Complaint 2193841

Complaint Summary

FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING

Owner Narrative

My 2025 Toyota Tacoma engaged the emergency braking/pre-collision system system while my vehicle was going under 10 mph on a steep road in winter conditions. My vehicle was completely under control before the system engaged and there was no risk of a collision with any vehicles in front of me. The emergency braking system engaged and rendered my vehicle completely out of control. I tried desperately to pump the brakes in hopes I could regain control of the vehicle, but the brakes were fully locked. Had the brakes dis-engaged, I could have easily avoided the collision. The car not only did not decelerate, it accelerated down the hill while the brakes were locked for several seconds. My vehicle eventually slid into another vehicle that had been parked on the side of the road. From doing extensive research I believe a perfect storm of events caused this malfunction. Previously on this day, several inches of snow had fallen. The road had not been plowed and cars were parked on the side of the road. There was also a curve in the road near my vehicle's collision where the other vehicle was parked. My windshield was also still defrosting in the uppermost section near the rear view mirror. It is also possible the radar block on the front of the vehicle had snow or ice on it. It was also actively snowing. From what I have read, any of the above factors can cause a malfunction in the emergency braking pre-collision system. I had never been in an accident in over 20 years of driving and my vehicle did the least safe maneuver it could have in the given situation. There is no circumstance where one would purposefully slam the brakes on a snowy/icy down hill road if they know how to drive in the snow (even if you were going under 10mph as I was). At the most basic level of failure, I can't imagine this system should ever engage if going as slow as I was. Also, the system is designed to decelerate (was accelerating) and I was pumping brakes in effort to disengage

Owner-submitted narrative on file with NHTSA. Complaint narratives are self-reported and have not been verified.