Accelator Sticking Camary

My parents purchased a brand new 2004 Camary last month. Yesterday my father was in a serious accident. He said that the accelator was stuck after putting the car into drive and he couldn't make the car stop.
Has anyone heard of this problem before?

The reason I ask is because I think that the car is a lemon. Within the first week of having the car, it had to be returned to the dealership because the alternator cable was not attached to the battery properly.

I have done a google search and found an issue on Product Liablity Daily but does anyone else have any websites to check out.

Thanks, a worried daughter.

Kathleen

Just because you had one problem with an alternator wire loose at the time of purchase doesnt make it a lemon. There are many factors and departments that put a car together. The odds of the same machine and or the same guy that put your Alternator cable on and the throttle sticking are slim and none. Infact I have never heard of the throttle sticking on a none throttle cable opperated car. The only thing that would cause the throttle to stick would be the Throttle Positioning Sensor (TPS). And when that does stick it's due to excessive carbon build up. (Dirt deposites commonly caused by higher milage vehicles)What will happen is it sticks shut, and the car either stalls and/or is hard to start. I have never seen a car returned or even classified as a Lemon in the 8 years working for Toyota. Infact in the state of California in order for a car to be bought back by the dealer and classified as a Lemon, the problem would have to be adressed and a repair attempt would have to be made not once, not twice but three times with failure. If a repair is attempted three times (and documented at a dealer) and the problem is still present, then the Lemon Law would come into effect. We usually call this opperator error when an elderly person crashes a new car and claims it was car malfunction. Did you see the news on the man that killed 9 people in Santa Monica that claimed the gas pedal was stuck? Turned out he thought he slammed on the brakes but it was really the gas pedal.. it's sad but true many times... Not to blame your dad or to say he's old, but take into concideration Toyotas quality product and the fact that it was a new car. A lot of times in a panic situation it's easy to press down hard expecting the brake pedal to be where you're used to it, but to find your closer to the accelerator pedal. Just give it some thought..

In general, the brakes applied strongly will always stop a car, even if the accelerator is wide open. Consider that a Camry with a V6 will take 8 seconds (~650 ft) to get to 60 mph at full throttle and stop from that speed in 3 seconds or so (122 ft). The disparity is much greater for a 4-cylinder.

Let me guess! The throttle isn't stuck now.. although certaintly not impossible odds are your father nailed the wrong pedal. It was a new car to him. Audi was almost put out of business due to a few claims of sticking throttles, SIxty minutes did there normal bad news story. I don't really think they ever found anything that cause an unwanted acceleration.

jj

Lemons are rare with the Toyotas, but I suspect they do exist. One place you might wish to look for your specific problem would be the NTSB.
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/

I hope no one was hurt in the accident.

Thanks to all the posts. I disagree with posts that "assume" that this is operator error.
After doing some research...I have found other sites which list this same problem. For future help to anyone else that may come across this problem I suggest:

http://subscript.bna.com/SAMPLES/pld.nsf/0/33a2947408d24d5185256e5300035cac?OpenDocument

http://www.tirekick.com/nov00/recl-900.htm
http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.ee9950e/1963

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news_index/automotive.html

Again, thanks to all posts. My dad has whiplash, missed the propane tanks by a small margin, but he is doing fine...

Kathleen

Glad to hear your father is recovering.

Please note that none of the reports you cited were from 2004 model year. This is a model-specific problem. Not convincing.

That is good news about your father. I also checked your links but didn't find any of the info relating specifically to your year. But who knows.. there's always a first and humans make these cars so they can't be perfect right? Hope you figure out the problem and maybe even concider giving your father a driving test.. speaking of, that is a huge topic right now (how old is too old to drive).