NHTSA Complaint #11642860 — 2022 TOYOTA VENZA

At approximately [XXX] on Friday, [XXX], my wife was slowly pulling into a stripped parking place at Museum Hill's lower paved paved lot on [XXX], in Santa Fe, NM that has three levels when the car suddenly bolted up and over the concrete curb and up a short hill where it faced the fronts of two vehicles; the car stopped (possibly due to automatic braking systems) and rolled backwards into a small tree resting off of the pavement on soil, but against the curb. There is front end dislocation of the right fender and the passenger door hits the fender if trying to open it. The right front tire is broken and the alloy wheel is damaged. After a disagreement with a towing company, I backed the car over the curb and onto the pavement where I installed the spare. The car seemed to be OK to drive and my wife drove it home 3 miles away on back streets. The car's event data recorder was inspected by an employee of EAA from Denver in Toyota of Santa Fe's Dealership shop on [XXX] and the car driven. Toyota's report from their Legal Claims Analyst said that "pressure was applied to the accelerator pedal prior to the impact." My wife was going to her regularly scheduled lunch time support shift at the [XXX], was pulling into her regular parking area, and DID NOT press the accelerator to the floor causing this wreck. I believe that the power steering created a negative voltage drop that caused the concurrent calibration of the accelerator electronics to believe that full power was required at that instant. The safety of my wife was at risk, but no other person was nearby and damage to shrubbery was not consequential. This problem has not been confirmed by a dealer or independent service center. However, several papers on the subject have been written by Ronald A. Belt, PhD of Plymouth, MN, the latest dated 20 July 2024. The only inspection of the vehicle was on [XXX] by Toyota's EEA Service. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)