Toyota Motor Corporation has announced that it’s recalling 3.8 million US vehicles—the largest US recall in the company’s history—to deal with a problem of accelerators getting stuck on removable floor mats.
Until Toyota figures out how to fix the floor mat problem, Toyota vehicle owners should remove their driver’s side floor mats and not replace them with anything else.
NHTSA said it had received reports of 102 incidents in which the accelerator may have become stuck on the Toyota vehicles involved. It was unclear how many led to crashes but the inquiry was prompted by a highspeed crash in August in California of a Lexus barreling out of control. As the vehicle hit speeds exceeding 120 mph, family members made a frantic 911 call and said the accelerator was stuck and they couldn’t stop the vehicle.
"This is an urgent matter," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement. "For everyone’s sake, we strongly urge owners of these vehicles to remove mats or other obstacles that could lead to unintended acceleration."
The recall will affect 2007-2010 model year Toyota Camry, 2005-2010 Toyota Avalon, 2004-2009 Toyota Prius, 2005-2010 Tacoma, 2007-2010 Toyota Tundra, 2007-2010 Lexus ES350 and 2006-2010 Lexus IS250 and IS350.
For more information, consumers can contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s hotline at (888) 327-4236, Toyota at (800) 331-4331 or Lexus at (800) 255-3987. –The Washington Post
The recall comes at an awkward time for Toyota, which was recently charged by its former in-house lawyer, Dimitrios Biller, with frequently withholding relevant documents in product-liability suits filed against the company. According to Biller, US Toyota units destroyed engineering and testing evidence that would have impacted over 300 suits over SUV rollover accidents.
If you or a loved one has been injured in an accelerator-related or rollover accident in a Toyota vehicle, contact attorney Mike Ferrara at The Ferrara Law Firm to find out more about your right to compensation.
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