TORRANCE, California — Toyota and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have issued a safety alert over the driver's-side floor mats in some 3.8 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles in the U.S. The automaker says the mat can get stuck on the gas pedal and cause unintended acceleration.
Spokesman Irv Miller of Toyota Motor Sales was quoted as saying that the problem may be the cause of the crash of a 2009 Lexus ES350 in San Diego on August 28 in which four people died. That matter is currently under investigation. For now, Toyota is working out an action plan and advising the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. A recall of the vehicles would be Toyota's largest ever.
In a statement, Toyota said the accelerator pedal can become "stuck in the full open position due to an unsecured or incompatible driver's floor mat." This could "result in very high vehicle speeds and make it difficult to stop the vehicle."
Toyota is asking the owners of the affected models to take out the removable driver's-side floor mat — and not to replace it with another floor mat — until the company "develops a remedy." The models affected are the 2007-10 Camry, 2005-10 Avalon, 2004-09 Prius, 2005-10 Tacoma, 2007-10 Tundra, and the 2007-10 Lexus ES350 and 2006-10 IS250 and IS350.
In September 2007, Toyota recalled the 2007-08 Toyota Camry and Lexus ES350 over the same problem with the models' all-weather floor mats.
Toyota has published a safety advisory statement for owners of the affected models, who can contact customer assistance centers for Toyota (800-331-4331) and Lexus (800-255-3987) or check out the safety advice at www.toyota.com and www.lexus.com.
Inside Line says: If you own one of the affected Toyotas, get that floor mat out of the vehicle pronto — and if you own any vehicle of any brand, a quick safety check of the floor mat might be a good idea. — Laura Sky Brown, Correspondent
Add A Comment »