Driver Mona Braddy said she panicked when she pulled up into her sister’s driveway Monday morning; she was slowing down to park but instead felt her 2008 Land Cruiser accelerate suddenly.
“Terror! I knew that I nearly killed my sister and her husband,” Braddy recalled.
Sister Shelia Hood, who witnessed the incident firsthand, said she was standing at the gate of her pool at the time the vehicle began accelerating.
“My sister drove up and when she was stopping the engine revved up. When I looked up, it looked like she (in the car) was almost flying,” Hood recalled.
Hood watched as her sister sped down the driveway, across the yard, through the garden and into a metal storage shed where the vehicle stopped traveling.
“When I went down to get her out of the car the wheels were spinning fast and I got her to turn the key off,” said Hood.
At the time of the crash, Hood was only a few feet shy of crossing into the vehicle’s path. She said that she normally walks onto the driveway to greet her sister, but didn’t on this day.
Is your Toyota at risk? Call Toyota’s customer line at 1-800-331-4331 for more information.
Here is a list of models involved in the recall:
2009-2010 RAV4
2009-2010 Corolla
2009-2010 Matrix
2005-2010 Avalon
2007-2010 Camry
2010 Highlander
2007-2010 Tundra
2008-2010 Sequoia
“God sent us angels because we are both still here,” Braddy said.
Hood agreed.
The pair shut off the push-button ignition and Braddy climbed out of the vehicle uninjured. She then called her insurance company and a Toyota dealership in Rome to notify them of the problem.
“I had no reason not to feel safe in a Toyota. My daughter and son drove it a few days ago. I’m still traumatized and shocked. We could be planning a funereal,” said Braddy, who continues to have flashbacks of the crash.
Now, Braddy is waiting to hear back from the Toyota headquarters, but wants to caution Toyota owners in the meantime:
“Toyota needs to make this wrong right. I will never drive a Toyota again. Have your car checked out and don’t buy a Toyota,” she said.
Braddy mentioned that the vehicle was purchased new and she has never had any wrecks in it.
A call placed with the Toyota’s customer hotline Wednesday by the Cahoun Times was not returned by press time.
Visit toyota.com/ and click on Toyota Safety to learn more information about the recall models and what to do if the vehicle’s accelerator peddle depresses involuntarily.






Good that no one is hurt.