NHTSA Complaint #10222221 — 2007 TOYOTA CAMRY

THIS VEHICLE WAS PURCHASED USED FROM HERTZ CORP. DURING THE TEST DRIVE WE NOTICED A HESITATION WHEN ATTEMPTING TO ACCELERATE AT SPEEDS BETWEEN 25 AND 45 MPH. WE ALSO DROVE ANOTHER 2007 CAMRY WITH HIGHER MILEAGE AND IT DID NOT HAVE THE HESITATION PROBLEM. WE ASKED HERTZ TO HAVE A TOYOTA DEALER CHECK OUT THE PROBLEM. THE COMPUTER WAS 'FIXED' WITH A SOFTWARE UPDATE. THE PROBLEM STILL OCCURRED SO IT WAS TAKEN TO ANOTHER DEALER. EVERYTHING WAS 'OK'. THE STATEMENT WAS MADE BY THAT TOYOTA SERVICE ADVISER THAT THE COMPUTER USES A PROGRAM TO DETERMINE THE DRIVING HABITS OF EACH DRIVER AND THE HESITATION PROBLEM WOULD 'SELF CORRECT'. YEAH RIGHT. WE PURCHASED THE LOWER MILEAGE VEHICLE, AND HAVE DRIVEN ALMOST ANOTHER 5,000 MILES, HOWEVER THE PROBLEM DID NOT 'SELF CORRECT'; IN FACT IT APPEARS TO HAVE WORSENED. THE VEHICLE WAS AGAIN TAKEN TO A THIRD TOYOTA SERVICE DEPARTMENT ON MARCH 24, 2008 WITH THE SAME VERBAL FOOTWORK THAT IT'S A DRIVE-BY-WIRE SYSTEM AND NOTHING CAN BE DONE TO CORRECT WHAT I CONSIDER TO BE A POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS CONDITION. SOME DAY I MAY NEED TO ACCELERATE HARD TO AVOID AN ACCIDENT OR WHATEVER AND I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE INSTANT ACCELERATION INSTEAD OF A 1-3 SECOND DELAY. CONSIDERING THE HIGH TECH SYSTEMS AVAILABLE TO THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY, I FIND IT UNCONSCIONABLE THAT TOYOTA CANNOT FIX THE PROBLEM. I'VE REVIEWED THE NHTSA COMPLAINTS WEB SITE, EDMONDS, AND OTHER SITES AND FIND THIS PROBLEM IS PERVASIVE WITH OTHER TOYOTA VEHICLES. I'M REQUESTING THAT A DEFECTS INVESTIGATION BE INITIATED TO ANALYZE AND DEVELOP A SOLUTION TO THIS PROBLEM BEFORE THIS THROTTLE/TRANSMISSION HESITATION ISSUE RESULTS IN INJURY OR DEATH. *TR