NHTSA Complaint #10638254 — 2008 TOYOTA COROLLA

UPON STARTING MY CAR, ON THIS PARTICULAR MORNING, I NOTICED A REVVING SOUND. IT DIDN'T SOUND LIKE ANYTHING NORMALLY RELATED TO START-UP, BUT I ASSUMED THAT MAYBE IT WAS A MOMENTARY GLITCH. I SWITCHED THE CAR INTO REVERSE AND THE REVVING SOUND INCREASED. IT SOUNDED AS IF SOMEONE HAD FLOORED THE ACCELERATOR. (I WAS LATER ASKED HOW MANY MPH. TO ME, IT SOUNDED AS THOUGH I WERE GOING ABOUT 50 MPH.) WHILE IN REVERSE, AND WITH THE INCREASING REVVING SOUND AND RPM, MY BRAKES LOCKED ON ME AND THE DASHBOARD LIGHTS ALL CAME ON. I WAS ABLE TO SHIFT BACK INTO PARK AND SHUT OFF THE CAR. I CONTACTED TOYOTA TO INQUIRE ABOUT ANY RECALLS ON MY CAR AND EXPLAINED WHAT HAD TAKEN PLACE. I WAS TOLD BY THE CORPORATION THAT THERE WERE NO RECALLS AND TO BRING IT IN FOR SERVICING TO THE DEALERSHIP. THE DEALERSHIP PULLED UP A SERVICE HISTORY REPORT SHOWING THAT THEY HAD DONE A RECALL REPAIR ON MY CAR SEVERAL YEARS EARLIER. THEY DISMISSED MY CLAIM, SAYING THAT THEY COULD FIND NOTHING WRONG WITH MY CAR AND THAT IT WAS DRIVER ERROR. THE SERVICE MANAGER REFUSED TO SUBMIT A REPORT FOR INVESTIGATION INTO UNINTENDED ACCELERATION, STATING THAT HE BELIEVED THAT AN INCREASE IN RPM IS UNRELATED TO ACCELERATION. HE ALSO MADE SEVERAL ATTEMPTS TO SELL ME ANOTHER CAR. I APPEALED TO THE CORPORATE OFFICE FOR TOYOTA RECALL. I EXPRESSED MY CONCERN OVER THE SAFETY OF MY VEHICLE AND THE RISK OF CONTINUING TO OPERATE IT. THEIR SENTIMENTS WERE, "WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?". OVER A SEVERAL DAY PERIOD, TOYOTA STATED THEY COULD FIND NOTHING- EVEN WITH THEIR ADVANCED DIAGNOSTIC PROCESS THAT THEY INSISTED I UNDERWENT. I TOOK MY CAR TO A THIRD-PARTY CERTIFIED MECHANIC, WHO WAS ABLE TO IDENTIFY THAT PART OF THE PROBLEM MAY HAVE BEEN RELATED TO A BATTERY LEAK AND A TERMINAL THAT NEEDED REPLACEMENT. I DO NOT FEEL THAT TOYOTA TOOK A GENUINE INTEREST IN MY ISSUE, DUE TO THE LACK OF OPPORTUNITY TO PROFIT FROM MY PROBLEM. *TR