I recently read the following article money.cnn.com/2010/02/03/autos/prius_complaints/index.htm and would like to report that this problem occurs in my 2009 Prius. I have had it since 4/09 and it occurs consistently when I am exiting my workplace. I descend a fairly steep paved road and when I hit a specific bump in the pavement, my car accelerates for a split second. This is a regularly repeatable occurrence.

- Durango, CO, USA

Hi there, I rented a new 2009 Toyota Prius. A couple of days ago as I was driving in one of the inside streets in a neighborhood, I got into an accident even though I was driving with a low speed of 15-20 mph I rear ended a car that slammed on their brakes all of a sudden. I slammed hard on my brakes and it skidded a little and hit the van rear end bumper ahead of me. The accident did a quite a bit of damage to my rental Prius. The front bumper of the car is completely destroyed and will need to be replaced. I took the car back to hertz and they swapped the car; I told hertz to check the brakes thoroughly; because there is a definitely a problem with the brakes at low speed. Please help. Even though my insurance company will take care of the damage; I am concerned about the safety of the other people in the same situation of low speed and brakes do not work.

- Houston, TX, USA

My 2009 Toyota Prius was less than 4 months old. As I was parking in front of my apartment, I could feel the car still accelerating while I had already moved my foot to the brake. Braking as hard as I can I realized my car wasn't responding at all. The car climbed on to the curb into the grass, hit a light pole, tilted to its right side (I was parking to my right) and fell down on its side. I tried to turn the car off, but wont turn off. The wheels were still accelerating as I was trying to get out of the seat belt, called out for help and got out through the driver side window. I called 911. Police helped me turn off the vehicle; until that time, the car was still accelerating on its own. This seems to be a common issue with the Toyota Prius 2nd generation. This happens when the car is at very low speed (like in my case, while parking) or when its floored all the way. This should be thoroughly investigated. The car is with geico, my insurance company for further investigation.

- Philadelphia, PA, USA

Hi there, I have a new 2009 Toyota Prius. A couple of days ago as I was pulling into the parking spot at the garage my foot on the brake, the car started all of a sudden moving very smoothly without any resistance regardless of my attempts to stop it. It was hitting the wall in front of it a couple of times until I managed to power down the car. The front bumper of the car is completely destroyed and will need to be replaced. I took the car to a dealer to check brakes thoroughly. They did and told me that everything is fine with the brakes. Personally I strongly believe that the brakes have mind of their own and I sincerely hope that they will not fail on me in traffic since I am a mother, I have a 1-year old boy. His safety is a top priority for me. Right after my car was purchased it had to stay at a dealer for a week since there was some electrical problem, I believe with doors. Both that fact and now the brake failure make me wonder if my car is a lemon. Please help to sort this out. Thank you!

- Dallas, TX, USA