The only thing that will cause a screech like that when you're hitting the brakes is if you had a rock or something stuck in the caliper which could happen to any make model year vehicle out there. It has no effect on the safety of this particular vehicle. No codes means exactly that, nothing in the system cause this incident and it was an outside factor.

 

If you truly believe you experienced "unintended" acceleration, you should report this to NHTSA.

As I started to take my foot from the accelerator pedal to the brake the car lurched forward and I stomped on the brake with both feet to stop it. I made a horrible growling noise but it kept me from running into the back of a parked commercial truck.

1) The car had forward momentum and maintained momentum, the moment you took your foot off the "gas" pedal. A ICE only car would have done the same. Was the area you were on, at a slight decline?
2) IMO you are perceiving this forward momentum as "acceleration" b/c you had a panic stop due to proximity to the truck, and the "growling" noise freaked you out. Perceived "acceleration" + panic stop + growling brake noise = unintended acceleration.
3) You attribute this growling noise from panic/hard braking as a cause for concern. I speculate it was likely the ABS engaging, as it will make a noise (one may even call it "growling"). Did you feel any pulsation in the brake pedal?
4) Any possibility of human error? Perhaps you were pressing on the gas to "slow" down to park. You perceive the car to lurch forward/accelerate. As the distance closes, and you believe the car is accelerating, you panic stop, with both feet applying adrenaline fueled pressure onto the brake pedal. The ABS kicks in, hence the "growling" noise?
"So-called pedal misapplication is a very real problem, usually in low-speed situations like when parking or pulling into a garage, says Jake Fisher, senior director of auto testing at Consumer Reports."

4) After the unintended acceleration issue/settlement in 2009, Toyota redesigned the accelerator pedal.
4a) The redesigned gas pedal unfortunately is attached to the floorboard. The ensures that any floormat that should become loose, will NOT be able to jamb the gas pedal in a stuck position, as worse case scenario it will sit on top of the gas pedal, which a driver will notice/feel. Some of the earlier cases of unintended acceleration/stuck pedal was due to floor mats that worked their way UP the cabin firewall, and behind the gas pedal, getting wedged/jambed so the gas pedal was stuck in an acceleration position.
4b) Toyota implemented brake override software since 2011. Brake override means if BOTH gas and brake are depressed, the computer will ignore the gas pedal. IMO, this software most likely takes into account vehicle speed and amount the brake and gas pressed. I notice on my 2021 RAV4 Prime, I can engage both brake and gas, w/ the gas pedal causing the engine or elec motors to engage; but I am NOT completely depressing both brake and gas at the same time. I am sure if I were going at highway speed, this brake override software would ignore gas if brake was pressed.
5) If you experience any unintended acceleration in any vehicle (Toyota, Ford, BMW, etc), the smart move is to shift into NEUTRAL, apply the brakes, safely pull over, and turn OFF the vehicle. You should practice this periodically on a safe empty road, so if it ever happens again, it will be reflexive, and you will just do it automatically.

EDIT. You will see a warning message pop-up on the odometer display saying "gas & brake" are pressed.

 

I speculate it was likely the ABS engaging

Same here.

Unintended Acceleration - Car Totaled

Has this happened to anyone else who owns a 2021 Venza? As I was slowly pulling in (going about 2 miles or less) to a perpendicular parking spot at my apartment complex, I took my foot off the accelerator, all the sudden my car lunged forward and rapidly accelerated forward on its own. It was...

www.toyotanation.com

Sudden unexplained acceleration

I've only had my new corolla for six weeks. Yesterday turning slowly into a car space in an outdoor car park it suddenly surged forward. I was doing maybe 1-2km at the time. I was able to stop the car by hitting the brakes hard. I called toyota and they said to bring it in and that they'd never...

www.toyotanation.com

 

almost sounds like the cruise control was on.

 

Man I love a throttle cable. My kind of fly by wire.

I was slowly leaving a store driveway, turned right and was rolling into a parking space along the curb. As I started to take my foot from the accelerator pedal to the brake the car lurched forward and I stomped on the brake with both feet to stop it. I made a horrible growling noise but it kept me from running into the back of a parked commercial truck. That was Tuesday and today, Friday, I got it back from the dealership and they said they checked everything out, electrical, computer, etc. involved with acceleration and found nothing wrong. I had them check the 'black box' and was told that there were no events, no 'codes' on the report. They also that there is no way to say if it will or won't happen again.

My lease is up in 5 months. I was going to buy it since it only has 4k miles on it but there is just no way I will feel safe in the car after that experience. It was terrifying.

Can someone explain what it means that there were no 'codes' on the event recorder in the car for that day and time? Wouldn't it have recorded my stomping on the gas and it screeching to a halt like that. I mean the driver of the truck got out to see what the noise was and if I was ok.

Thanks.

There are no "Codes" in the data recorder. That would be the vehicles ecu and a CEL would light up on the dash if there were any codes reported by the On Board Diagnostics (OBD2) which is required by law on anything made after 1995. If there had been any "codes" you would have the yellow light on on your dash telling you there was a malfunction. The data recorder is just that and it should be able to tell them exactly what happened. I'm not going to jump on the "judge YOU bandwagon" and try to rationalize error on your part as the cause of the incident.

Only 4 k miles on a lease!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow, that car should be very valuable since it is now worth more than you paid for it, even if it had average mileage, particularly if it is in the 31st month of a 3 year lease with only 4k miles total.

If you are certain of what you observed then I would follow the advice, from NameofUser, and contact the NHSTA (national highway and traffic safety administration and report the incidence as you observed it. It may be that others have observed a similar scenario. Pay off the lease and trade it in, should give you a nice refund on the lease and eliminate the concern about it happening again.

Frankly like some of the responses on this thread, you are being judged to be at fault. I think that is shortsighted and if I had had the same experience KNOWING I did not create it, then I would do some research to see if there are others that had the same or similar experience, which I think is researchable through the NHSTA website.
I would not let someone take advantage of your situation and buy the car from you cheap, then resell it and make a nice chunk of change playing on your fears of a repeat event.
If the lease is 3/36 then the vehicle is worth more than the original list price.
Let the dealership buy it back from you but never trust them to not try to steal the car back from you and then make a lot of the lease money you paid on a super low mileage car.

 

I was slowly leaving a store driveway, turned right and was rolling into a parking space along the curb. As I started to take my foot from the accelerator pedal to the brake the car lurched forward and I stomped on the brake with both feet to stop it. I made a horrible growling noise but it kept me from running into the back of a parked commercial truck. That was Tuesday and today, Friday, I got it back from the dealership and they said they checked everything out, electrical, computer, etc. involved with acceleration and found nothing wrong. I had them check the 'black box' and was told that there were no events, no 'codes' on the report. They also that there is no way to say if it will or won't happen again. My lease is up in 5 months. I was going to buy it since it only has 4k miles on it but there is just no way I will feel safe in the car after that experience. It was terrifying. Can someone explain what it means that there were no 'codes' on the event recorder in the car for that day and time? Wouldn't it have recorded my stomping on the gas and it screeching to a halt like that. I mean the driver of the truck got out to see what the noise was and if I was ok. Thanks.

My wife just had a similar thing happen. She was pulling into a parking spot, had deer foot on the brake and went to put it into park. The RAV4 Hybrid suddenly lurched forward, jumping a curb, running over a bush, and finally stopped when it crashed into a storefront. None of the collision safety features worked to stop the car automatically. 2019 RAV4 Hybrid Limited.

 

I literally just had the same thing happen 3 hours ago. 2020 Highlander Hybrid. Pulling into a parking space in a parking ramp, foot hovering on the brake and car lurched forward, an unintentional acceleration, and hit a pillar hard enough to do some major damage to the car! If not for the pillar, we would have gone over the edge of the parking ramp. My husband is wondering if the sensor is not able to detect all the things when "overstimulated" in a situation like this. It senses multiple things in your way. He thinks it did the opposite of what it supposed to. It's supposed to rapid break when coming too close to obstacles but it felt it did the opposite. And YES, I do know where my foot was and did not hit the gas. My daughter was in the car with me. It was not a mistake of pedals or a slip of the foot, it was an unintentional acceleration done BY THE CAR!

 

report this to NHTSA
I had this happened and reported. This is a more than serious issue.

 

First and foremost, report the problem to NHTSA.

Report a Safety Problem | NHTSA

File a complaint with NHTSA if you experienced a vehicle, tire, car seat or equipment safety problem that could be a safety defect.

www.nhtsa.gov

It took many deaths and a billion dollar fine for Toyota to look into the SUA problem 10 years ago. Toyota doesn't care about safety and won't move a finger unless forced by the government. Daihatsu (fully-owned Toyota subsidiary) was found to be cheating on crash tests for 10 years. How many more people will have to die due to Toyota's negligence and disregard for safety problems?

 

Thanks. I filled the complaint. Still waiting for some action to be taken

 

Thos just happened to us 30 minutes ago. We were doing approximately 2 mph on level ground. We were coming up to a gate intending to stop about 4 feet from the gate. When releasing the accelerator pedal the car made a rapid acceleration and the brakes had to be applied with force and we hit the fence. I'll access for damage in the morning. We had used the adaptive cruise control up to about 1 mile from the incident and I believe the issue is with adaptive cruise control. We didn't turn the system off only disengaged it by brake pedal. I'll keep trying to duplicate the issue both with and with the cruise control. The I'll do it in an empty area. No need to hit another gate. And before you start with my not understanding rapid acceleration as opposed to confused rolling or a grade rolling to a stop. I am a heavy equipment mechanic and have been a mechanic on many types of equipment since 1982. I have many years of diagnostic experience. I even worked for Toyota, but the was some years ago.

 

I’m thinking that growling noise or grinding noise, would be your ABS which is normal, especially if 1 tire goes over a minor pothole and the computer sense the tire at different speed, to match all tire the same speed ABS kicks in to match it. That’s the noise you probably heard. I experienced it many times with my 2016 Corolla and now 2022 Camry hybrid. No beggie.

 

Happened to my wife too last week, ran over bushes uphill, almost got to the train tracks. I took photos of the damage. Car is OK.