Safety issue with the floor mats:

An alert issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration about the potential for floor mats in various late-model Toyota and Lexus vehicles to jam the accelerator open prompted Toyota to place a recall for 3.8 million vehicles. The NHTSA issued the alert following an investigation into the crash of a 2009 Lexus ES350 in San Diego last month, which might have been caused by the floor mat sticking the gas pedal in the open position.
The cars affected by the recall are the 2007-to-2010 Camry, 2005-to-2010 Avalon, 2004-to-2009 Prius, 2005-to-2010 Tacoma, 2007-to-2010 Tundra, 2007-to-2010 Lexus ES350, and 2006-to-2010 Lexus IS250 and IS350.
Toyota advises drivers of vehicles with stuck accelerators to shift into neutral, and then steer to the side of the road. The NHTSA is urging owners of the affected vehicles to remove driver-side floor mats until Toyota effects a solution.

Toyota recalls vehicles over loose floor mats | The Car Tech blog - CNET Reviews


Are we in any better shape? Well, GD owners are, with the way their floor mats are hooked on an anchor that goes into the frame. GE owners aren't, though.



GE Fits have as their anchor a cut in carpet. Sure, the carpet holds now, it's new carpet. But over time, I'm quite sure that the carpet will stretch, pull, wear, tear, and allow the "anchored" floor mat to shift into a possibly dangerous position.



And once that carpet is out of shape, the only solution is to replace the entire carpet. THE ENTIRE CARPET. Just to hold on the little floor mats. The floor mats that were supposed to protect that very carpet from wear and tear.



Please join me in a face palm salute to the Honda engineer who thought the cutting of holes in carpet was a good idea.

 

My wife has an 07 Prius, which is included in the recall. Her floormats have anchors and are nice and snug. We might just wait and see what solution Toyota comes up with before taking it in.

 

Sounds like a problem with unsecured floor mats in general. If accelerator does get stuck, put the car in neutral and then stomp on the brake with both feet. And stay calm...

 

They show an image of a properly installed mat in the first link.

And it's pretty serious. You don't have to take the car IN, you should pull the driver's mat OUT though.

Lots in the news about it.

Toyota recalls 3.8 million vehicles: Mats can cause stuck accelerators | Detroit Free Press | Freep.com

WASHINGTON — Toyota Motor Co. is recalling 3.8 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles over sudden acceleration concerns, telling owners today to immediately remove driver’s side floor mats that can stick under accelerator pedals.

The move is the largest safety-related recall Toyota has ever launched in the United States, and it’s the sixth-largest auto recall ever in the United States.

The recall was spurred by a warning from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration telling drivers of the affected models to not replace the floor mats until Toyota finds a permanent fix.

Since 2004, Toyota owners have reported at least 30 crashes and 20 injuries involving uncontrolled acceleration to federal officials. In several cases, drivers said their vehicle accelerated to more than 100 m.p.h., despite stomping on the brake.

Last month, four people died in a crash near San Diego in a Lexus ES 350 that investigators suspected may have been caused by a stuck floor mat. Local media reported that in a call to 911, passengers reported the vehicle was accelerating out of control.

“This is an urgent matter,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “For everyone’s sake, we strongly urge owners of these vehicles to remove mats or other obstacles that could lead to unintended acceleration.”

The affected models include: 2007-10 Camry, 2005-10 Avalon, 2004-09 Prius, 2005-10 Tacoma, 2007-10 Tundra, 2007-10 Lexus ES 350, and 2006-10 Lexus IS 250 and IS 350.

Toyota’s second floor mat recall

Along with the recall of 3.8 million vehicles, Toyota also warned owners what to do if they think their vehicle is accelerating out of control – a lesson that suggested the seriousness of the problem Toyota faces.

The recall is the second one Toyota has been forced to launch over the issue. The first, in 2007, covered 55,000 Camry and ES 350 models due to complaints of unintended acceleration caused by thick, all-weather floor mats sticking underneath the accelerator pedal.

In several of the original complaints, drivers said the vehicles stopped only after an accident. One driver told the agency the vehicle had hit speeds of 100 m.p.h. over a 6-mile stretch of freeway because of the problem.

At the time, Toyota told safety officials it had identified an optional all-weather floor mat that if not properly secured by clips to the floor could stick under the accelerator pedal. In some cases, Toyota said, owners put the rubber mat over the standard floor mats.

NHTSA said consumers continued to report instances of uncontrolled acceleration in Toyota models following that recall.

On Aug. 28, an off-duty California Highway Patrol officer was driving three family members in a Lexus ES 350 loaned by a San Diego dealership when the car went out of control and over an embankment, catching fire and killing all four passengers. In a 911 call, one of the passengers said the Lexus was speeding at 120 m.p.h., and witnesses said the car’s tires were on fire when it crashed – possibly from the driver slamming on the brakes.

After the accident, Toyota ordered dealers to inspect all floor mats in new models.

Toyota spokesman Irv Miller said the automaker would tell owners to simply remove the driver’s floor mat until Toyota found a permanent fix. If they don’t, and they suspect their vehicle was surging out of control, they should check to see if their floor mat was under the pedal.

If they couldn’t remove it, Toyota told drivers to:

• Step on the brake pedal with both feet until the vehicle slows.

• Try to put the transmission into neutral.

• Switch the ignition to accessory power.

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

 

You can listen to the 911 call, it's a Windows Media file on this news page...any of the voices heard, those were the last words ever heard from the people...I didn't listen...
Fatal Santee Crash Prompts Largest Vehicle Recall in Toyota History - San Diego 6

Well, some of it is one this video news report:
http://www.sandiego6.com/mediacenter...tv.dayport.com

 

Details on why it might be a lot more difficult to stop that car...

The Saylor crash and others like it across the country, they say, point to a troubling possibility: that Toyota's ignition, transmission and braking systems may make it difficult for drivers to combat sudden or unintended accelerations and safely recover, regardless of their cause.
...
If anybody should have known how to stop an out-of-control car, it was Saylor, who was trained in emergency and high-speed driving as a 19-year CHP veteran. But a close look at the Lexus ES 350 raises questions about whether the car's very design may have compromised Saylor's skills.

One obvious line of defense is to simply shut off the engine, a step that may not be intuitive on the ES 350. The car has a push-button start system, activated by the combination of a wireless electronic fob carried by the driver and a button on the dashboard.

But once the vehicle is moving, the engine will not shut off unless the button is held down for a full three seconds -- a period of time in which Saylor's car would have traveled 528 feet. A driver may push the button repeatedly, not knowing it requires a three-second hold.
...
The other common defense tactic advised by experts is to simply shift a runaway vehicle into neutral. But the ES 350 is equipped with an automatic transmission that can mimic manual shifting, and its shift lever on the console has a series of gates and detents that allow a driver to select any of at least four forward gears.

The arrangement of those gear selections could make it difficult to shift from a forward gear directly into neutral in a panic situation, Toyota spokesman Lyons acknowledged.
...
The ES 350 and most other modern vehicles are equipped with power-assisted brakes, which operate by drawing vacuum power from the engine. But when an engine opens to full throttle, the vacuum drops, and after one or two pumps of the brake pedal the power assist feature disappears.

As a result, a driver would have to apply enormous pressure to the brake pedal to stop the car, and if the throttle was wide open might not be able to stop it at all, safety experts say.

--------

Lots more to read in the whole article, which can be found here:
Toyota's runaway-car worries may not stop at floor mats -- latimes.com

For those with the Sport and an Automatic with the Paddle shifters, how easy is it to shift into neutral, if you are using the paddles? Can you?

I have a Base automatic, so I just have the one way to shift.

 

Our office managers Lexus was recalled for this - hope that everyone gets it taken care of so no one else dies.

Cat :x

 

Depending on how far down the accelerator is stuck, if you do manage to get it into neutral and stop, won't the engine blow?

 

It should bounce off the rev limiter which is supposed to prevent that. After reading the other stuff though, who knows.

 

I don't care if the engine blows, so long as the car stops.

It's really terrible that a combination of upscale options -- all weather mats, keyless ignition, and gated automatic transmission -- could combine in this way to cause an accident. The floor mat is of course at the root of this particular tragedy. But the difficulty in shutting off a car with keyless ignition is something that every manufacturer should be taking a long, hard look at. Seems to me that a panic button of some kind is in order, perhaps a keylike switch on the steering column where the ignition key goes on most cars.

 

I saw this on the news the other day. I actually gave up on my Highlander awhile back because of poor service at Toyota dealerships and no need for an SUV. I had my dad take over the SUV and I took over the 1991 Honda Accord. Hopefully he is ok in that vehicle. I gained a Honda out of the deal though so win/win?

 

i actually just received a notice in the mail for my 07 tundra. apparently it's just a "heads up" mail sent out, as they still try to figure out what to do.

 

It seems to me that Toyota's problem has less to do with floor mats and more to do with their electronic throttle controls. That's what we have in our Fits, boys and girls. We all need to know how to respond to an uncontrolled acceleration event.

If it's a manual, step on the clutch.
If it's an automatic, shift to neutral.

Don't worry about overrevving the engine. The rev limiter will keep it under control. What's more important, your life, or your car?

 

I was under the impression it was the mats. Supposedly electronic throttle control (Drive-by-wire) is safer than a conventional cable throttle because there are numerous sensors that have to agree on where the pedal is in order to provide output. That said, everyone needs to be prepared for an uncontrolled acceleration event nonetheless.

EDIT: I remember one FitFreak who complained his pedal got physically stuck, perhaps the 2 springs inside got stuck on eachother or something. He claimed it was not getting caught on the floor mat and that he had to reach down and pull the pedal back with his hand to get it to stop. Just so everybody is prepared.