While driving to the grocery store one evening, my wife and I were stopped at a red light behind traffic. Suddenly, the engine revved up to between 4-5000 RPM. I pushed down on the brake even harder and immediately shifted the truck into neutral; the truck lurched forward but did not hit the vehicle in front of us. I then pulled over into the parking lot of a local store to see if the floor mat could have caused this (as an owner of a Toyota Camry, I was aware of previous incidents, some of which were caused by floor mats). The truck's after-market floor mat was nowhere near the pedals, but as a precaution, I removed it and put it behind the driver's seat. We proceeded to the store. During our drive, the same thing occurred a second and third time and I employed the same preventive measures of braking harder and shifting the vehicle into neutral gear. On our way home, I pulled over to the side off the road so my wife could pick up the mail. As she exited the truck, with the door open and her halfway in and halfway out, the engine accelerated a fourth time and got up to 5000 RPM (I looked).
We called the next day and made an appointment to have the truck looked at and serviced at Folsom Lake Toyota. We explained the circumstances to the service tech in detail (like above). The dealership kept the truck for two weeks. When I went to pick it up, the service tech was not available to answer my questions. I had several questions because according to the paperwork, they drove the truck a total of five miles trying to duplicate the situation (and were unsuccessful), put air in the tires and attributed the UA to the after-market floor mat. There was no indication they fixed the problem or plugged into the truck engine's computer to see the spikes in acceleration.
The service manager came and spoke with me. I told him the floor mat was not the cause. I asked if anyone from Toyota plugged in to the engine's computer software to verify the spikes as a possible diagnostic tool. He stated that someone came out and did consider it necessary. He said the dealership opened a case number with Toyota and did all it could do. I asked him why they kept the truck for two entire weeks if this is all the work they performed; he did not respond. I expressed my displeasure with the level of service and my overarching concern that the engine may very well do the same thing again with more dire consequences - hitting someone or something and possibly causing injury or death. He gave me the phone number for Toyota Motor Corporation and said I could call them if I was not satisfied.
Before leaving I asked for copies of some of the background documents. Upon reviewing them I noticed several critical errors by the service tech. On the customer interview form, he stated the UA occurred 2 times; we told him clearly that it happened 4 times. He mentioned the after market rubber mat and stated it goes under the pedals; he didn't note that the mat was removed and not a factor after the first incident. He stated the driving condition was deceleration; in each instance we were stopped. He noted the road conditions as dry and weather as clear; we told him it was raining and we were using the defroster.
I called Toyota's Customer Service Call Center in Texas and explained the circumstances. I then learned that there was no Case Number requested/established by Folsom Lake Toyota (lie #1) and that no one was sent from Toyota Corporation to assist the dealership on the matter (lie #2).
I spoke several times to representatives at the Call Center and to the Customer Service Manager at Folsom Lake Toyota (Vanessa Herrera). I explained my concern that the vehicle was not safe to drive and requested that the matter be escalated so that another team would inspect the truck thoroughly and access the engine's software to verify the acceleration spikes and possibly determine a root cause. This afternoon I received word the Regional Office of Toyota in San Francisco denied my requests and that Toyota considers itself done with the matter.
We have an extended warranty on the truck but that doesn't seem to matter. The fact is, the truck was not repaired and there is a distinct possibility of this happening again.
I think it is noteworthy that several days after I picked up the truck and two days after going to Toyota Corporation, the Service Manager at Folsom Lake, Todd Bridgeman, contacted me and asked me how I intended to pay for the car the dealership loaned me while the truck was in the shop. I told him I had no intentions of paying for a loaner car that was offered to me when the tech knew the truck was going to be there a while. I mentioned the truck being under warranty and that no other Toyota dealer I've ever dealt with charged for loaners. (I've driven Toyotas my entire adult life and have dealt with numerous dealers). He said "we're different." I eventually got this resolved through the efforts of Ms. Herrera, but as I told Mr. Bridgeman directly, it sure looks like retaliation. No one ever mentioned a charge for the car when I was given the keys and no one mentioned any costs when I returned it.
My gut feeling is that Toyota sees me as a gadfly and they are closing ranks in the hope that I go away. In fact, I'm just a retiree who wants to drive a safe vehicle with some degree of confidence it won't randomly accelerate and hit something or someone. As the former Director of Transportation for a major regional transit company, I had responsibility for the safe operations of over 600 buses and 1200 bus drivers. Safety was, and remains, my number one priority.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
While driving to the grocery store one evening, my wife and I were stopped at a red light behind traffic. Suddenly, the engine revved up to between 4-5000 RPM. I pushed down on the brake even harder and immediately shifted the truck into neutral; the truck lurched forward but did not hit the vehicle in front of us. I then pulled over into the parking lot of a local store to see if the floor mat could have caused this (as an owner of a Toyota Camry, I was aware of previous incidents, some of which were caused by floor mats). The truck's after-market floor mat was nowhere near the pedals, but as a precaution, I removed it and put it behind the driver's seat. We proceeded to the store. During our drive, the same thing occurred a second and third time and I employed the same preventive measures of braking harder and shifting the vehicle into neutral gear. On our way home, I pulled over to the side off the road so my wife could pick up the mail. As she exited the truck, with the door open and her halfway in and halfway out, the engine accelerated a fourth time and got up to 5000 RPM (I looked).
We called the next day and made an appointment to have the truck looked at and serviced at Folsom Lake Toyota. We explained the circumstances to the service tech in detail (like above). The dealership kept the truck for two weeks. When I went to pick it up, the service tech was not available to answer my questions. I had several questions because according to the paperwork, they drove the truck a total of five miles trying to duplicate the situation (and were unsuccessful), put air in the tires and attributed the UA to the after-market floor mat. There was no indication they fixed the problem or plugged into the truck engine's computer to see the spikes in acceleration.
The service manager came and spoke with me. I told him the floor mat was not the cause. I asked if anyone from Toyota plugged in to the engine's computer software to verify the spikes as a possible diagnostic tool. He stated that someone came out and did consider it necessary. He said the dealership opened a case number with Toyota and did all it could do. I asked him why they kept the truck for two entire weeks if this is all the work they performed; he did not respond. I expressed my displeasure with the level of service and my overarching concern that the engine may very well do the same thing again with more dire consequences - hitting someone or something and possibly causing injury or death. He gave me the phone number for Toyota Motor Corporation and said I could call them if I was not satisfied.
Before leaving I asked for copies of some of the background documents. Upon reviewing them I noticed several critical errors by the service tech. On the customer interview form, he stated the UA occurred 2 times; we told him clearly that it happened 4 times. He mentioned the after market rubber mat and stated it goes under the pedals; he didn't note that the mat was removed and not a factor after the first incident. He stated the driving condition was deceleration; in each instance we were stopped. He noted the road conditions as dry and weather as clear; we told him it was raining and we were using the defroster.
I called Toyota's Customer Service Call Center in Texas and explained the circumstances. I then learned that there was no Case Number requested/established by Folsom Lake Toyota (lie #1) and that no one was sent from Toyota Corporation to assist the dealership on the matter (lie #2).
I spoke several times to representatives at the Call Center and to the Customer Service Manager at Folsom Lake Toyota (Vanessa Herrera). I explained my concern that the vehicle was not safe to drive and requested that the matter be escalated so that another team would inspect the truck thoroughly and access the engine's software to verify the acceleration spikes and possibly determine a root cause. This afternoon I received word the Regional Office of Toyota in San Francisco denied my requests and that Toyota considers itself done with the matter.
We have an extended warranty on the truck but that doesn't seem to matter. The fact is, the truck was not repaired and there is a distinct possibility of this happening again.
I think it is noteworthy that several days after I picked up the truck and two days after going to Toyota Corporation, the Service Manager at Folsom Lake, Todd Bridgeman, contacted me and asked me how I intended to pay for the car the dealership loaned me while the truck was in the shop. I told him I had no intentions of paying for a loaner car that was offered to me when the tech knew the truck was going to be there a while. I mentioned the truck being under warranty and that no other Toyota dealer I've ever dealt with charged for loaners. (I've driven Toyotas my entire adult life and have dealt with numerous dealers). He said "we're different." I eventually got this resolved through the efforts of Ms. Herrera, but as I told Mr. Bridgeman directly, it sure looks like retaliation. No one ever mentioned a charge for the car when I was given the keys and no one mentioned any costs when I returned it.
My gut feeling is that Toyota sees me as a gadfly and they are closing ranks in the hope that I go away. In fact, I'm just a retiree who wants to drive a safe vehicle with some degree of confidence it won't randomly accelerate and hit something or someone. As the former Director of Transportation for a major regional transit company, I had responsibility for the safe operations of over 600 buses and 1200 bus drivers. Safety was, and remains, my number one priority.
- Christopher B., El Dorado Hills, CA, US