NHTSA Complaint #11543631 — 2019 TOYOTA HIGHLANDER

Experience "dead zones" in accelerator pedal movement. Experience "no acceleration" with first 1-2 inches of travel from idle position. This is constant and does not vary noticibly with speed. I was driving in an suburban shopping area in York PA with three lanes of travel in each direction. I intended to move from the laft hand lane to the center lane. I indicated my intentions and waited for an opening. I was travelling about 35-40mph. When an opening came along, I steered into the indended lane, but depressing the accelerator to increase my speed, no acceleration occurred. I then panicked and depressed the pedal quicker, and the ensuing acceleration nearly catapaulted me into the semi truck in the center lane ahead of me. I missed the truck by inches. I have had this issue evaluated at Bennett Toyota in Lebanon PA, and the Lancaster Toyota, the dealer who sold me the vehicle in May of 2023, is aware of the issue. Bennett Toyota service department tried to fix the issue by replacing the brake switch. That did not alleviate the problem. I have had several other instances when pulling into traffic when the delayed acceleration caused me issues but no accidents. I believe this issue is related to the selectable "snow" driving function. I think the system is somehow stuck in the "snow" mode at all times. I may have substantiated this today when I experimented with the "snow" function while driving at about 45 mph. When I select the "snow" mode while driving, the accelerator "dead zone" actually gets worse. Bennett Toyota Service response is "it drives like any other Highlander". If that is so - this is truly a huge issue with "drive by wire" tachnology...!!! As a note, at Bennett Toyota I did drive a 2019 Highlander privately owned by the service manager and it did indeed have the dead zone in the acelerator - a fact that the service manager admitted to me verbally. I have read many instances of this issue in chats online.