A New Recall from Toyota Covers a Floor Mat Linked to a Recent San Diego Accident
A Toyota recall list has been issued to fix Toyota floor mats. The September 2009 Toyota recall also includes 3.8 million vehicles, and encompasses their Lexus brand. According to the Toyota Company’s main press website, the problem with the cars is that the floor mat can become entangled. Toyota Recall September 2009 List Includes 3.8 Million Vehicles with Faulty Floor Mats with the accelerator pedal. In news out of San Diego, it was this reason that led to the crash of a family driving a Lexus where the floor mat snagged the gas pedal and sent it up to 120 miles per hour before the vehicle crashed into an SUV. The mats have been blamed for that accident, and now the Toyota recall could be one of the biggest in automotive history.
According to the Toyota press release on the floor mat recall, “Recent events have prompted Toyota to take a closer look at the potential for an accelerator pedal to get stuck in the full open position due to an unsecured or incompatible driver’s floor mat.” They go on to talk about the dangers of an accelerator pedal being stuck, and that high vehicle speeds can lead to even more dangerous situations. That part is self-explanatory, but leads to their revelation of why the Toyota and Lexus recall has become necessary. They also consider this to be an extremely critical recall, and that anyone with one of the effected vehicles needs to act immediately. The list of affected vehicles is found on page two of this article.
This is a very smart move by Toyota, and one that is probably going to cost them a lot of money in the end. By putting their customer safety ahead of a few extra dollars though, they could be extending a lot of good will to their customer base, and further ensuring that they have repeat consumers using their vehicles. Toyota has also taken steps to educate drivers on what they should do if their car does end up with a stuck accelerator. The most important tip is to press the break pedal and shift the car into neutral, or if it is one of their button-start engines to simply depress the button for a full three seconds to get the engine to turn off. These are both useful steps, and if you wish to read more about the Toyota warnings, I have linked the press release at the end of this article.
Source: AssociatedContent
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Posted: Nov 1st, 2009 at 1:24 am
This is why I really like Toyota. They are not trying to hide things or save a few dollars for the sake of safety. Some companies can take a page out of Toyota’s book and follow their lead.
Posted: Feb 1st, 2010 at 5:11 am
What an odd safety defect! You can’t even trust your floor mats anymore
. Tongue in cheek, I know someone that would like one of these floor mats for everyday use … “I couldn’t help driving at 120mph, officer, it was the floor mat’s fault! See Toyota website for details”