YIKES!! Toyota has Warned Me to Remove My Driver's Side Floor Mat !! ???

[Dragon]

Can't shift into neutral if the box of donuts is between the dash and the shifter.  It's not Toyota's fault, it's Dunkin's.

[CAP1]

Toyota has issued a massive recall of their vehicles, saying that the Driver side Floor Mat can interfere with the gas pedal, and cause it to become stuck.   So far, 17 people have been injured, and 5 have died in accidents caused by this issue.  In one incident, it caused the death of an off-duty California Highway Patrolman, and 3 of this family members.   

My Toyota is among the 3.8 million vehicles affected by this recall.   

Is this really that dangerous a situation?   Apparently only a small percentage of vehicles have actually experienced the problem.  Do I truly have to throw my floor mat out?   Should I be compensated for having to do that?

What would you do in my situation?   

See these news reports:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hZvV139ZG8HMy2b8l0L_JuLErTZQD9B1T9J00

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local-beat/Car-Recall-Too-Late-for-Some-62985327.html


--

take it out.


chances are that yours will not do anything wrong. what happens, is that floormats can, and often do slip. sometimes they curl down from one of the upper corners.
 often, when things shift like that, they can jam the accelerator pedal, causing uncontrolled acceleration, or lack of ability to stop or slow down.
 if this happens, you can also lose your brakes, as their power assist comes from engine vacuum. when the throttle is opened, there is no engine vacuum, thus no power assist to the brakes.

 i don't like them, and don't have them in my cars for a number of reasons, including the above.

 when toyota, or other manufacturers do these recalls, they "shotgun" it. any vehicle at all that has a remote chance of the problem will be included in said recall.

 the safest/smartest thing you can do, is to get it to your local toyota dealer. better safe rather than sorry.

[CAP1]

There was at least one fatal accident with multiple deaths. The mat was the source of locking the throttle down. Why the driver simply didn't shift into neutral no one will ever know. A floor mat is not a necessary part of the car. Deal with it.

because they were "out of their element" once that happened.

they got caught off guard, froze up, and as you well know, that 1 or 2 seconds, is life or death.

[CAP1]

Too bad clueless drivers can't be recalled.

yaknow......as much as we argue on here.....i HATE to admit this......but living in new jersey, i find myself agreeing with the above. 

[CAP1]

velcro won't work.

most factory floor mats generally have some sort of hook arrangement to hold them in place.

[CAP1]

I find it difficult to believe that a California Highway Patrolman had such a simple problem and didn't just shift into neutral.  Either the problem is more complicated than described or......well, I really thought American police officers tended to be capable and professional people, unlike the complete cretins, morons and double figure IQ'd British police officers we get over here.

some are. you want to see the epitome of professional police officers in the us, come to somerdale nj. or stratford, or laurel springs.

they're kids. kids with blue and red undies and a big "S".

seriously, police are still human. it's a situation that they've never trained for, so they're likely to panic, just as any other human would.

[Mickey1992]

I find it difficult to believe that a California Highway Patrolman had such a simple problem and didn't just shift into neutral.  Either the problem is more complicated than described or......well, I really thought American police officers tended to be capable and professional people, unlike the complete cretins, morons and double figure IQ'd British police officers we get over here.

The Lexus the officer was driving was a loaner.  I have not been able to find information regarding how long he had been in possession of the car.  It was an ES350.  They all have the "Start/Stop" button and do not have a keyed ignition.  To stop the car while the engine is running and the car is in gear, you have to press the start/stop button and hold it down for 5 seconds.  Very few owners know this, and I can't imagine anyone driving a loaner would know it.

The gear shift is one of the automatics with a "+" and "-" for up/downshifting.  If someone was not familiar with the gearshift layout I could see how one could easily confuse the upshift position for neutral.  The 911 call lasted 50 seconds.  It is not known how long the accelerator was stuck before the beginning of the 911 call.

[john9001]

i have had throttles stick wide open on test drives, but they were old fashioned cars so i just turned the key off.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Forget neutral I'd slam it straight to park if my life depended on it.

I have had several incidents with throttle jamming to max. But they happened at -30c temperature and a BMW with a manual gearbox so I could just hit the clutch and turn off ignition. The throttle cable actually got stuck because of the low temperature (and probably wrong kind of lubricant). It did that every time it droped below -25c untill the engine compartment warmed above -25c.

[CAP1]

i have had throttles stick wide open on test drives, but they were old fashioned cars so i just turned the key off.

i had it happen once to me years ago.

i had just dropped a new engine in my 83 mustang. a nicely built 289. went and made a test run on a normally deserted road.
 the throttle stuck, i tried hooking my foot to pull it up, which didn't work, so i killed the key......but not before one of lindenwolds finest had seen me in 3rd gear with it firewalled.
 when i told him that it stuck, he didn't believe me. he did have me open the hood to show him. when he saw i wasn't full of poop, we ended up talking for a bit.....he was a pretty cool guy, 'cept for his camaro.  

[CAP1]

Forget neutral I'd slam it straight to park if my life depended on it.

I have had several incidents with throttle jamming to max. But they happened at -30c temperature and a BMW with a manual gearbox so I could just hit the clutch and turn off ignition. The throttle cable actually got stuck because of the low temperature (and probably wrong kind of lubricant). It did that every time it droped below -25c untill the engine compartment warmed above -25c.

most newer cars won't go into park when over certain speeds. if they did, the parking pawl wouldn't engage anyway.

[Swoop]

Mickey,

that explains a lot, thanks.


I've never driven an automatic, don't like the idea of not having a clutch pedal and have an intense dislike of computer controlled everything.  In fact gimme a bike, ya can't get confused about the controls on a bike......appart from RD350s from the 80s cos the indicator switch doesn't cancel in the same way as any other bike ever made......and yeah, I'm waffling now.

I did hear a tale once about a bike on which the rider had twisted the throttle too hard and forced it past it's stop point, the effect being that you had to hold the throttle closed or the return spring would open it fully again.  I can see how this could cause a minor issue on a bike like mine (ZX-10R, 185bhp) until the moron riding it either:  hit the engine kill switch, turned the ignition of with the key or pulled the clutch lever in.  However, the bike this happened on was a cheap, plastic, 50cc italian scooter.  Full throttle was good for 30mph....downhill, with a tailwind.

[Anaxogoras]

I hate automatic transmissions.

[BigPlay]

I find it difficult to believe that a California Highway Patrolman had such a simple problem and didn't just shift into neutral.  Either the problem is more complicated than described or......well, I really thought American police officers tended to be capable and professional people, unlike the complete cretins, morons and double figure IQ'd British police officers we get over here.

Have you been to the states lately? Don't assume that anyone knows how to drive here, I don't, assume that is.

[Westy]

"Do I truly have to throw my floor mat out?   Should I be compensated for having to do that?
 What would you do in my situation?   "

 Are you a girl?