Toyota Venza Hybrid Incident

Entries in this report are based on unconfirmed allegations. On August 9, 2023, Toyota received an allegation related to this crash from the vehicle owner and mother of the driver who was operating the vehicle during the crash event. On August 10, 2023, through additional contact with the driver of the vehicle, Toyota was notified that the crash resulted in the vehicle being towed from the scene. The contact record indicates that driver alleged the following: the driver alleged that, "the lane assist malfunctioned while cruise control was on." The driver stated he was driving on [XXX] (direction unknown) with the "adaptive cruise control and lane assist turned on". He stated that he, "had two hands on the wheel and had a secure grip, when he saw a light on the dashboard for the lane assist and the vehicle just veered to the left." He, "attempted to correct the direction but ended up fishtailing and losing control, ultimately hitting a cable barrier that was on the left" He stated that the cable barrier protected him from going into oncoming traffic, but it damaged the entire left side and front of the vehicle. He also stated that none of the airbags deployed and he was not injured. The police responded, and he had the car towed from the scene to a body shop. On September 11, 2023 Toyota completed a field report for a vehicle inspection related to the incident, and EDR, Vehicle Control History (VCH), and PCS Freeze Frame Data (PCS FFD) were recovered from the vehicle. The PCS FFD has an approximately 8 second pre-crash data recording. From the PCS FFD, Toyota observed that Lane Trace Assist (LTA) was engaged until approximately 8 seconds before the crash event, and Dynamic Radar Cruise Control (DRCC) was engaged until approximately 2 seconds before the crash event. The LTA (ADAS L2) disengagement was due to lack of driver input. Specifically, the TSS system detected no "driver steering wheel hold" for a certain amount of time, and suspended the operation after multiple driver visual and audible alerts. After the LTA suspension, at approximately 3 seconds prior to the crash event, the driver steered the vehicle left at approximately 27 degrees, veering off the road. The Vehicle Stability Control System activated at approximately 2.5 seconds prior to the crash event, which disengaged DRCC. The police report from the Calhoun County Sheriff's department is 23003098.