Twice in September 2014, as I was approaching a stop light, I pressed the brakes and slowed to nearly a stop. The engine suddenly accelerated very high, and if I had not already had a foot on the brakes, I would have gone into an intersection. The engine was running so high that it was difficult to keep it from moving. I shifted into neutral, came to a complete stop, and while the transmission was in neutral, took my foot off the brake pedal. The engine immediately returned to normal idle. This same sequence happened both times. This has happened twice this month, but these are the first occurrences since I purchased the vehicle new. I called the Toyota dealer, and the service person said that if the vehicle isn't demonstrating that behavior when I bring it in, they would not be able to find what caused it. They indicated that the vehicle data recorder would not record such an event. They said they would add a note about this to the record they have on this vehicle (they have done all the service since I purchased it from them). I have already decided that should it happen again, I will trade the vehicle. I don't like having to keep my hand on the gearshift, ready to shift into neutral. I saw a report in usatoday that sudden acceleration in Toyota is being investigated again. I wanted to add my experience to the mix.

- Denton, TX, USA

The contact owns a 2010 Toyota Highlander. The contact stated that while driving the brakes failed and the brake pedal went to the floor. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for a diagnostic testing, who stated this was normal for vehicle with ABS. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The VIN was not available. The approximate failure mileage was 43,000.

- Polson, MT, USA

I'd stopped on the residential street to let a car pass. After the car passed, I attempted to pull up along the curb to park, but the car accelerated and crashed into a tree. The brakes did not respond and the steering did not seem to respond. The space between acceleration and impact was 10-15 feet. It's like the car had a mind of its own, and I had no control. No warning lights came on and the airbags did not deploy. The passenger side headlight was smashed, the hood was smashed, front bumper and passenger side fender were also smashed. The only thing that stopped the car was the tree. Once it stopped, I simply turned the ignition off. I immediately called my insurance company and they told me to tow it to san francisco Toyota for mechanical inspection. I called san francisco Toyota and said that I was towing my car down and was told they'd be waiting for it. Later that day I received a call from don's autobody telling me they had my car. I confirmed with sf Toyota and they said they sent the car there and the auto body work had to be done prior to a mechanical inspection. On 4/15/13, I was informed the car had been repaired and was sent to sf Toyota. I repeatedly called sf Toyota to see if they had found any mechanical defects. On 4/16/13, I was contacted by don's autobody and told that Toyota refused to inspect the car. Since we don't know if the car is safe to drive, the person from the autobody shop suggested we call Toyota usa. Toyota usa opened a case and has enlisted bill from engineering analytics to inspect the car. Bill plans to inspect the car on 4/30/13. He will collect data and send it to Toyota. Toyota said they'll review the data and will mail us the results within 30 business days. When we expressed concern that Toyota waited 6 weeks to look at our car (which the autobody said they've driven), Toyota had no comment.

- San Francisco, CA, USA

As I was driving traffic came to a sudden stop. I applied the brakes hard, however was not able to stop before hitting the vehicle in front of me. As part of the necessary vehicle repairs after the accident, to get the brakes to operate again properly, the brake load sensor - an electric sensor on the brake pedal that feeds back to the braking computer system how hard brakes are being applied was found to have failed, presumably at the time as a result of the impact. This malfunction trips a warning in the brake system, and affects operability of the brakes. Recently on June 18, 2012 while driving on a local street at 25 mph, a vehicle passed a stop sign crossing in front of me necessitating I brake hard to avoid an accident. While an accident was avoided, immediately following this a brake malfunction warning came on, and the brake system stopped operating normally. The dealer found that due to the hard braking, the brake pedal became misaligned, and the brake load sensor failed again. This pattern leads me to believe that in instances of hard braking, damage to the brake pedal and/or load sensor can occur, causing a loss of brake power possibly resulting in an accident.

- Dumont, NJ, USA