2001 toyota highlander purchased new. about once a year it accelerates on its own. reported problem to toyota dealer in 2002 or 2003 - have receipt. we can stop the car with firm pressure on the brake. in most cases when we put the transmission into park the engine continued to race at high rpm. i can't remember all incidents, but believe that in some cases was able to slow the engine down by keeping my foot on the brake and putting the car back into drive. other times i turned off the ignition. when i restart the car it is fine. most recent occurrence was sunday 4/18/2010 in parking lot of a&p on south avenue in clark or westfield, nj. my wife was in the car with me. i had been driving the car for about an hour. the last half hour was on the garden state parkway at 55+ miles per hour. was off the parkway for less than 5 minutes when i made left turn into a&p parking lot and another left in the parking lot. driving less than 15 miles per hour. then was almost stopped as i was about to turn left into parking space. noticed the engine rpm seemed a little higher than normal and i became more cautious and made sure my foot was firmly on the brake pedal. the engine rpm began to increase rapidly. i pressed on the brake pedal as hard as possible and was able to keep the car from moving forward, but the engine would not stop racing. i put the transmission in park and the engine continued to race at full throttle. i turned off the ignition and the engine stopped. restarted the car after a minute and it was fine. don't believe i was pressing on the gas at the same time as the brake because the two pedals are far enough apart that to do so my foot could only be halfway on the brake pedal. in that case when i press hard my ankle starts to twist. i am sure my foot was centered on the brake in this incident because i had time to prepare and it felt firmly in the center. i don't think the gas pedal was stuck because i had been driving very slowly immediately before the incident. *tr
Began to fill the toyota highlander with gas, and noticed gasoline pouring out underneath the vehicle. the dealership informed me the rubber hose which connects the filler nozzle to the gas tank had split. they would have to replace this rubber hose. this seems like a major safety issue, since if a non-moving part can split like this, what could happen in an accident, where stress could be applied that would more easily cause failure and a gas leak. *tr
Wife complained of intermittent gas smell in 2001 toyota highlander,v-6/awd, for 2-3 weeks. i checked it more than once for leaking under hood and under front of engine; could not find source. on 10/27/06 i started car for 2-3 minutes to position in front of garage to install front brake pads. shut off and started to jack when i noticed gas drips on cement, coming from above front differential and dripping down & off still fairly cool exhaust pipe rear bank of v-6 . started engine again, checked for leaks; nothing detected. told my wife it was intermittent, i finally saw leak evidence & for her to take to dealer to find the leak; it was enough to be dangerous. she didn't get in on monday 10/30/06 & was going to drop off on way home 10/31/06 when smell got very bad and it didn't run well. she barely got it to dealer and service writer told her to turn it off immediately when he smelled so much gasoline leakage. dealer found fuel "dampener" leaking & replaced at 52,980 miles. i asked for possession of failed part; damper- p/n 233270-62011. it fits in my closed hand, cost $97 & they said it would take a lot of work to replace. charge was $426.00 but was lowered to $310 when wife reminded them that they better have saved the removed part as i wanted the failed part to examine. with failed part, i checked where it was located and that i could have replaced it myself, without removing anything to get at damper, within 10 minutes. checked for price & availability of part with another local toyota dealer; parts man said "ah, the old gasoline smell in the cabin problem." said he sells them fairly regularly. list was only $80 -$85, i could get over-the-counter for $65 (part probably only $10 to make). may be root-cause of odi #10089800 report of engine catching-on-fire while driving. surprised there haven't been reports of more fires on highlanders and camrys which this engine/drivetrain is common with. actual failure rate & fire risk should be evaluated by toyota. *jb
The consumer struck an unidentified road debris. the fuel tank had to be replaced. *nm *sc