| Issue ID | 674748 |
| Internal NHTSA # | 10227481 |
| Manufacurer | TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION |
| Brand | TOYOTA |
| Model | SIENNA |
| Model Year | 2004 |
| File date | 29/04/08 |
| Component | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL |
| Product type code | VEHICLE |
| Description of the problem | Sudden acceleration in 2004 toyota sienna van: at 0830am pst, april 29th 2008 i was driving to work at my school where i work as a teacher. While making a slow u-turn, with my foot lightly on the brake pedal, my 2004 toyota sienna le van suddenly took off and accelerated uncontrollably like a rocket at maximum velocity. The accelerator pedal was never pressed during this incident. I had just a split second to remove my foot completely off the brake pedal to look down at the floor board to ensure nothing was pinning the pedal downward, nothing was there and the van was still accelerating looked up in horror as vehicle was continuing to accelerate at an extremely high rate of speed and continuing to accelerate. I quickly steered the vehicle and dodged a screened chain-link fence to avoid an area where children usually stand waiting for parents. With vehicle still accelerating at full power i quickly passed the fence area, applied the brakes with great force, but they felt unresponsive to the acceleration forces. With vehicle moving at a very high rate of speed and still accelerating, i saw a parked vehicle right in front of me and could no longer control the vehicle, i braced for impact. The van violently smashed into an unattended ford expedition vehicle, engine briefly revved high and then finally shut down. Had there not been a parked vehicle there i would have gone directly into the residential house about 50 feet away. It only took about 3 or 4 seconds for the van to travel the 22 yards from where the accelerator malfunction started to the impact area of the other vehicle. There is no doubt that this situation will occur again to someone else. Lives will be lost and drivers will be falsely held accountable. I strongly recommend that the nhsta investigate this serious issue. I am so concerned about this issue that i am sending a complete dissertation to all tv networks (20/20, etc) hoping that some agency will expose this to a high level of public awareness. |
| Vehicle Mileage at Failure | 62792 |
| Number of Occurences | 1 |
| Source of the issue | NHTSA WEB SITE |
| City and State | CAMARILLO, CA |
| VIN pattern | 5TDZA23C94SXXXXXX |
| Was vehicle invloved in a crash? | Y |
| Was vehicle involved in a fire? | N |
| Was incedent reported to police? | Y |
| Was medical attention required? | |
| Was part original equipment? | |
| No. of injured persons | 0 |
| No. of fatalities | 0 |
| Date of purchase | 07/08/26 |
| Was original owner? | N |
| Anti-lock brakes | N |
| Cruise control | N |
| Number of cylinders | 6 |
| Drive train type | |
| Transmission type | |
| Vehicle speed | 35 |
| DoT tire identifier | |
| Tire size | |
| Location of tire code | |
| Type of tire failure code | |
| Was defective tire repaired? | |
| Date of manufacture | |
| Type of child seat code | |
| Type of restraint | |
| Dealer's name | TOYOTA OF SIMI VALLEY |
| Dealer's telephone number | |
| Dealer's city | SIMI VALLEY |
| Dealer's state code | CA |
| Dealer's ZIP code |