NHTSA Complaint #11680755 — 2010 LEXUS IS

My car experienced sudden unintended acceleration. I was at a stop light preparing to turn right when my car accelerated of its own accord crashing into the vehicle in front of me. My foot was firmly on the brake, but I had lost control over the vehicle. Whatever electrical defect I experienced, it was sufficient to rev the engine by itself and override the braking system enough that the vehicle advanced forward in an out-of-control manner. It was unintended, unexpected and beyond my ability to control. Failing to recognize the braking system, my vehicle collided into the vehicle a second time. Because my foot was on the brake and my vehicle still advanced forward, I initially thought I had been hit from behind. However, the erratic RPM behavior and the vehicle's continued acceleration while braking confirmed I was no longer in control of the vehicle. Acting promptly, I immediately took the gear shifter out of drive and put into neutral. It was then and only then that I regained control of the vehicle: it stopped accelerating, stopped revving of its own accord and began responding to the braking system. Please note: my foot was not on the gas pedal, for as soon as I took it out of drive, the RPM returned to normal (i.e. the erratic behavior indicated by the tachometer's RPM, stopped). Had my foot been on the gas pedal instead of the brake pedal, the revving would have continued to behave as before; but it did not. (I do not have an all-weather floor mat. It is neither here nor there, because in the event that I did have one, you would expect the RPM behavior to continue when put into neutral; but again, all behavior returned to normal when the vehicle was put in neutral.) Though I am sympathetic to those that panic in a moment of distress, I was of a present enough mind to know what was happening. An electrical engineer with intimate knowledge of the computer system for this vehicle would be the best to assess what went wrong from a technical perspective.