Toyota owners warned to remove floor mats before recall
Owners of seven Toyota Motor Corp. models should remove driver-side floormats before a coming recall because gas pedals may get stuck and cause the vehicle to accelerate rapidly, the government said.
Accelerator pedals have the potential to get stuck in the full-open position on the vehicles, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said today in a statement. Toyota will soon recall the vehicles to address the problem, NHTSA said.
Affected Toyota vehicles are the 2007-2010 Camry, 2005-2010 Avalon, 2004-2009 Prius, 2005-2010 Tacoma and 2007-2010 Tundra. Lexus’ affected vehicles are the 2007-2010 ES 350 and 2006-2010 IS 250 and IS 350.
NHTSA said it issued the warning because of continued reports of vehicles accelerating rapidly after drivers released the accelerator.
“This is an urgent matter,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in the statement. “We strongly urge owners of these vehicles to remove mats or other obstacles that could lead to unintended acceleration.”
The reported acceleration problems appeared to be related to with unsecured mats, the configuration of the accelerator pedal and the process for shutting off engines in some vehicles that have keyless ignitions.
Toyota recalled in September 2007 an all-weather floor mat from some 2007 and 2008 Lexus ES 350 and Toyota Camry vehicles because of similar problems, NHTSA said.
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Accelerator pedals have the potential to get stuck in the full-open position on the vehicles, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said today in a statement. Toyota will soon recall the vehicles to address the problem, NHTSA said.
Affected Toyota vehicles are the 2007-2010 Camry, 2005-2010 Avalon, 2004-2009 Prius, 2005-2010 Tacoma and 2007-2010 Tundra. Lexus’ affected vehicles are the 2007-2010 ES 350 and 2006-2010 IS 250 and IS 350.
NHTSA said it issued the warning because of continued reports of vehicles accelerating rapidly after drivers released the accelerator.
“This is an urgent matter,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in the statement. “We strongly urge owners of these vehicles to remove mats or other obstacles that could lead to unintended acceleration.”
The reported acceleration problems appeared to be related to with unsecured mats, the configuration of the accelerator pedal and the process for shutting off engines in some vehicles that have keyless ignitions.
Toyota recalled in September 2007 an all-weather floor mat from some 2007 and 2008 Lexus ES 350 and Toyota Camry vehicles because of similar problems, NHTSA said.
Automotive News -- In-depth coverage of the automotive industry
