I own a 2007 Prius with 35,000 miles on it. We have been a 2 Prius family for 6 years, so I am highly familiar with driving one. I have had three very frightening incidents happen in about the last 4 months in my car. Each has happened in exactly the same spot during a commute that I do several times a week. I have been exiting from a freeway, going 65 mph, down a gentle downslope. When I exit (continuing the downslope) the engine starts revving at a speed that I never have heard during any normal driving circumstance. This is while I am braking to stop at a light at the bottom of the exit. I have had a car next to me roll down the window and the driver ask if I needed help. Over the last 15 years I had done this exact exit thousands of times, in many different vehicles, and have never experienced anything remotely like this. Each of the three times I shifted the car into neutral, but the high rev continued. The only thing that stopped it was to pull over and to turn the car off and restart. I immediately checked the floor mat each time and it was mounted securely exactly in place hooked on the mounts. This has happened three times, completely randomly. I took the car in to be serviced at Toyota of berkeley on 2/2/10 and was told that until the car did this on a "frequent" basis that there was nothing that Toyota could do. He checked the log for warning lights and there were no entries (I checked the dash each time this has happened, and no lights warning lights were on.)

- Berkeley, CA, USA

Date: 02/09/2010 time: 10:01:20 creation date: 02/09/2010 creation time: 09:58:43 I would like to report a braking/traction control/loss of engine power safety problem with my 2007 Toyota Prius. The problem happens while driving on snow covered flat road surfaces (1 inch of snow), snow covered hilly roads (1 inch of snow), and bumpy road surfaces. When the traction control system (trac) engages on these road surfaces, I lose the ability to brake and also lose power to the engine simultaneously. I have had four (4) near-accidents due to this safety problem. 1.snow covered (1 inch of snow) going downhill (slight hill)- lost brakes after trac traction control system engaged was unable to stop car - went through stop sign. Car went onto busy highway (50 mph zone) and would not stop. Luckily no cars were coming and I avoided a very serious accident. 2. snow covered (1 inch of snow) going downhill - lost brakes after trac traction control system engaged and almost crashed into cars that were slowing down ahead of me. 3. snow covered (1 inch of snow) going uphill - trac traction control system engaged and I lost all engine power as I was turning left up a steep hill. I almost crashed into large rocks at the roadside. I was able to avoid a crash. 4. snow covered (1 inch of snow) driving on flat road surface. I turned off of snow covered road into a parking lot area. Trac traction control system engaged and I lost the ability to brake. My car went at least 15 feet in the parking lot area before stopping. Luckily there were no parked cars there and I did not have an accident. A recurring problem with trac and loss of engine power also occurs on the hilly road leading up to my house. When the road is snow covered (1 inch of snow) or icy the trac traction control system engages and I lose all power to the engine. It makes it nearly impossible to get my car up the hill due to the loss of power when trac engages!

- Great Meadows, NJ, USA

The contact owns a 2007 Toyota Prius. While driving at various speeds and making a left turn he could feel the tires slipping. The vehicle begin to stall intermittently including when the contact made a left turn. The contact has not driven the vehicle since the vehicle could stall and cause a crash to occur. The contact advised the dealer during a routine oil change on several occasions; however, he was advised that the malfunction is due to the design of the vehicle. The vehicle has not been repaired and has been inoperable for two months. The failure and current mileages were 3500.

- Edmonds, WA, USA

The contact owns a 2007 Toyota Prius. When switching from cruise control to applying the brakes and back to cruise control, the engine revved for no apparent reason. The failure usually occurred when the contact applied the brakes rapidly and transitioned back to the cruise control while driving 25 mph. The VIN, engine size, number of cylinders, and powertrain were unknown. The current mileage was 7,500 and failure mileage was 6,500.

- Davidson, MI, USA