NHTSA Complaint #10749195 — 2010 LEXUS HS 250 HYBRID

MY ACCIDENT WAS CAUSED BY UNINTENDED ACCELERATION. AS I WAS SLOWLY TURNING RIGHT INTO A PARKING PLACE, THE CAR SUDDENLY ACCELERATED AND CRASHED INTO A BRICK BUILDING. THE FORCE OF THE CRASH CAUSED THE AIR BAGS TO DEPLOY. THERE WAS SO MUCH DAMAGE TO THE CAR THAT IT WAS A TOTAL LOSS. AFTER THE CRASH I OBTAINED THE EVENT DATA RECORDER (EDR) READING FROM A CONTRACTOR HIRED BY TOYOTA. IT SHOWED THAT FOR THE LAST 5 SECONDS BEFORE THE CRASH, I WAS APPLYING VERY LIGHT PRESSURE TO THE GAS PEDAL UP UNTIL THE LAST .8 SECONDS. FOR THE LAST .8 SECONDS THE EDR SHOWS THAT MY FOOT WAS ON THE BREAK AND THE THROTTLE WAS AT NEARLY MAXIMUM VALUE. DURING THE LAST .8 SECONDS THE CAR WENT FROM 5 MPH TO 9.9 MPH AND THE ENGINE RPM WENT FROM 1200 TO 2800. I DID NOT APPLY PRESSURE TO THE GAS PEDAL AT THIS TIME. I WAS APPLYING PRESSURE TO THE BREAK PEDAL. THIS IS A CASE OF UNINTENDED ACCELERATION CAUSED BY FAULTY ELECTRONIC THROTTLE CONTROL (ETC) SOFTWARE. SINCE THE EDR GETS IT DATA FROM THE ETC SOFTWARE AND NOT THE GAS PEDAL ITSELF, IT IS MOST LIKELY THAT THE SOFTWARE WAS A FAULT, AS I WAS NOT APPLYING THE GAS DURING THE LAST SECOND BEFORE THE ACCIDENT. IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE FOR ME TO APPLY FULL PRESSURE TO THE GAS PEDAL WHILE APPLYING THE BREAKS AT THE SAME TIME ON THIS CAR. FIRST OF ALL MY SHOE WIDTH IS SMALLER THAN THE SPACE BETWEEN BREAK AND GAS PEDALS. FURTHERMORE THE BREAK PEDAL IS ABOVE THE GAS PEDAL MAKING IT NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR ANYONE TO APPLY THE BREAKS AND FLOOR THE GAS AT THE SAME TIME. THIS IS A CASE OF FAILED ELECTRONIC CONTROL SOFTWARE, WHICH HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED IN SEVERAL LAWSUITS THAT TOYOTA HAS LOST RECENTLY. IN SPITE OF ALL THESE LOST CASES, A LOST CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT, AND NUMEROUS DOCUMENTED ACCIDENTS WITH NHTSA, TOYOTA HAS DONE NOTHING TO FIX THE PROBLEM, WHICH IS FAULTY ELECTRONIC THROTTLE CONTROL SOFTWARE.