Toyota: Floor Mats Absolutely, Positively, 100% Certainly the Problem

Paul Niedermeyer
by Paul Niedermeyer

Not taking a page out of Audi’s playbook, Toyota has decided that the best defense is a strong offense. The risk of the accelerator getting jammed is strictly a problem of unintended loose or ill-fitting floor mats, according to Toyota Bob Carter, general manager of the Toyota-brand division of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Letters are on the way to owners of certain Toyota and Lexus models warning them about the errant mats as part of a safety recall. More certainty after the jump:The Detroit News has this quote on the mat-ter:””There is no risk of accelerator pedal entrapment in our vehicles in which the driver side floormat is compatible with the vehicle and is properly secured in the factory hooks.” Toyota refuted speculation in the press that other defects might be causing its vehicles to accelerate uncontrollably, citing its own and federal safety studies. “There is absolutely no evidence to support any of these theories,” Period. End of subject. Now go away.

Paul Niedermeyer
Paul Niedermeyer

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  • PeteMoran PeteMoran on Nov 05, 2009

    @ gimmeamanual .... because with all the input sensors modern vehicles have, I would expect there are other ways to combine the data to work out that positive control has been lost. No vacuum assist, maybe, but maximum brake pedal force can/is detected.

  • KeithBates KeithBates on Nov 05, 2009

    Am I the only one sitting here thinking that the brakes in these Toyotas are inadequate for the weight and power of the vehicles? I've built a lot of very fast/powerful cars, and first on the list of upgrades are the brakes. But I'm just a backyard engineer, my shit stops though...

  • Gimmeamanual Gimmeamanual on Nov 05, 2009

    @PeteMoran, No argument that it can't be improved, my comment was about singling out Toyota as having done something wrong with their brake system when other cars would react the same way. @KeithBates, It isn't the brakes themselves, it's the system and how it works. The brakes are adequate for the weight and power of the vehicle as long as there is sufficient vacuum. When the vacuum runs out, you'd need an oak tree for a leg and swept area the size of a trashcan lid to fight acceleration.

  • KeithBates KeithBates on Nov 05, 2009

    @gimmeamanual No, it's not the "system and how it works". The brakes are inadequate for the weight and power, period. The vacuum system should include a check valve between the source and the booster. That should allow you to stop the vehicle even with the engine off. The engine was running away, the brakes should have stopped it... Period.

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