I was stopped in the left turn lane at a red light. The turn arrow switched to green so I took the U-turn. I was in the middle of the U-turn going about 15 mph, when the car began to accelerate on its own. The car oversteered, and the rear portion of the car kicked out to the right side. I corrected by countersteering and removing my foot from the accelerator pedal. The car continued to accelerate, causing me to oversteer to the left side this time. In an effort to stop the car, I slammed on the brakes while oversteering. This caused the car to rotate counter clockwise, and impacted with the curb and ended up on top of the median. There was significant damage to the rear passenger suspension and body. Toyota pulled data from their electronic data recorder, and concluded that it there was no malfunction with the accelerator pedal or brakes. I simply do not agree with this conclusion; no efforts were made to ensure that the computer reading the accelerator pedal position was functioning properly. It can be seen in the data charts that I had my foot on the brake while the car was accelerating. Additionally, it indicates that my speed was 26 mph at the time of impact with a peak speed of 36 mph. Is it feasible that all of the control arms, rear differential, axle, and brake rotors could be broken at that speed? if you look at the attached pictures, the axle was sheared off upon impact at 26 mph. This doesn't add up.

- Usaf Academy, CO, USA