Toyota Orders Inspection of All Lexus Floor Mats After Fatal Accident
After improperly fitting all-weather floor mats in a Lexus sedan were named as a possible cause of a fatal car accident near San Diego, Toyota is ordering its dealers to inspect the mats in all Lexus and Toyota vehicles.
Plastic floor mats that were not the right size for the 2009 Lexus ES 350 are suspected of causing the August 28 accident that claimed the lives of an off-duty California Highway Patrol officer, his wife, their daughter, and his brother in law.
CHP Officer Mark Saylor was driving the loaner vehicle from a Lexus dealer while his car was in the shop when the accident occurred. A preliminary investigation into the wreck concluded that all-weather floor mats in the vehicle were not the proper size for the vehicle and may have slid forward and pinned the vehicle’s accelerator to the floor, causing it to speed out of control.
Saylor’s wife called 911 seconds before the crash to say the vehicle was out of control and traveling in excess of 120 miles per hour. The vehicle rear-ended another vehicle on the freeway before launching off the road, investigators said.
NHTSA Investigation Fingers Floor Mats
A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigation found the all-weather floor mat recovered from the wreckage of Saylor’s Lexus was a few inches longer than the mat that is supposed to be installed in that vehicle and could not be properly attached to the floorboard. Such mats are installed by dealers or car owners as accessory items in vehicles.
In a “specific order” notice sent to all dealers today, Toyota ordered mandatory inspections of all Lexus and Toyota vehicles to determine whether the floor mats in the vehicles are the right size and that they are properly fastened to the floor to prevent them from sliding out of place.
The car maker also called on other auto industry professionals to help ensure that floor mats are the right size and model for the vehicle.
“We urge all other automakers, dealers, vehicle owners, and the independent service and car wash industries to assure that any floor mat, whether factory or aftermarket, is correct for the vehicle and properly installed and secured,” Toyota Motor Sales USA said in a statement.
All new, used, and loaner Lexus and Toyota vehicles are covered by the mandatory inspection order.
Earlier Recall of Floor Mats
In November 2007, Toyota recalled its all-weather mats in the 2007 and early 2008 ES 350s and Camrys after owners complained that the mats could slip forward and entrap the gas pedal if they were not properly attached to the floor. It is unclear whether the floor mat being looked at in the Saylor accident were among those previously recalled.
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Lexus absolutely KNEW about this problem. I was almost killed in a similar way when my IS350 did the same thing. These were not aftermarket mats that I had. These were Lexus made, Lexus sold. It was a miracle that I was somehow able to stop the car. I was actually on the SF Bay Bridge and could have easily caused an enormous accident. With all my might, I slammed on the brakes, parking brakes, anything to somehow get the care to stop, wrecking the brake pads and rotors. At least I was alive. I told the Lexus service advisor of the story and he was well aware that this was possible. At the very least he should have gave me a free repair, but all he did was give me a minimal discount. I insisted that he should take this higher up before someone gets killed. I am pretty sure that anyone else in that situation would not have been able to stop the car. It was absolutely terrifying! I got basic lip service and was basically brushed off, while now we hear this tragic accident has happened. I wish I had done more, these people would still be alive.
im a photographer with a news company working on the accident that claimed a family of 4….we would like to do a story on your accident on the bay bridge…maybe a phoner….It would help us with more media coverage on the story……858 472 3571 mike edison cbs san diego wed 10 50am…..hope to hear from you…
Give me a break. This guy had the time to call 911 but couldn’t put the car in neutral and hit the brake? Something is fishy and its not with Toyota.
I learned of the fatal car accident involving the trooper in Texas and his family from my son who saw the story on the news. He called me because I had the same thing happen to me in my Camry SE. I could not slow the car, the throttle was stuck wide open. After hitting speeds near 100 mph, I finally was able to free the throttle and stop the car. I immediately called the dealership where I purchased the car. They did not take me very seriously. At my insistance, they did examine the vehicle only to tell me it must have been the floor mats. This after I was accused of pushing the accelerator and not the brake pedal. I was treated as though I didn’t know much about driving. I am a former UPS driver, former volunteer firefighter, and grew up driving anything and everything with my brothers and my dad. While I know I am just as capable as anyone of making a mistake, I am certain this was not an error on my part. My father and I examined the possibilities of the floor mats. It does not seem possible that a floor mat could “lock the throttle” down in an uncontrolable manner. The mat was not heavy enough to hold that kind of pressure against the throttle. I have never been convinced that this theory is the answer. I am “stuck” so to speak with the vehicle, but not confident that it will not happen again. I am very sorry for the loss of this family recently. I would hope this would cause Toyota to investigate thoroughly.
This is not a new problem, nor exclusive to Toyota/Lexus. It has happened on my car. I simply turned off the ignition; as I was trained to do 40 years ago in DRIVER’S EDUCATION. The next time it happened, I bent down and grabbed the mat. Duh! I am sorry these people were killed, but this is driver error. Makes me wonder what they are teaching CHP officers about driving.
While the loss of life here is tragic, this is clearly driver error. weather a poorly designed floor mat pinned the gas pedal down or not. There isn’t a production vehicle on the market that has enough power to overcome it’s own braking system in good working condition. Period. (Especially a Toyota product) Even if that were the case he definitely overlooked some other very obvious solutions. Take it out of gear, turn the engine off, or even…remove the floor mat from atop the accelerator pedal. A panic situation changes things significantly, but one has to blame poor driver training before the vehicle manufacture. I mean they had time to call 911…There is a glaring shortage of trained drivers in this country, hardly anybody cares about proper vehicle maintenance anymore, and the vast majority of the population is generally disinterested in what’s going on around them while they’re behind the wheel. The only thing Americans lack more than driver training is personal accountability. It was a terrible, unfortunate accident, nobody is to blame. Least of all Toyota. They’ve invested more time and money into safety than anybody else involved here.
Troy, dan, Heffay:
Have you heard “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all”…? How can you even consider attacking the driver or passengers in a situation like this? It doesn’t matter who’s fault it is, the victims have living relatives, and they are reading your posts. Did you read the article? The accelerator trumps the brakes. Do you truly believe Toyota is not to blame for this? If a car is going 60mph and suddenly starts accelerating, do you seriously think the driver would take his/her eyes off the road and the other cars (now coming at them faster and faster) to figure out the problem – especially to look DOWN at their feet and especially then BEND DOWN to pull the floor mat…most of the owners of these cars are not even aware of this ridiculous potential problem…so how would they know where to look. “Me too” is absolutely right. Lexus knows. In fact, this happened to a relative of mine. Thank the higher powers of the universe they lived.
Keep your tactless comments to yourself. Do your part to improve the roads of tomorrow and teach your kids to drive better. I do agree we need more driver training in the states (maybe we can learn from Finland), but you need more tact.
A couple of months ago, I too had this happen to me and my daughter in my 2007 IS250. Lexus treated me the same way here in Columbus Ohio and the manager told the BBB that it was due to my carelessness. This is very scary and I too continued to slam on the breaks and hitting my power ignition and the car finally stopped. Lexus of easton did replace my brakes and rotors though. I was more appauled at the way the customer service agent treated me. For those on this site that chooses to blame the drivier of the fatal accident – I will simply pray for you because I realize you don’t really know any better to make such ggnorant statements about this man and his family. How would you feel if it happend to someone in your family. I doubt very seriously your comments would be the same. Only heartless people with no conscious of life would make these uncompassionate statements. Again, praying that you get a clue! Lexus needs to be held acccountable for this horiffic tragedy. I said the same thing in my complaint against them and that is to do something before someone dies. A couple months later – 4 people lost their lives.