This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
The contact owns a 2002 Chrysler PT CRUISER. The contact was driving 20 mph when the cruise control light illuminated and independently activated. The vehicle began to increase in speed and there was an unusual increase in engine rpms. The contact was able to disengage the cruise control by depressing the brakes and manually deactivating the mechanism. The contact stated that he had also encountered unintended acceleration while in park. The dealer advised having a diagnostic performed on the vehicle. The vehicle was neither diagnosed nor repaired. The failure and the current mileage was 84,042. Updated 11/19/10. The computer was replaced. Updated 12/02/10
The cruise control turns on by itself, causing the car to accelerate. After turning the cruise control off, it comes back on several seconds later, and accelerates! very scary and dangerous! this happens every time it's driven. The car was taken to a dealer for service, and they just called saying they had completed updates to the car's computer system, and it doesn't seem to malfunction anymore. They are going to keep the car for another day, and drive it around periodically, to see if it's solved, and I'll get it back tomorrow.
Information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6) something you may wish to look at with cell phones and these incidents with acceleration on cars. We have a PT CRUISER and several times we have placed the phone in the storage area in the middle in the dash. With the keey off, the phone rings and the car started turning over until we moved the phone away from the immmediate area of the dash. Something to think about?? [xxx]
While driving vehicle, applied gas pedal and vehicle does not accelerate. Must coast to the side of the road, while vehicle struggles to keep running. When vehicle is turned off, it will not restart.
When stopping and putting car into park it surges forward, which caused an accident/ injuries.*akthe engine was also reving at an extremely high speed and surging forward while in the park position. Consumer had to cut the engine to stop the forward motion of the vehicle. Because chyrsler could not duplicate the problem, they would not fix or replace the vehicle.
- Lynn, MA, USA
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Consumer states after releasing the brake pedal vehicle suddenly accelerated and took off. Consumer was able to gain control after it reacheed 70 mph. Condition causes the engine to burn up. Vehicle at the dealer. Feel free to provide any further information. Information.
Unpredictabley, when I 'click' the cruise control lever to slow down, it will acelerate, creating unexpected and occasionally dangerous situations. It has been reported to the dealer at least 5 times. The old service mgr refused to deal with it, blaming me. The new service mgr took it in, tested, and 'repaired' it. The frequency of this unpredictable resonse has gone down, but it still happens. It shouldn't be this way. Two notes: My previous car had an almost identical control arrangement, a very good one, so I am familiar with using it to control my speed. And, there is a long response time before the cruise control system responds to almost any 'command'. thhis by itself can be irritating. I don't know I the two are related. Thank you. Jsl.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Bar Harbor , ME, USA