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Floor mat warning issued

by TERRI GRUCA / KVUE News

 Bio | Email | Follow: @TerriG_KVUE

kvue.com

Posted on January 21, 2010 at 8:31 PM

Updated Thursday, Jan 21 at 9:10 PM

This blog was originally posted September 29, 2009.

Anyone who owns a late-model Toyota or Lexus is told to immediately remove the floor mats on the driver’s side of the cars to avoid the accelerator sticking.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued the warnings today.

“This is an urgent matter,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.  “For everyone’s sake, we strongly urge owners of these vehicles to remove mats or other obstacles that could lead to unintended acceleration.”

You may remember we reported on this a few weeks ago after a California family died in a fiery crash when their accelerator became stuck.

These are the models the NHTSA is currently warning owners about:

• 2007-2010 Camry
• 2005-2010 Avalon
• 2004-2009 Prius
• 2005-2010 Tacoma
• 2007-2010 Tundra 
• 2007-2010 ES 350 
• 2006-2010 IS 250 and IS 350

According to the NHTSA “In September 2007, Toyota recalled an accessory all-weather floor mat sold for use in some 2007 and 2008 model year Lexus ES 350 and Toyota Camry vehicles because of similar problems.”

“Today’s advisory was precipitated by continued reports of vehicles accelerating rapidly after release of the accelerator pedal. The incidents appear to be related to factors including the use of a variety of unsecured mats, the particular configuration of the accelerator pedals in these vehicles, and the unique steps needed to shut off the engines in some of these vehicles with keyless ignition.”

For more information call the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Hotline at 888-327-4236 or the Toyota Experience Center at 1-800-331-4331 or the Lexus Customer Assistance Center at 1-800-255-3987.

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