Toyota floor mats may cause crash, 3.8m cars affected
Floor mats in approximately 3.8 million Toyota vehicles could cause accelerator pedals to become stuck in full throttle, potentially causing a crash or death, the federal government and Toyota said today.
While not an official recall, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recommended that drivers "immediately" remove the driver's side factory floor mat as an "interim safety measure."
"Until Toyota can implement a remedy, it is asking consumers and associates who drive specific Toyota and Lexus models to take out any removable driver’s floor mat and NOT replace it with any other floor mat," the company said in an e-mail this afternoon. Floor mats could potentially jam under the gas pedal if they are positioned incorrectly, turned over, or loose.
The affected models are the 2007-2010 Camry, 2005-2010 Avalon, 2004-2009 Prius, 2005-2010 Tacoma, 2007-2010 Tundra, 2007-2010 ES 350, and the 2006-2010 IS 250 and IS350. Toyota said it plans to conduct an actual recall.
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about boston overdrive
Boston.com reports the latest trends, auto shows and wrings out the newest cars in our city's hellish maze - and across the great roads of New England.In the garage: 2008 MBTA Zone 1A monthly pass, 1995 21-speed Iron Horse. Bill Griffith is an automotive correspondent for The Boston Globe and has reviewed cars for 10 years. He was also the Globe's assistant sports editor for 25 years and the paper's sports media columnist.
In the garage (over the years): 1956 T-Bird, 1959 Nash Metropolitan, 1980 El Camino, 1997 supercharged Camry TRD.
