NHTSA Complaint #11425278 — 2007 INFINITI M35

On 7/13/21 afternoon, I parked my car in a parking garage of Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, IN. Around 6 pm, as I was backing out of my parking spot on reverse gear and turning the steering wheel, the car seemed sluggish. So, I pressed the accelerator -- lightly, I believe . All of a sudden, the car just took off, moving backward very fast in a semicircle. It first hit the back of a parked car with its front right side and then a concrete wall with its back with tremendous force. I was alone in the car. I called my wife. She came from our home and called 911. The university police and medic arrived promptly, as did two of our friends. One friend drove my wife and me to IU Health Hospital emergency in Lafayette, IN, and the other friend waited at the accident spot for AAA to come. Apparently, AAA came a little later and towed the car to Nissan of Lafayette body shop. Based on the x-rays and CT scans done at the emergency, the attending physician's assistant told me -- apparently, after consulting with a neurosurgeon -- that I suffered two fractures in a neck bone ("transverse process of cervical vertebra"). She gave me a hard collar and asked me to wear it 24 hours a day, expect when taking a shower, for 6 to 8 weeks. She also asked me to see a neurosurgeon, whom I will see on 7/26/21. The body shop person I spoke with next day told me that the car would likely be totaled (the car is still there). Since then, I have been thinking why the car moved so fast and also searching the web to find out any reason for it. Could it be an instance of the "sudden acceleration" problem? I must say that I have been driving Infiniti cars for many years. I have been very pleased with them so far, as well as the service provided by Infiniti dealers, especially my current one, Dreyer & Reinbold Infiniti of Indianapolis. I have decided to inform NHTSA of this accident so that no other person driving an Infiniti car meets with an accident like this.