WASHINGTON (Oct. 6, 2009)—Toyota Motor Co. is recalling 3.8 million vehicles from model years 2007-2010 because unsecured or incompatible floor mats can interfere with the accelerators.
The rubber mats, Toyota told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, can cause accelerators to get stuck in the wide-open position, causing high vehicle speeds, difficulty in stopping, and possible crashes leading to injuries and fatalities.
Toyota undertook a voluntary safety campaign in 2007 to remove all-weather floor mats from certain Toyota Camry and Lexus ES350 models, the auto maker told NHTSA. Renewed complaints, however, have caused Toyota to investigate other models as well, it said.
Affected models include the Lexus ES350, model years 2007-2009; the Lexus IS, 2006-2010; the Toyota Avalon, 2005-2009; the Toyota Camry, 2007-2010; the Toyota Prius, 2004-2009; the Toyota Tacoma, 2005-2009; and the Toyota Tundra, 2007-2010. Toyota will send letters to owners, advising them to remove their driver's-side floor mats and not to replace them until the auto maker develops model-specific mats. When such mats are available, Toyota will install them free of charge.