Toyota floormats cause death of family

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Toyota Orders Inspections After Deadly San Diego County Crash - cbs2.com

Toyota has ordered dealers to inspect their cars after a floor mat was suspected of snaring the accelerator pedal of a Lexus that crashed in San Diego County and killed four.

Torrance-based Toyota Motor Sales USA announced Monday that dealers must make sure all Lexus and Toyota vehicles have the proper mats.

California Highway Patrol Officer Mark Saylor, his wife, 13-year-old daughter and an in-law died Aug. 28 when a Lexus ES 350 loaned by a local dealer crashed.

Witnesses say the car was doing more than 120 mph when it went off an embankment. The family's screams were heard in a 911 call.

A preliminary investigation found that their loaner car had a mat from another Lexus model that may have caused the accelerator to get stuck.
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What a shitty way to die -_- He shoulda put the car in neutral
 


Not to sound callous, but perhaps going 120 mph had something to do with it also?
 
khirz said:
Neutral, brakes, turn the key off. Guy had options here...

Who knows for sure what happened inside though. RIP.
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if u weren't posting this i was ...

any floormat can do that ... my pedal has gone underneath my floormat before .. it didndt get stuck but still. sucks for toyotas publicity tho
 
What scares me is how lots of the newer high end cars are completely controlled electronically, drive by wire, brake by wire, etc. I rarely see a car more than 15 years old that still has electric windows that still work properly. I hate to see how cars like this do in 15 years.
 
"Witnesses have told investigators there were flames shooting from the wheel wells indicating the brakes had been applied for a long period of time.
In answer to questions about why the driver didn't simply turn the key off, the unfamiliar Lexus was equipped with an electronic key that has to be engaged for three seconds to turn the engine off."

also,

"The driver also could have turned off the electronically keyed car by holding down the start switch for three seconds, but that could have locked the steering wheel, turned off the headlights and cut power-assist to the brakes"

This poor guy was a CHP officer who drives for a living. He was obviously unfamiliar with this loaner car.

I'll definitely be paying more attention to the intricacies of any rental or loaner I get in the future ...
 
Chunkles said:
"Witnesses have told investigators there were flames shooting from the wheel wells indicating the brakes had been applied for a long period of time..
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It's easy to say what you would do in these type of situations when we can analyze it after the fact.. I would assume pumping the breaks and just holding them in while accelerating should still do the trick, no? Lots of smoke and burning rubber, but long enough for you to put the car into neutral, or even park, if possible.

Or, just slow it down enough with the brakes to get the family out...
 
I've also heard (not sure if true or not) that to shift out of drive while the engine is running in that car, a button needs to be depressed while shifting.
 
amateursurgeon said:
Sad, but this is what you get for driving cars with automatic transmissions.

If it was a manual box, you could just declutch.
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what are you talking about- every car has a "neutral" position on the auto transmission.

There's also the (gasp) crazy option of turning the key ONE click to shut the car off yet not lock the wheel.

The SECOND something like this happens you shove the fucker in neutral, don't waste time caring about the engine, just shove it in neutral, let it bounce off redline, and safely brake until you're stopped. THEN shut the car off (too much risk of locking the wheel at 70mph if you just reach for the keys)

Sad, but dont' think that's the mat's fault.
 
khirz said:
What scares me is how lots of the newer high end cars are completely controlled electronically, drive by wire, brake by wire, etc. I rarely see a car more than 15 years old that still has electric windows that still work properly. I hate to see how cars like this do in 15 years.
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yeah it's a little wild, my mercedes is like driving a space ship, but bottom line is the transmission is still a physical connection and you could shove that into neutral.

With the keyless go however if you try to shut the car off while driving it will peep at you and insist you put it in park first- i'm going to pick up the manual tonight to search for just such an emegency shut down as holding the start button down as this has me curious.
 
Chunkles said:
I've also heard (not sure if true or not) that to shift out of drive while the engine is running in that car, a button needs to be depressed while shifting.
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almost never- I've never seen an auto transmission that required anyting but a push (no button depression) to get into N - I've always thought it's safety related for situations just like this.

The weird 'stick a key in it' button on auto transmissions is usually to shift it out of park without starting the car.
 
With a mustang, the button must be depressed to get the car into neutral, but that still there's no excuse for why that guy didn't just drop it into park or pull the mat back after he noticed something was fucked up at 60-70 mph... sounds a little weird to me
 
Eh , I've had plenty of times where the floormat of my non-toyta will get lodged behind the break or gas ,ect it just happens, you have to pay attention to the mat.

I agree with the manual comments , that would have saved the day OR just putting it into neutral (All vehicles can go into neutral from any gear, it's a safety thing).

I imagine he just did the wrong things, tried depressing the breaks only to slow the car down ,ect...........
 
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