NHTSA complaint #11500052

Owner complaint summary

While driving the Camry at 45 mph among the flow of traffic on a state highway in Florida, out of the blue the vehicle's speedometer on the instrument cluster was replaced with a flashing red box and the brakes applied themselves fully with no command or input given whatsoever. The Camry immediately screeched to a stop in the middle of the road within a couple seconds, causing the vehicle behind me to slam into the Camry at full speed. There were no other vehicles or obstacles ahead of me at all, this fact was also observed by witnesses. The automation had triggered for no apparent reason, overriding my control of the Camry and stopping it in the middle of a major highway, causing the accident. Despite the intensity of the crash, the air bags of the vehicle failed to deploy in the impact, worsening the severity of my injuries. Both the Camry and the other motorist's car were rendered inoperable and totaled in the accident, they had to be towed from the scene. The police ruled the cause of the accident to be vehicular malfunction of the Camry.