2023 Toyota BZ4X

I am writing to register our complaint and urgently request your support in resolving a serious health issue related to what we believe is a factory defect with the Toyota BZ4. Timeline of events: In April 2023, I purchased a brand new BZ4 from the Downtown Oakland Toyota dealership. In July 2024, I noticed a foul smell in the car coming from the air conditioning vents. The car was difficult to drive in due to the severity of the smell. On September 11, 2024, we took the BZ4 to the dealer for maintenance and asked for them to look into the foul smell. The dealer reported they were unable to find the cause of the odor. They offered us a car fragrance. The odor continued to be overwhelming in nature. On [XXX] we inspected the car and removed the floor mats. We discovered the undersides of both left and right front floor mats were covered in mold. The floor carpets were soaking wet with water. Both the mats and carpets smelled very badly. On October 31, 2024, we filed a customer service complaint with Toyota. On November 1, 2024, Daniel at Downtown Oakland Toyota responded that the dealer had found a spider web which had blocked the tube, causing the air conditioning system to be blocked. This caused the blocking of the HVAC tube and the water to pool and mold. I am concerned for several reasons: Toyota sold me a car which, according to them, can have one of its major operating systems (HVAC) taken down by a mere spider web. This is irresponsible and negligent design and the company should be liable for the defect in manufacturing. The car is less than two years old, was purchased new and has been driven for just 11,000 miles and is well within the warranty period. It’s shocking to us that Toyota has refused to repair this defect which we believe to be their responsibility as it falls under a design flaw. A safely designed HVAC system should be able to resist the presence of a tiny spider. The Toyota service staff should be made aware of this defect INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATI

I submitted this form earlier, but I’m unsure whether it went through. If this is a duplicate, please disregard. An incident of sudden, unintended acceleration occurred while pulling into a gravel parking area on a hillside at dusk. While turning, the vehicle suddenly lunged forward and struck a tree stump. It would have been avoided without the sudden acceleration. The driver slammed on the brakes, and the vehicle came to rest right at the edge of a downward slope. Five seconds earlier, and a family member, who had come out of the house to show where he wanted the car parked, could have been killed, or seriously injured. The car was towed to Toyota Of Erie, where it was inspected by a corporate inspector. It remains there until a decision is made. The adaptive cruise control, which was used on the trip, had been canceled, and the brakes were used several times after exiting the freeway. There was apparently no warning from the front camera and the collision avoidance system about the tree stump, though the driver had seen it prior to making the turn. The incident happened very quickly, but there was no noticeable red warning flashing on the screen. This time there is only damage to a car fender, and a tree stump. What about next time? Suppose the vehicle is slowing into a parking space, there is a child exiting nearby van and the car suddenly accelerates? No thanks!!! This problem needs to be solved! The floor mats in the BZ 4X are secured to the floor so they are not an issue. The driver of the vehicle can play an instrument with foot pedals and is therefore very aware of foot placement-so operator error is not the problem. Perhaps there is just too much autonomous driving technology and software layered over the basic EV platform. Can’t we just have the choice of a basic EV until these other problems are worked out? I signed up to be a pioneer in the adoption of electric vehicles, but not a guinea pig for autonomous driving.