2018 Toyota Camry

I am writing this letter because, on August 1, 2023, my wife, and I, were involved in an accident with our 2018 Toyota Camry, which may have been due to SUDDEN UNINTENDED ACCELERATION, a defect which affected Camry owners for over 10 years, and is still happening. Most of these accidents occurred when the driver was pulling slowly into a parking space and their car suddenly accelerated strongly and couldn’t be stopped by hitting the brakes. The car only stopped when it hit a solid object. This often resulted in serious injuries, even death. On August 1, my wife was driving the Camry (I was in the front passenger seat) and she was in the process of slowly pulling into a parking space at Parkside Town Commons in Cary, with her foot on the brake. Without warning, the car suddenly accelerated and she was unable to stop it by hard braking. The car jumped the curb in front of it and climbed a landscaped incline, only stopping when it crashed into a wrought iron fence in front if it. There were no vehicle warning messages prior to the accident. Fortunately, no one was injured, but the Camry had over $6,000 in damages and the fence was bent badly where the car hit it. We called the Cary Police and a Police Report was made. No tickets were issued by the Cary Police. Our Toyota dealer referred us to a higher level Toyota office that deals with special vehicle problems, which we called. We reported the accident, they said it would be reviewed. We have had no response from theToyota higher level office since. Though the damage was repaired, we are very worried that if our Camry has a SUDDEN UNINTENDED ACCELERATION defect, we could suffer another such accident anytime. It is very critical to have our vehicle inspected for such a flaw, whether in electronics, the throttle, brakes, or anything else. As this problem is an important safety issue, we feel the need to have it checked out. Would appreciate your assistance.

2018 Camry XSE BRAKES GO ON WHILE ON DRIVE PRESSING ON THE BREAK WOULD BE A STRUGGLE WHEN DRIVING PADAL ON THE BRAKE WERE STIFF HARD TO STEP ON EVEN AFTER DEALERSHIP PROVIDED THE SERVICE FOR THE RECALL VEHICLE STILL HAD ISSUES AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY GO ON FOR NO REASON WHILE BACKING UP THE VEHICLE SENSORS ARE DETECTING HUMAN or ITEM THAT ARE NOT THERE. SCREEN ON VEHICLE MARKS SEE DEALERSHIP FOR MAINTANCE. 2 DAYS AFTER IT WAS HELD FOR 2WEEKS THERE FOR MAINTANCE.

There are multiple warning lights on my dash at this time. The following malfunctions are showing on my dash at this time: Pre-Collision System Malfunction, LDA Malfunction, Headlamp malfunction, SRS Malfunction, Low Braking Power, Secondary Collision Brake System Malfunction, Power Steering Malfunction, Antilock Brake System Malfunction. These started coming on around two weeks ago. I have no blinkers available and my steering stiffens to where the car is almost undriveable. I contacted Toyota corporate office and the representative said she has not heard of these warnings, but they are on many Toyota forums on the internet. I took the vehicle to Toyota North in Goodlettsville, TN on 10/12/2022 and they can not tell me what is wrong with my car. I feel it is a safety hazard to drive this car at this point since this car has automatic braking power. I also have videos available, if needed. This is going to cause someone to get seriously hurt.

I bought my Camry with 5 miles on it. It’s a 2.5L 8 speed Camry SE. immediately I felt something not right when it would shift between 3/4 gear. It would rock back and forth in a jerking motion. The car has trouble shifting in automatic. When putting it into sport mode it automatically starts at 4th geer. It’s as if the gear shifters are not able to communicate with the engine. It’s stall on me when making a turn and I was almost t-boned June of 2018! Finally a recall on the fuel pump. I go take it in immediately to have the recall fix. Upon doing so the mechanic informed me that my vacuum pump seems to be bigger than the one that standard for my car. He said there’s no recall for my vin number but for other cars during that same year there is. So there was nothing I could do but wait for my vin number to be on the recall list. Then In June 2021 I was backing out of a parking spot and there was a truck in my rear cross traffic that was approaching, my Camry sensed the vehicle with it sonar sensor the alert went off and my braking assistance worked accordingly but the system failed to get the Communication clearly to the engine which in return did not slow down the acceleration of the throttle. So I backed into a truck and my son and myself were in the vehicle. No airbags were dispensed. No injuries but damages to my trunk lid, tail light, brake light and number were damaged. My car now has airbag malfunction and the steering assistance is working correctly.

Abrupt activation of brakes: new vehicle to present. When first backing out of garage or parking spot, at a slow-creeping speed, without use of throttle pedal, attempting to control backward motion with light brake pedal the vehicle's brakes will abruptly active fully halting rearward motion. Further rearward motion requires driver to completely remove foot from brake pedal but any attempt to control rearward speed by feathering brake pedal often causes a repeat of the abrupt brake activation. This cycle repeats the full length of the vehicle within the garage and the length of the driveway to the street , additionally 5 to 6 times the vehicle length. The problem manifests after a lengthy parking, in both forward and reverse directions. There is often an accompanying discernible mechanical actuator sound coming from the engine compartment that I associate as a Trigger to expect the abrupt braking. The obstacle warning may alarm in the garage but acknowledging it with OK does not effect the abrupt braking cycle which continues the length of the driveway, clear of any obstructions. To be clear, this problem occurs at very slow speeds, about 2 miles per hour. I have been told by the dealership mechanic that the brakes are designed to operate as conventional hydraulic brakes below 5 mph; this of course doesn't explain the actuator noise emanating from under the hood. Once the vehicle has been on the road, the brake's performance improves with only a slight tendency to grab when coming to a stop; It's cause to celebrate when the driver can successively make 5 smooth stops. This problem was experienced by 5 separate drivers, each of whom directly expressed dis-satisfaction. Possibly related to the abrupt braking described above is the sudden activation of the brakes and BRAKE warning in what would otherwise be a controlled stop behind a stopped vehicle at a red traffic light. There an association with: vehicle size -color- brake lite position/intensity.