Personal Injury Law

Toyota Recall Of 3.8 Million Cars 'An Urgent Matter'

By Jane Akre

Floor Mat Causes Acceleration

Last August 28th, a fiery crash in the San Diego area killed four people including California Highway Patrol officer, Mark Saylor and his family. Witnesses say they saw flames coming from the front and rear tires of the speeding car.

A passenger inside the Lexus ES 350 called 911 and told a dispatcher the car was going 120 mph and the accelerator was stuck. It crashed a short time later.

Now Toyota has issued a safety recall for owners of eight models under the Toyota and Lexus brands.

It is reported to be the largest recall in U.S. history.

The concern is that the driver side floor mat could cause the cars to accelerate by trapping the gas pedal under the mat. About 3.8 million cars are affected.

'This is an urgent matter,' said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood 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.'

In the Saylor accident, all-weather floor mats were found in the car.

In the Lexus ES 350 model, the mats were installed in the 2007 and 2008 models and were recalled by Toyota in November 2007 after complaints that the mats could slide forward and cover the accelerator.

In some cases, consumers were found to have put the all-weather mats on top of the carpet mats, when they were intended to be used in place of the carpet mats, says Toyota.

IB Partner, David Mittleman reported on the floor mat problem recently.

Owners should be able to get details on the recall on the Web site next week. Toyota and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration warn drivers to remove the mat and not replace them.

What Consumers Should Do

If a vehicle accelerates rapidly after the foot has been taken off the pedal, it could indicate floor mat interference, the company says on its Web site. If this happens, the driver should, if they can, pull back the floor mat and dislodge it from the pedal, then stop the vehicle.

If that can't be done, slowly step on the brake pedal with both feet without pumping the brake, says Toyota, and then shift into neutral. Because some of the models have keyless ignition, the process of shutting down the engine is complicated.

Auto models included in the recall are the: 2007-2010 model year Toyota Camry, 2005-2010 Toyota Avalon, 2004-2009 Toyota Prius, 2005-2010 Tacoma, 2007-2010 Toyota Tundra, 2007-2010 Lexus ES350 and 2006-2010 Lexus IS250 and IS350.

Toyota's previously largest recall was about 900,000 vehicles in 2005 to fix a steering issue, reports the Houston Chronicle.

Toyota has had a rash of bad news lately.

Corporate whistleblower and former attorney for Toyota, Dimitrios Biller, 46, says he was ordered to destroy electronic evidence in rollover and roof crush cases.

About 300 cases may be impacted and lawyers say they will re-file their cases based on the whistleblowers allegations. #

Full post as published by InjuryBoard on September 30, 2009 (boomark / email).