Had a incident where I had a sudden engine surge while passing a car. the engine accelerated to 80 mph. and stayed there! i had to press on the brake with two feet to get it down to 40 miles per hour. With several shifting options, I was still unable to get the engine to stop surging and operating at that speed. i than called 911 for suggestions, they told me to throw the shift gear into park and turn off the key. it worked!! Now I have brake damages of $1800. Dealership, states the transmission appears OK, after driving it around the block. if problems with it would come up, they will over look this incident. Toyota, is unable to find any cause on their computer read out, so they are blaming it on floor mat placement. i have a police officer stating that the floor mats were well away from the accelerator pedal. My State Farm insurance will not process a claim because i did not hurt any one or property or myself. it would have been better to have run it into some trees and totaled the car. Do you know what actions I should take? I am driving a rental at this time. I am in a rural area and need to drive to Amery Wi. as a surgical nurse to work. 62 miles round trip.
i have filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, and am awaiting the holiday weekend to get the officers report, and get to the head mec. person to get the computer print out , stating there is no damages. Help
Answers from the Automotive Experts
Hi Mary,
That must have been a very scary experience. You are lucky you did not run into another car, tree, rock, etc. You could have been seriously hurt or even died.
I suggest you take your car to a different Toyota Dealership. Explain what happened and that you would like to leave the car there until they can find out what went wrong or they can duplicate the symptom. If it wasn't the floor mat jammed up under the gas pedal, then something is very wrong, and you do not want to every experience that problem again.
If your car is still under the manufactures warranty, it should cost you nothing to fix the problem and the brakes should be covered too.
If you get no results from a different dealer, then it will be time to call Toyota directly.
Don't give up. This should not have happened!
All My Best,
Amy Mattinat
Mary,
My first instinct would be a floor mat as well, if indeed it was not a floor mat that caused this I am not so certain what happened. If there is no proof in the car's computer, there is little the dealership can go on. $1800 worth of brake repair sounds like it may be more than pads and rotors replaced, if not that is a high estimate. You may have a hard time filing a liable claim with the BBB if the dealership has no proof of the incident.
AJ Pierce