2023 Toyota Corolla

On Monday, January 5, 2026 at approximately 3:15 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, in the middle of stopped traffic (leftmost lane, southbound on Van Nuys Boulevard near the Saticoy Street intersection in Los Angeles, California), the vehicle, a 2023 Toyota Corolla Hybrid LE, suddenly started slowly moving backward. The driver pressed on the brake pedal, but the vehicle did not stop. In a panic, the driver removed the key from the ignition, which immobilized the vehicle. While in the middle of traffic, the driver contacted a family member for assistance and the vehicle was towed to the driver's residence. On the following day, January 6, 2026, the vehicle was towed to a service center for inspection. It is unknown if the warning messages observed January 6, 2026 were due to the vehicle being towed. At the service center, a tire was replaced and the brake system was flushed, at the owner's expense. Afterward, the driver continued to operate the vehicle. As of August 5, 2026, this incident had not recurred.

I purchased a 2023 Toyota Corolla LE as a Toyota Gold Certified Pre-Owned vehicle on March 8, 2026 at 61,387 miles. Within 30 days of purchase I began experiencing the following safety concerns: •Vehicle revs to 5,000-6,000 RPM unexpectedly •Violent jerking while driving •Vehicle stalls On April 7, 2026 I brought the vehicle to the selling dealership. The technician confirmed experiencing the jerking and stalling personally during a test drive but documented it as “common operation” and “operating as designed.” I disagreed with this assessment in writing on their service document. A second Toyota dealership subsequently found cracked motor mounts and transmission mounts in multiple locations on a 3 year old vehicle. Replacement of these components did not resolve the issue. Transmission fluid drained at service was nearly black in color on a Gold Certified vehicle that supposedly passed a 160-point inspection including transmission health check. The vehicle is currently at the dealership unresolved after nearly two weeks. The stalling and RPM surging present a serious safety hazard particularly at highway speeds. I am requesting this be investigated as a potential safety defect.

The contact owns a 2023 Toyota Corolla. The contact stated that whenever the vehicle was shifted to park(P), the word (P) was illuminated on the PRNDL, but the word was not displayed on the instrument cluster. The contact stated that while shifted to drive(D) there was no indication of drive on the PRNDL, or the instrument cluster, and the vehicle failed to respond. The contact stated that the failure had occurred while shifted to reverse(R). The contact had been advised by a mechanic on how to reset the parking brake to be able to shift to park(P), drive(D) or reverse(R). The contact had been advised to lift the parking brake lever and hold it for 5 seconds and then depress the lever and hold for 5 seconds. The contact was able to shift to any gear, and the vehicle would move after performing the reset. The contact normally did not engage the parking brake, however, when the failure first occurred, the warning "EPB Stopped Completely" illuminated twice but had not illuminated in weeks. The contact stated that the failure was intermittent but had gradually become a recurring failure. The contact had not taken the vehicle to a local dealer or independent mechanic. The vehicle was not diagnosed and was not repaired. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 55,000.

Problem 1 there is insufficient visibility of the road at night to drive the car safely. The local police officer helped me measure the distance of road visibility from the front of the car and it was 78 feet. At night with the lights on the top 3/4 of the windshield appears black (opaque) - cannot be seen through. I can only see through the bottom 1/4 of the windshield (left to right, the whole width). Problem 2 the transmission had to be replaced. Problem 3 the computer console only connects to the cell phone 25% of the time. This prevents the ability to use GPS and emergency phone calling while driving. Toyota said there is no problem with the visibility, that the police is incorrect, and there is a known defect with the computer connecting to android phones (after they insisted it was fine). I've been a wreck over this - I don't feel safe driving the car, and can't drive it at night. Toyota has said there's nothing they are planning to do to address these issues, except perphaps there will be software fix for the console/phone connection problem someday. FYI I have all the repair documents but didn't know how to scan/upload them here. So let me know if you need these, and perhaps some other way I could get them to you. If there is an email address I could send pictures of them. Or you could obtain these from Lexington Toyota (Lexington MA). There was also a driving video at nighttime, and I have a video/audio of the transmission womp womp noise, but didn't know how to get those to you either.

At a stop, the engine shuts off. This is normal. In two instances, the vehicle threw up multiple warning lights (Press Brake Firmly to Restart) and would not start on the release of the brake. The second incident happened on a hill and the vehicle began to roll backwards. The vehicle then needs to be put in park, shut off and restarted. On the restart it moves again. The dealer was called about this, but said they didn't know it was a problem. They cannot replicate. The safety issue is that the car needs to restart to drive again. At a green light, the car is at risk of being hit since it won't be moving, as expected. It is also a problem that when the brake is released and the issue happens the car can roll backward.