REVscene Automotive Forum - Toyota Floor Mat Kills........

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Toyota Floor Mat Kills........

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Toyota...15e42&ccode=rd

Quote:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The 911 call was from a frantic passenger, trapped with family members in a runaway vehicle barreling down a California highway with a stuck accelerator and no brakes.

AP - FILE - In this Aug. 16, 2009 file photo, the company logo shines off the nose of an ...
The call ended with someone telling people in the car to hold on and pray, followed by a woman's scream.

The high-speed crash near San Diego in August, involving an out-of-control Lexus ES 350 that killed four members of a family, led Toyota Motor Corp. on Tuesday to issue its largest-ever U.S. recall, involving 3.8 million vehicles.

The recall is intended to address problems with a removable floor mat that could cause accelerators to get stuck and lead to a crash.

Toyota and the government warned owners Tuesday to remove the mats from their vehicles until the Japanese automaker could find a way to fix the potential safety hazard. The recall will involve popular models such as the Toyota Camry, the top-selling passenger car in America, and the Toyota Prius, the best-selling gas-electric hybrid.

Toyota said it was still working with officials with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to find a remedy and said owners could be notified about the recall as early as next week. Toyota spokesman Irv Miller said until the company finds a fix, owners should simply take out the removable floor mat on the driver's side and not replace it.

"A stuck open accelerator pedal may result in very high vehicle speeds and make it difficult to stop a vehicle, which could cause a crash, serious injury or death," Miller said.

The recall will affect 2007-10 model year Toyota Camry, 2005-10 Toyota Avalon, 2004-09 Toyota Prius, 2005-10 Toyota Tacoma, 2007-10 Toyota Tundra, 2007-10 Lexus ES 350 and 2006-10 Lexus IS 250 and IS 350 vehicles.

Toyota's previously largest U.S. recall was about 900,000 vehicles in 2005 to fix a steering issue. The company declined to say how many complaints it had received about the accelerator issue.

NHTSA said it had received reports of 102 incidents in which the accelerator may have become stuck on the Toyota vehicles involved. It was unclear how many led to crashes.

"This is an urgent matter," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement. "For everyone's sake, we strongly urge owners of these vehicles to remove mats or other obstacles that could lead to unintended acceleration."

Toyota warned owners that if they think their vehicle is accelerating out of control, they should check to see whether their floor mat is under the pedal. If a driver can't remove the floor mat, Toyota advises drivers to step on the brake pedal with both feet until the vehicle slows and then try to put it into neutral and switch the ignition to accessory power.

For vehicles with engine start/stop buttons, Toyota said the engine can be shut off by holding the button down for three seconds.

In the August incident in Santee, Calif., the fiery crash of the Lexus killed California Highway Patrol Officer Mark Saylor, 45, and three family members on State Route 125. The vehicle was traveling at more than 120 mph when it launched off an embankment, rolled several times and burst into flames.

NHTSA investigators determined that a rubber all-weather floor mat found in the wreckage was slightly longer than the mat that belonged in the vehicle, something that could have snared or covered the accelerator pedal.

Toyota spokesman John Hanson said the final report had not yet been submitted in the California case.

"We don't know what the actual cause was of that accident other than preliminary reports that have been published so it's impossible for us to comment on that particular incident," Hanson said.

In mid-September, Toyota ordered 1,400 Toyota and Lexus dealers nationwide to ensure that each new, used and loaner vehicle had the proper floor mats and that the mats were properly secured.

In September 2007, Toyota recalled an accessory all-weather floor mat sold for use in some 2007 and 2008 model year Lexus ES 350 and Toyota Camry vehicles because of similar problems.

WTF? :eek:

this happens in every car, the floor mat slides everywhere. just pull it back in place!

um

I'm not sure about every one else, by with my cars it has this hook so it wont slide anywhere....

even those all weather thick plastic mats?

Toyota is doing a recall on those OEM floormats if I'm correct.

That was the cause of that accident? Are you fucking kidding me? Pull the goddamn pedal back out with your foot if it gets caught on your floor mat! I had that happen in one of my old RX7s; popped it into neutral as the RPMs shot up and kicked the pedal a couple times and it came loose.

Just pay attention while driving, pull it back if nescessary. Hard to believe they blame the floor mat lol.Sounds like an excuse.

wow after 102 incidents it finally gets a response from Toyota... i guess it finally crossed that barrier where recalls are gonna be cheaper than lawsuits...

like aznboi said, these cars should have a hook where the carpet attaches so it doesnt slide forward... they cant even engineer that?

Stepping on the brakes work too, flipping the gear lever into neutral works too, turning the engine off works too, pulling the e brake works too. There are many many ways that the driver of the Lexus can stop/slow down the car.

That's just sad they didn't know how to solve that. Geez. =_=

^Darwinism at it's finest. RIP to the rest of the family though.

Friend had something similar happen in his exploder. just stomped on the brake and everything was fine (with the exception of my roommate swearing up a storm at him in the backseat lol!)

yeah my floor mat had a clip on the drivers side too but it snapped so fast, damn thing slides around everywhere, gets caught behind the brake pedal... i should probably just throw it out.. but i cant imagine it being a problem

Acura came with factor front floor mat hooks. can't believe lexus didn't follow suit

Quote:

Originally Posted by SolidPenguin (Post 6614896)

Apparently the brakes didn't work... I mean, there's no way he wouldn't have tried applying the brakes. But... despite that, there should still have been a lot of other things he could have done... shifted it into neutral... or downshifted to fry the engine... pull the parking brake... start scraping the side barriers... anything would be better than driving 120MPH blindly through an intersection.

Oh... and here is the phone conversation between the guy and the police:

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f8b_1254173935

^
:facepalm:

they have enough time to call the cops, but no time to shut down the ignition and hit the footbrake

Wow, what a bunch of stupid comments from a bunch of fucking idiots.

- It was a passenger in the vehicle who called 911, not the driver, so saying shit like "he had time to call the cops but not enough to stop the vehicle" are ridiculous.
- He had his foot on the brakes. Witnesses reported seeing fire and flames coming from the wheels as the Lexus sped by. The brakes were on, and were overheated and no longer working.
- The driver is a veteran CHP officer, who coincidentally, works in the safety and inspection division. You think he might be smart enough to step on the brakes, put it into neutral, turn off the key? Or possibly he's even worked on vehicles investigating similar types of accidents? Or that he likely has mechanical training as well to perform his job (which obviously requires working on vehicles)?
- The driver personally owns pretty much the same vehicle. His was being serviced and this was a loaner. So it's not like he didn't know how the controls worked.
- He avoided numerous cars on the highway while doing over 100 MPH. He only clipped (minor) one other vehicle. Obviously he has some driving skills.
- The accident only happened after they ran out of freeway.
- Toyota is blaming the floormat, but the investigation isn't finished. Since he didn't put the car in neutral (obvious first choice) and didn't shut the engine off, then it's very reasonable to assume maybe there was another fault (big lawsuit coming, I bet).
- This model of vehicle has a much higher than average number of cases of this type of problem. So there's clearly a fault with the vehicle, not the drivers.

mine seems to be fine

That sucks, rest in peace.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ericthehalfbee (Post 6615034)

Wow, what a bunch of stupid comments from a bunch of fucking idiots.

Since he didn't put the car in neutral (obvious first choice) and didn't shut the engine off, then it's very reasonable to assume maybe there was another fault (big lawsuit coming, I bet).
- This model of vehicle has a much higher than average number of cases of this type of problem. So there's clearly a fault with the vehicle, not the drivers.

:facepalm:

this is you

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Ey5Y90cv_L...per-retard.JPG

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drift_Monkey (Post 6614939)

Acura came with factor front floor mat hooks. can't believe lexus didn't follow suit

Lexus does have hooks that hold the driver floor mats in place. My IS300 has it.

Quote:

NHTSA investigators determined that a rubber all-weather floor mat found in the wreckage was slightly longer than the mat that belonged in the vehicle, something that could have snared or covered the accelerator pedal.

Am I the only one that picked up on this?

Toyota's floor mat DID NOT kill. Some improperly fitting aftermarket mat did.

This is old news, the Ford mustang had this problem many years ago and had a recall on it.

Yep, my IS250 has the hooks. It's just people lack common sense and stack the carpet floor mats on top of the rubber mats and they aren't hooked in. The mat slides forward over time and the mat catches on the bottom edge of the pedal. causing the pedal to get stuck. What you're suppose to do is press hard on the brakes with both feet and then hold the push button down for a few seconds to turn off the engine.

The car was a loaner, so the car got washed by the dealer and the person washing it forgot to hook the mats back in. This can happen with any car if you don't use the hooks. It's just the accident with the CHP cop was prominent enough to cause a "recall"

aftermarket floormats did it yo

and what happened to putting the car in NEUTRAL. stupid.
RIP.