Toyota warns 3.8M of floor mats Toyota Motor Corp. began mailing notices this week to 3.8 million vehicle owners, urging them to remove their floor mats while it seeks a remedy for reports of sudden, unintended acceleration.
Toyota hasn't determined the factors behind a number of accidents, including the Aug. 28 wreck of a Lexus ES-350 in which an off-duty California Highway Patrolman and three others died.
Those factors may include floor mats, the accelerator pedal design, and the ignition system's software.
The Lexus ES-350 that crashed and burned, killing Officer Mark Saylor, his wife, 13-year-old daughter and brother-in-law, was a loaner from a dealership while Saylor's was being serviced.
It had the wrong all-weather floor mat -- one for a 2005-09 Lexus RX400H. The accelerator pedal was fused to the floor mat.
On Oct 5, Toyota agreed to recall 3.8 million vehicles, just days after the U.S. government issued an "urgent" warning to remove driver floor mats because they could jam.
But three weeks later, Toyota engineers in Japan and the United States haven't come up with a comprehensive fix. It could still be several months away, Toyota spokesman Brian Lyons said Tuesday.
Toyota President Akio Toyoda apologized for the California crash. More at Detroit News
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