My car mat was NOT in the way, NOT bunched up, and did not have anything to do with it. I did NOT have my foot on the gas pedal at the time (one foot was on the brake and that's it). I immediately called the service dept. at my Toyota dealership and they said they'd never heard of such a thing (liars!). My experience is obviously not an isolated case, this is a serious problem that is going to get people injured or killed!