NHTSA Complaint #11417643 — 2013 TOYOTA PRIUS C

While in line at a church food bank, with cars in front and in back of me, the Prius C suddenly lunged forward. While my foot was on the brake, I hit the car in front of me. The impact was strong enough to cause almost $1400 worth of damage to the car in front of me and more than that for my car. My car's fender is damaged as well as the lights and hood of the car. My sister was in the passenger seat and nephew in the back seat. My sister told me that all she could see when the sudden movement started was my foot on the brake. She said that from where she was sitting, she could not see if my foot was on the gas pedal but could clearly see when my foot was on the brake. So lucky that there were no injuries either to the husband and wife in the car in front of me nor to my passengers. There is no reason for me to have accelerated that fast when the car in front moved a fraction of feet at a time. I would release the brake and the car would move slowly until I applied the brake again. The Prius was inspected by Toyota at a dealer and we were told they could find no sign of anything wrong with the car. There were no warning lights or messages before the sudden acceleration happened. Due to the possibility of it happening again, we decided to park the car in case any litigation could be processed. We have been denied by many law firms due to the fact that there were no serious injuries and the age of the car. About a month after the incident, we bought a new Prius and if unable to litigate, will sell the car for parts. My fear is that it may happen again and could seriously injure or kill someone or the driver and/or passengers in our 2013 Prius. We will not allow it to be driven again and will either junk or sell for parts. Is there any recourse for us to pursue to be refunded for the damage that we paid to the couple whose car we hit, a rental until we bought the new car and refund for the 2013 Prius. Thank you very much for your attention.