Which parts fail
Components named in complaints (accelerator pedal, throttle, sudden acceleration, cruise control).
Mileage when the problem started
Owner reports
Selected complaints filed with NHTSA by 2017 Toyota Corolla owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).
The contact owns a 2017 Toyota Corolla. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the engine revved and the vehicle experienced unintended acceleration. The vehicle crashed into a concrete barrier while turning into a parking space. The contact was not able to depress the brake pedal in time to stop the vehicle. No air bags were deployed. No injury was sustained and no medical attention was received. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to a body shop; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The vehicle was not deemed totaled by the insurance company. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 55,000.
Vehicle went out of control in regards of speed when traveling downhill with cruise control on. Vehicle began heavily decelerating and accelerating along with high engine rpm. This is extremely dangerous and I am unable to use cruise control because of it.
Recently purchased a used 2017 Toyota Corolla. During the test drive I did not attempt to use the cruise control as it was only driven on city or small highways. Travel with the car at those locations has been good. Yesterday while on a freeway, I used the cruise control. It started out okay, but when I got to a downhill or uphill location, the car engine got very loud. The rpm's revved to an extremely high level and the car accelerated and kept accelerating beyond the cruise set speed. I became very scared and didn't know what was happening. Luckily I had quick thinking to hit the brakes immediately. I actually pulled over and stopped due to the issue and my nerves. The engine looked okay so once calmed, I began traveling again. I wanted to use the cruise on the freeway, so attempted a second time later. The same exact thing happened in the uphill / downhill scenario. …
On 3/22/17 I was driving an enterprise rental car into an apartment complex and pulled in front of the leasing office to park. While stepping on the brake pedal the car did not stop and it suddenly accelerated causing the car to crash into the pillars of the leasing office with force. Airbags deployed and my passenger and I had to crawl out of the rear passenger door to escape the vehicle. We are lucky to be alive and escape with minor injuries. There are drag skid marks on the ground from the rear wheels. Upon collision the engine shut off even though the key was in the run position..
My car was struck by a car spinning out of control mainly the drivers side door center post and rear door. I think the car is totaled. The passenger rear wheel is bent from the impact. None of the air bags deployed. The police officers that worked the accident was astonished. He said they should have deployed. My car was moving about 15mph the car that hit mine was spinning very fast. The roads were slick and it was raining. The impact was about 40 to 60mph at least.
The vehicle was traveling in the left lane of a divided 4 lane highway at a speed of 55 MPH with the speed control and radar engaged. The road curved slightly to the right. The vehicle approached a car stopped in the left turn lane in the median - not it the lane of travel. Due to the curvature of the road, the radar detected the stopped vehicle and apparently believed it to be in the path of travel. The radar/speed control sounded its "collision alarm" and rapidly decelerated approximately 10 - 15 MPH before I could disengage it and regain control. Had there been a vehicle following me this could have resulted in a collision as a following driver would have seen that the lane of travel was clear and would have no reason to expect my vehicle to suddenly decelerate. I have experienced similar issues when a vehicle in front of me turns right or left at an intersection. …
I just purchased a 2017 Corolla xse in feb 2017. The first time it happened I had the cruise control on and was traveling to work at 05:15, and I came to an overpass and on the way down the normal overpass over a cross street, I heard the engine rev and I looked at the tach, and it was at 5000 RPM. I was startled. The same thing happened at the next overpass. This time it was 4000 RPM almost at the bottom of this rather short average downhill. This is still happening, but occasionally it does not. How could this possibly be correct. I can control the speed quite nicely with my foot on the accelerator without hardly any variation of my RPM's. This just doesn't make sense. I am not talking about a long downhill road that has a lane for trucks on the right, where they would have to downshift to maintain a safe speed, this is just overpasses on a freeway system. …
While using cruise control on fairly level roadway, (rural road) at a speed of 45 MPH, the RPM were about 1500, but increased suddenly to about 4500 RPM. After awhile the RPM would drop back down to normal for the speed situation. This occurs also at highway speed of 60 MPH in our area. This occurrence has happened many times. Have returned to dealer twice now. Problem was observed by service manager and local Toyota rep who was in town for local auto show. Car was analyzed and data send to engineer in california who later said car is behaving normal. I found that hard to believe as both loaner cars (2017 Corolla) did not behave in this dangerous fashion. I feel this quick brush off by the engineer (tanaka) who is only observing data and not having to drive this car is wrong. I feel the computer should be adjusted for the CVT to solve this problem. …
Adaptive cruise control causes the car to down-shift unnecessarily on a straight downhill grade and sometimes increases the speed by as much as 8-10 MPH. I feel out of control, which is dangerous. A Toyota technician has confirmed the same behavior on another 2017 Corolla. On one occasion, on a freeway downhill where the speed could have easily been controlled by letting off the gas, the car downshifted to d3, revs went to about 4000, and the speed increased to 70mph - when it was set to about 62. On another occasion, on a relatively flat, straight freeway road, it again downshifted for no apparent reason, and the speed again increased over the set speed (of course the revs were higher again). In both of the above cases, there was no car or other obstacle in front of me that should cause the car to slow down. …
The cruise control is just awful and has been since I bought the car brand new in December 2016. Just as several others have described, it cannot control the speed when going down hill. It raises the RPM's trying to slow the car down, but it isn't very effective. I've never had another car or another Toyota have such poor speed control. So much, that I don't even bother trying to use it anymore. A cop isn't going to listen to "my cruise control wasn't working right" if I get pulled over. The brakes already feel like they are wearing out at 26K miles. My 13 camry had 30K and the brakes still felt brand new. Same with the 15 sentra I had. The suspension feels rougher and is starting to make noises already. This car shouldn't feel like it has 60K miles on it already.
Acceleration complaints in other Corolla years
Frequently asked questions
How common are acceleration problems on the 2017 Toyota Corolla?
NHTSA has 29 complaints about the speed control & acceleration of the 2017 Toyota Corolla, 16% of the model year's 178 complaints. The component named most often is accelerator pedal (1 mentions).
Is there a recall for 2017 Toyota Corolla acceleration problems?
No. NHTSA lists no speed control & acceleration recall for the 2017 Toyota Corolla, though it has 3 recalls for other components. If the problem is widespread, a repair may still be covered by an extended warranty or a manufacturer service bulletin — ask a dealer.
At what mileage do 2017 Toyota Corolla acceleration problems start?
Half of the complaints with a recorded mileage happened before about 4,000 miles, and 65% before 25,000 miles.
Is it dangerous?
Owners linked 3 crashes, 0 fires and 3 injuries to speed control & acceleration problems on this model year. If you notice symptoms, have the car checked before driving further.
Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) — owner complaints through October 20, 2026, recalls and defect investigations; fuel economy from the EPA. Complaints are unverified reports and are not proof of a defect. How we rate model years.