changed my thermostat last month. my temp gauge also about pegged one morning on the way to work. looked down to see the needle at the red!!! pulled over stopped the car and let it cool for like 5 minutes with motor off and cooling fan on, started the car and drove to first off ramp and into a parking lot.

changed the thermostat in the Target Store lot, you will need a torx bit i think a T40 or T35 i dont remember, a new thermostat and a new gasket if the y have one. I got mine from O'Reilly auto parts like 12.95 but the gasket that came with it was the wrong one of course so i had to use the old gasket.

takes about 10 minutes, only two bolts hold it on. a ratchet with a long extension helps.

my car was fine after i changed the thing out.

O'Reilly had a Fail-Safe thermostat that would fail open not closed, but of course it was special order and not in stock cost like 20.00 but i am sure it would be worth the extra $$

Dan