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10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
15 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
27,706 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

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.

2009 Toyota Tacoma engine problems

engine problem

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2009 Toyota Tacoma Owner Comments (Page 3 of 3)

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #17

Dec 202009

Tacoma

  • 7,200 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

We were going to park the Toyota Tacoma truck in our garage and it all of a sudden accelerated, increasing the speed which caused us to hit a tree and the neighbors cement wall.

- Yorba Linda, CA, USA

problem #16

Jan 082010

Tacoma

  • 15,000 miles
While attempting to come to a stop on a highway exit ramp, when I applied firm pressure to the brake about half way down the ramp, the engine accelerated unexpectedly and the rear wheels on my truck began to spin and slip. Although the truck was slowing down it could not come to a complete stop and struck a stopped vehicle at the end of the ramp at slow speed. With extreme pressure on the brake the truck remained stopped but the rear wheels continued to spin at a high rate. I shifted to neutral and turned off the ignition key. The truck is an automatic and was in 2 wheel drive and the auto speed control was not on. I checked the floor mats because I had previously received a safety recall interim notice and had previously made sure the mats were correctly installed. The all weather floor mat was correctly installed and secured to the 2 floor hooks, and was not on the accelerator pedal. When the ignition was turned back on the truck operated normally and has continued to do so, now about 2 weeks.

- Douglas, MA, USA

problem #15

Jan 042010

Tacoma

  • 12,350 miles
Pulling into a parking space at hy-vee grocery store in mount pleasant, ia at a low rate of speed(<5mph) my 09' Toyota Tacoma accelerated into a grocery cart stall. I had applied the brakes with no results and after a one second lull the truck accelerated quickly into the movable obstruction. I have had previous concerns about the rate of acceleration by the amount of pressure applied to the acceleratior. There have been times where light pressure accelerates the car at a faster rate and times where heavier pressure doesn't get enough response in acceleration. Floormats are secured down and no issues have been found by the dealership I had purchased it from.

- Ames, IA, USA

problem #14

Oct 222008

Tacoma

  • 223 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

I notice the brake pedal goes all the way down before the brake feels that is applied. I've taken back to dealership and they found nothing in error. I disagree. I've had several other people drive my car-with the same concern. Brakes don't grab. My brother who is ups head mechanic said the same, a fault with the brake pedal. Shouldn't have to go to the floor before the braking system is applied. Just want you to know there's a problem there. I'm aware of it so I drive with caution. But this needs to be address. Thanks, patti kay. I took back to dealership Oct.22 2008 and they said the cause was from the floor mat---it doesn't matter how many floor mats you have it's in the pedal. Either needs adjusted or new pedal system put in.

- Kingston, NJ, USA

problem #13

Dec 162009

Tacoma

  • 3,850 miles
Five months old 2009 Toyota Tacoma prerunner, V6 5-speed automatic transmission. Had made short trip from home and was returning. Proceeding down slight grade about three blocks from home manually downshifted from drive to 4th. Seeing red signal several blocks ahead downshifted again to 3rd, then 2nd, slowing enough so as to have green light at intersection. Made braking right turn at intersection, aware from experience that I would now have red light at next intersection and would have to stop. Again slight downgrade after making turn. Truck required more than normal braking to slow properly after turn, finally used both feet to apply maximum brake pressure. Truck stopped, but after stopping engine surged repeatedly, causing rear wheels to intermittently spin uncontrollably on damp pavement. Only front wheel brakes were holding truck from crashing into another vehicle. Managed to shift into park and shut off engine. When restarted, operation was normal. Floor mats not involved! engine was repeatedly surging and returning to normal RPM. Both feet were on brake pedal and not on accelerator. Odometer: 3850. Conditions: Night, headlights on, heater blower on, A/C off, radio off. Due to shortness of trip engine was most likely not fully warmed up to normal operating temperature. After arriving home took truck out for another short trip over same route. Unable to replicate situation. As retired electronics technician understand how difficult this type of intermittent issue is for Toyota to replicate or confirm, but it is happening, and it is a major safety issue, NHTSA. And it is a lot more than "floor mats". floor mats might occasionally catch an accelerator pedal, but they don't make an engine repeatedly surge. Been driving 50 years... know it when I see it.

- San Francisco, CA, USA

problem #12

Dec 032009

Tacoma 4WD 6-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 8,636 miles
The contact owns a 2009 Toyota Tacoma. The contact attempted to shift gear into neutral and the rpms suddenly increased to 4500. The vehicle is currently being diagnosed by the dealer and there were no prior warnings. The current and failure mileages were 8636. Updated 1/4/10 the consumer stated he had the truck running in park while he retrieved his mail. When he returned to the truck, he put his foot on the brake pedal and proceeded to move the shift lever from park to drive in a downward motion. As soon as the shift lever entered neutral the motor began to race from 4,500 to 5,00 RPM's. there was nothing obstructing the accelerator pedal and the consumer quickly turned off the ignition. Updated 01/06/10. See alos ODI 10325627 and 10367974.

- Gainesville, GA, USA

problem #11

Nov 172009

Tacoma

  • 5,200 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

While shifting my 2009 Toyota Tacoma from park into drive there was a brief sudden acceleration which required me to apply maximum brake pressure to keep the truck from moving forward. This incident occurred in a school parking lot and there were other vehicles in front of me.

- Folsom, CA, USA

problem #10

Jun 182009

Tacoma

  • 200 miles
While in cruise at 70mph on interstate highway, vehicle shifts down from drive to second. Thus redlining the engine.brought this to the attention of Toyota and their answer was, "vehicle is operating properly and is doing what it is designed to do". so they are telling me that they have designed a vehicle that is designed to shift down to second, not third at 70mph.

- Manhattan, KS, USA

problem #9

Nov 032009

Tacoma

  • 7,000 miles
On Tuesday, November 3, 2009, I was coming out of a stop light and the throttle went to full open and stuck. (2009 Tacoma - just a year old) I am a conservative driver and do not gun the engine. I was pulling into the intersection gradually and hadn't even let the clutch out all the way yet to shift out of first when the throttle when to full. (thank goodness I have a standard!) I babied the clutch to give me just enough gas to move through the intersection and stop on the other side. I turned off the truck and when I turned it back on, it was fine. The engine smelled awful! I checked the floor mat when I stopped because I know it can cause problems and I had a non-conforming mat, so I keep an eye on it, but the mat wasn't the problem. Also, I never had the accelerator down very far at all when the throttle opened up, so I don't see how the mat could cause the throttle to open full, stick yes, but open full by itself? I drove it the rest of the way to work (less than 2 miles) and the smell blew away and all seemed ok. I had it in the shop today and they could find nothing wrong and told me to remove the mats. Fine, I can do that, but meanwhile it makes me nervous that it could happen again. The service department representative agreed with me that he didn't see how the mats could have caused the problem I did not know about this being a general problem and in the news right now (I don't watch tv and if I miss the npr story or it isn't front page, I may not hear things). When I found out others were having the problem, I thought I should write about mine.

- Sudbury, MA, USA

problem #8

Nov 022009

Tacoma

  • 6,680 miles
The contact owns a 2009 Toyota Tacoma. While driving 40 mph the consumer accelerated the vehicle and accelerator pedal became stuck. The vehicle was shifted into neutral, but the engine revved so he shifted it back into drive. Recalling recent news broadcasts he then pulled the floor mat away from the pedals, and then the vehicle returned to a normal state. A technician from the dealer stated that the floor mats were not hooked onto the clips. The floor mats are original equipment all weather mats. The current mileage was 6700. The failure mileage was 6680.

- Wheaton, IL, USA

problem #7

Nov 022009

Tacoma

  • 23,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The contact owns a 2009 Toyota Tacoma doublecab lg bd. While driving 55 mph the vehicle began accelerating without intention. He had to exert great force to remove the floor-mat, because it was stuck under the accelerator pedal. He was able to regain vehicle control. The failure and current mileages were 23,000.

- Whittier , NC, USA

problem #6

Jul 152009

Tacoma 6-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 2,000 miles
2009 Toyota Tacoma 4X4 crew pickup truck with auto transmission and V6 engine accelerated unexpectedly to over 80 mph, then later on the same trip it happened again. I was on a long straight stretch of interstate the second time so I allowed the truck to accelerate to approximately 95 mph at which time I stopped the truck again. The first time it happened, I had disengaged the cruise control due to a slower car in front of me and when I engaged the cruise control resume feature the truck accelerated 15 mph past the preset speed at which time I turned off the cruise control and regained control of the truck. The second time that it happened the truck was again in cruise control mode and was going up a long hill. When the cruise control shifted the transmission down and accelerated to maintain set speed the truck continued to accelerate past 95 mph and was only stopped by turning off the cruise control again. I allowed the truck to get to that speed to see if it would discontinue accelerating but chickened out at 95 mph because it is after all a truck. I took the truck to the selling dealer, he tried to make it happen again with no success (told me he would have to replace the cruise control unit but could not do that unless he could duplicate the problem because it is a very expensive change out) and it has not happened but one more time. 4 things seem to be common: 1. the cruise is turned on. 2. the vehicle is accelerating when the problem starts. 3. the transmission has automatically downshifted. 4. the problem is halted by turning off the cruise control. I had the dealer document the problem since he would not fix it. I hope this info helps in your continuing investigation of the problems that Toyota seems to be having. I am not a disgruntled customer, I have purchased a 2010 corolla from the same dealer since the incidents.

- Bloomingdale, GA, USA

problem #5

Oct 162009

Tacoma

  • 1,500 miles
I was on my way to work in my new (3 months old) 2009 Toyota Tacoma. I was about one block from home when I was approaching a red light. As I was braking for the red light and the engine suddenly sped up on it's own. I had to press down very hard on the brakes to stop the car, but wheels were still spinning cause the brakes to smoke. (I could see the smoke in my rear view mirror. I had to put the car in park to completely stop the forward movement of the car. The engine continued to run at very high RPM. I then shut the vehicle off. I started the car again in park, the engine again raced up much higher than normal. I shut the car off again and restarted and every thing was normal. I had the car towed to the Toyota dealer as I felt it was unsafe to drive. Prior it being towed I checked the gas pedal and their were no obstructions around it. The dealer could not find any fault codes or sticking linkage etc. They also took it for a test drive. The service manager suggested I accidentally put my foot on the gas instead of the brake, which I truly believe is not the case here. I saw other reports on the internet similar to this for the Tacoma so I felt compelled to notify you. Kindly request that you look into this matter as someone could eventually get seriously hurt or killed. Note: I was not using cruise control at the time of the incident. See also 10329722

- Huntingdon Valley, PA, USA

problem #4

Aug 192009

Tacoma

  • 3,100 miles
The contact owns a 2009 Toyota Tacoma. The contact stated that while driving 65 mph, the vehicle accelerated to 95 mph without intention. He had to shift the vehicle into neutral to decelerate. He then restarted the vehicle and resumed normal operation.the vehicle was taken to a dealer for inspection. A technician speculated that the cause of the failure was either a computerized system reset or a floor mat interference. The vehicle was returned to the dealer. The failure and current mileages were 3,100. The vehicle identification number was unavailable.

- Springfield, MA, USA

problem #3

May 232009

Tacoma

  • 243 miles
My husband and I purchase a Toyota Tacoma double cab 4X4 2009, on Friday May 22, 2009, and we are having problems with the transmission and the radio. When we are slowing down to turn on a curve and when we depress the accelerator the transmission downshifts into what appears to be the 1st gear. The engine will race up to a higher rmp as the car suddenly slows down. This is definitely a safety hazard. This possess a possibility of an accident as our vehicle now slows down quickly as we are coming out of the curve, light intersection or entering into an intersection. This has been occurring since we purchased both vehicle. We took it to the dealer to be checked, but cannot see anything wrong with it. They told me they can't do anything to correct the issue.(Toyota of St. Croix, us virgin islands). Radio has been ordered because in both vehicles the radio doesn't work. It shuts off, and in the other one when you accelerate (gas pedal) the volume goes down and sometimes up. What can you do to assist us. Thank you.

- Kingshill, VI, USA

problem #2

Apr 292009

Tacoma

  • 2,640 miles
I was dring 40mph and the throttle/accelerator got stuck as I tried to pass another car. I had to slam on the brakes as I almost crashed against another vheicle. Even then, the truck continued until I slammed on the brakes a second time and shifted the gear into parking in the middle of the street.

- Homestead, FL, USA

problem #1

Jan 142009

Tacoma

  • 2,900 miles
While braking at intersection, truck accelerated striking vehicle in front, causing that vehicle to strike car in front of them. Foot was on the brake.

- Limington, ME, USA

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