Filed under: Sedan, Safety, Toyota

Paul Vanalfen's crashed Toyota Camry - Click above for high-res image gallery​

A new incident involving a 2008 Toyota Camry is raising concerns about unintended acceleration once again. On November 5, 66-year-old Paul Vanalfen was exiting Interstate 80 in Utah when his vehicle drove through a stop sign and struck a rock embankment, killing Vanalfen and his son's 38 year-old fiance Charlene Lloyd at the same time. Vanalfen's son and wife were also injured in the accident. Early reports indicate that the Camry may have continued to accelerate, even as Vanalfen did his best to stop the vehicle. Skid marks at the scene indicate that this isn't a case of pedal misapplication, leaving investigators to conclude that a malfunction may have caused the incident.

Vanalfen's Camry was the subject of a total of three recalls, and at this point, it's unclear whether or not the Toyota had undergone the repairs.

Toyota, meanwhile, says that it's too early to draw any conclusions about the cause of the incident, and that it's assisting Utah Highway Patrol investigators any way it can. Click past the jump to read the company's statement.


Gallery: Paul Vanalfen's crashed Toyota Camry



[Sources: AP via MSNBC, Toyota | Image: AP/Utah Highway Patrol]Continue reading Camry crash in Utah puts attention back on Toyota recalls

Camry crash in Utah puts attention back on Toyota recalls originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 16 Nov 2010 16:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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that sucks, shoulda popped her out of gear...

 

really? facepalm

 

well skid marks to me means that the tires locked ( or abs went off ) and had to slow the vehicle. maybe he was speeding off the exit then realized there was a stop and slid through it...

gonna be interesting when they release a statement

lol double facepalm

 

I don't get why they don't pop it outta gear into neutral an let the motor rev high an put on the brakes.

 

cause 1. people arent smart enough... this has probably happened 10 times more then we know about but it doesnt make good stories so we dont hear them..

2.. a lot of people freak out and dont think what they should be doing...

 

I asked my wife what would she do if her car did that, she didn't know what to do. So its good I asked her.

 

^ i love you man



no homo

 

I asked my misses earlier this year what she would do. She said put it in neutral; she then reminded me that she experienced unintended acceleration on a POS Chrysler New Yorker we owned and that was what she did.

 

My other concern with new incident is if the Camry was part of the recall and Toyota tried contacting this owner and he ignored it, wouldn't he be at fault? This recall as been out for over a year now, hasn't it? You would think this person would've known something about it.

 

"66-year-old " old dude prob never even thought of it.