On (or about) the last week of may 2015, i had my auto serviced at the dealship. i was advised that the 'throttle body' needed 'cleaning' and this was done by the dealership at that time. on june 4, 2015, i was backing into a parking spot on a parking lot, wiith the car 'coasting' back and my foot on the brake. about half way into the 'spot' the car engine suddely accellerated and i had to use extreme pressure on the brake pedal to obtain a 'minimum' of slowing. the car only came to a stop when the rear tires, made contact with an 'in-place' cement parking barrier and the engine acceleration only ceased when i put the car in 'park' gear. it has not occured since, nor has it ever occured while driving forward. i am a retired police officer with years of training in driving and driver safety, and am certain of this action ocurring as i have described.
My highlander was at the airport for three days parked. when i was leaving the lot i was driving slow in the lot to pay my parking. when i got out of the lot to main stream traffic i tried to accelerate and the car would only go slow as i kept pushing the throttle. there were cars on both sides of me with no one in front and then the car just took off. it did startle me because i was not expecting this. thank god no one was in front of me because i am sure i would not have reacted fast enough to stop because of the rapid acceleration. something is wrong with the throttle in these vehicles. i did not take it in because i am sure they would not have been able to reproduce the problem. this has only happen once and i hope it doesn't happen again. *tr