NHTSA Complaint #10423718 — 2007 TOYOTA 4RUNNER

WHILE TRAVELING UNDER CRUISE CONTROL AT 55- 60 MPH ON A RURAL 2 LANE HIGHWAY IN NC, I CAME UPON A VEHICLE IN MY LANE TRAVELING AT A SLOWER RATE OF SPEED. AS I APPROACHED THE VEHICLE, I ACCELERATED TO PASS. WHILE PASSING I COULD TELL THAT THE VEHICLE FELT LIKE IT WAS MOVING FASTER THAN THE 60 - 65 MPH IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN FOR THE AMOUNT OF GAS I GAVE IT, BUT I WAS CONCENTRATING ON COMPLETING THE PASS AND DID NOT LOOK AT THE SPEEDOMETER. AFTER PASSING AND PULLING BACK INTO MY LANE, I DEPRESSED THE BRAKE TO SLOW DOWN. MY VEHICLE SLOWED SLIGHTLY BUT FELT ODD, LIKE IT WAS PULLING. WHEN I REMOVED MY FOOT FROM THE BRAKE, MY VEHICLE BEGAN RAPIDLY ACCELERATING ON ITS OWN, QUICKLY GETTING TO ABOUT 70 - 75 MPH BEFORE I DEPRESSED THE BRAKE AGAIN. AGAIN THE VEHICLE SLOWED SLIGHTLY BUT FELT ODD, LIKE IT WAS PULLING. WHEN I REMOVED MY FOOT FROM THE BRAKE, MY VEHICLE AGAIN RAPIDLY ACCELERATED ON ITS OWN, AT WHICH POINT I REALIZED SOMETHING WAS WRONG AND DEPRESSED THE BRAKE HARDER. THE VEHICLE PULLED HARDER THIS TIME AND STARTED VIBRATING SEVERELY. I REMOVED MY FOOT FROM THE BRAKE AND THE VEHICLE AGAIN BEGAN ACCELERATING. I SHIFTED TO NEUTRAL AND BROUGHT THE CAR TO A STOP ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD. OVER THE NEXT ~ 20 MINUTES I TRIED ~ 4 - 5 TIMES TO CRANK THE CAR. EACH TIME THE ENGINE IMMEDIATELY REVVED SUCH THAT THE TACHOMETER ALMOST INSTANTLY HIT RED ZONE, AND I CUT THE ENGINE OFF. I CALLED TOYOTA'S "800" PHONE NUMBER, AND THEY TOLD ME TO GET THE CAR TO A TOTOTA DEALER. BEFORE CALLING A TOW TRUCK, I TRIED CRANKING THE CAR ONE MORE TIME, AND THAT TIME THE ENGINE CRANKED NORMALLY.