Toyota may shorten gas pedals to fix unintended acceleration issue

[I8ABMR]

The Toyota "unintended acceleration" issue has been a hot-button topic for nearly two months, with the Japanese automaker working closely with the National Highway Traffic Safety Association to come up with a permanent solution to the growing problem. Toyota recently published a statement to address the issue, stating it would "take a closer look at the potential for an accelerator pedal to get stuck in the full open position due to an unsecured or incompatible driver's floor mat."

Inside Line and Kyodo News are reporting that Toyota may be close to announcing that they will shorten the gas pedal of the four million vehicles affected by the recall.

The alleged fix would be performed by Toyota dealership employees at no charge to the customer. The report doesn't mention whether the floor mats would be secured in addition to the pedal shortening, but we're assuming Toyota and Lexus dealers will kill two birds with one stone. Swapping out four million accelerator pedals will probably be a pricey endeavor, but Toyota claims it has saved up $5.6 billion over the years in its recall kitty for just such a rainy day.

[Source: Inside Li

[S2000toIS350]

Thanks for the update.

That is the fix I mentioned this summer after it happened to me.

If you take a design control approach to the issue (and that is what the Auto industry does), you have a "failure" event, the pedal sticking, you rate the risk, in this case "high" and then you mitigate the risk with a design change, the "shortened pedal".

The futzing around with the mats does not mitigate the risk as once the car reaches a customer Toyota cannot control what or how many mats are used let alone proper installation with the anchors.

[eyezack87]

I like mine the way it is...and it has zip ties still. Unless I get a brand new driverside floor mat for my Camry, I won't let them do anything. Who buys a new car just to get it vandalized on day 1? Grrr

[Joeb427]

If the mat is hooked to the retention floor hooks,how can it move up to the accelerator?
The mat can't unhook and move.The mat can be a pain in the arse to get off the hooks just to clean..

[Lexmex]

I took my floormats out of my RX a long time ago and I actually had to carve into the floor a bit when I put on bigger aluminum pedals. I also like I having the accelerator cord rather than an electronic throttle.

[spwolf]

Originally Posted by Joeb427

If the mat is hooked to the retention floor hooks,how can it move up to the accelerator?
The mat can't unhook and move.The mat can be a pain in the arse to get off the hooks just to clean..

it cant... problem is that people stack mats on top of each other, use different brands mats, brake their hooks, etc, etc.

of course, anti-toyota/import crowd and liability lawyers will tell you it is not the pedal, but super secret drive-by-wire issue ;-).

Only car i ever had my mat going over the gas pedal actually had cable and not DBW ;-)

[The G Man]

Originally Posted by spwolf

it cant... problem is that people stack mats on top of each other, use different brands mats, brake their hooks, etc, etc.

So what happens when Lexus shorten the gas pedals and people start to triple stack their mats

[spwolf]

Originally Posted by The G Man

So what happens when Lexus shorten the gas pedals and people start to triple stack their mats

nothing suprises me anymore ;-).

i just checked my wifes car, mat was half up on the firewall, hook broken.. as if she noticed.

[Joeb427]

Originally Posted by spwolf

nothing suprises me anymore ;-).

i just checked my wifes car, mat was half up on the firewall, hook broken.. as if she noticed.

Tough to break one of those hooks.They're pretty strong.
They're even tough to pull out.I have Weathertech classic mats that don't have retention hook holes and had to pull the hooks out.
I'm dissapointed in Weathertech.I've ordered mats many times before and they were custom fit perfect.They fit good in front but no hook holes and the back set fits like crap.

What's with the retention hooks for rear mats in the ES?
Looking forward to the Lexus all weather mats,if they're ever sold again.

[The G Man]

Originally Posted by spwolf

nothing suprises me anymore ;-).

i just checked my wifes car, mat was half up on the firewall, hook broken.. as if she noticed.

Man, I hope you fix that for her. I had a talk with my wife about what to do in the event of a sudden accelaration last month, as expected, she had no clue.

[IS-SV]

Originally Posted by spwolf

nothing suprises me anymore ;-).

i just checked my wifes car, mat was half up on the firewall, hook broken.. as if she noticed.

"Hook broken"

Mmmm, once the CYA at dealers turns to a real solution, the solution may involve hooks that don't break. I looked at the hooks on my Mercedes versus my Lexus, Mercedes hooks seem far stronger.

[PhantomZX]

Originally Posted by IS-SV

"Hook broken"

Mmmm, once the CYA at dealers turns to a real solution, the solution may involve hooks that don't break. I looked at the hooks on my Mercedes versus my Lexus, Mercedes hooks seem far stronger.

On my parents Honda Odyssey, the front mat hooks are metal and not removable from the floor.

[mmarshall]

Originally Posted by IS-SV

Mmmm, once the CYA at dealers turns to a real solution, the solution may involve hooks that don't break. I looked at the hooks on my Mercedes versus my Lexus, Mercedes hooks seem far stronger.

I've been driving for more than 40 years with aftermarket, non-anchored, single-layer rubber floor mats (I prefer them to the fabric ones for ease-of-cleaning purposes). I've never had a problem in any car or any rubber mat. This whole mess, as stated in other posts, seems to be simply from double-layering of mats and not taking the bottom one out. The popular drive-by-wire throttle systems, of course, don't help any either, because their response is not always linear with gas-pedal travel.

Of course, that doesn't mean that one should not use a hook at all. The hook, of course, only gives that much more protection. But many aftermarket mats, of course, don't have a built-in hole for the hook.

[IS-SV]

Originally Posted by mmarshall

I've been driving for more than 40 years with aftermarket, non-anchored, single-layer rubber floor mats (I prefer them to the fabric ones for ease-of-cleaning purposes). I've never had a problem in any car or any rubber mat. This whole mess, as stated in other posts, seems to be simply from double-layering of mats and not taking the bottom one out. The popular drive-by-wire throttle systems, of course, don't help any either, because their response is not always linear with gas-pedal travel.

Of course, that doesn't mean that one should not use a hook at all. The hook, of course, only gives that much more protection. But many aftermarket mats, of course, don't have a built-in hole for the hook.

Yes, I hope that's the whole answer, we'll see what the Toyota engineering experts decide. Already we have one of our experienced owners above reporting a broken hook in his car.

I also have not experienced gas pedal sticking. Personally I want hooks that work and don't break in my Lexus, so far so good.

[The G Man]

So cars must have been driving off the cliff before car mats had hooks on them