nyardich

Dear Sir or Madam:

The Vehicle Research and Test Center (VRTC) and the Office of Defects Investigation (On!), both offices of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), an agency within the United States Department of Transportation (DOT), are examining allegations of unwanted or unintended acceleration in certain 2007 Lexus E5350 vehicles caused by a rubberized winter floor mat that, when installed improperly, may cause the accelerator to become trapped at a non-idle position.

As a listed owner, you can help with this investigation by answering the following questions found on the enclosed postcard, which has prepaid postage. Your completing this survey will be greatly appreciated and will help us to understand any problems that these vehicles may be experiencing. If you find the rubber mats are not secured to the floor with the plastic hooks, this should be corrected immediately. If you have any questions, please call me at 800-262-8309 ext 271.

Thank you for your assistance.

Bill Collins
Safety Defects Engineer
Vehicle Research and Test Center
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Bill .CoIlins~dot.gov

Can you believe that Lexus is trying to blame Flare on rubber floor mats.
What can I say. I filled out questionare with both barrels.
Nick

LexBob2

Two days ago, I got a mailing from the dealership where we bought our car. In their mailing they said there had been reports of problems with the winter floor mats interfering with gas pedal operation. They were reminding owners not to place the rubber mats on top of the carpeted mats, and to completely remove the carpeted mats if the rubber ones are in use. The note also said that the plastic retaining hooks on the floor must be used to keep the heavier rubber mats in place and prevent them from shifting around.

It sounds like there must have been instances where the mats may have caused unintended acceleration.

Edit: I just looked closer at the letter and it came from Lexus Corp. I tossed the envelope, but think it may have been mailed from the dealer.

dunnojack

minor issue......

don't double deck your mats!

ES350Bob

I got two in the mail, but from Lexus not the feds and looked on the fed site to see the complaints Lexus claimed were made on floor mats and there were none on the mats but several on out of control acceleration, transmission etc.

LexBob2

Well said....

ESDragon

When I took my car to the dealership for the flare, they told me that it could be cause by the rubber floormats. Obviously, I shown they that the carpet floor mats are not the underneath the rubber ones. I can't believe they will give you these ridiculous excuse for a known issue with the tranny.

Lex13

I recieved this notice from Lexus last week but I didn't pay much attention to it because the EXACT same issue was explained to me during my pre-delivery inspection at the dealership back in February. I was curious why my driver-side carpet mat was in the trunk. The manager stated that the hook that holds the floor mat in place cannot handle two mats and they didn't want the all-weather mat to slide into the pedals.

Things that make you go hmmm.

encore888

A local TV station covered an incident where an ES 350 accelerated to 100 mph for 6 miles and the driver was terrified; they had double-layered the mats. A NHTSA inspector found that to be a probable cause for the sudden acceleration.

http://www.wate.com/global/Story.asp?s=6460109

However before that was found out, in response to the acceleration incident, the dealer replaced the transmission on this ES 350.

amf1932

My car included the Lexus all weather rubber mats on top of the carpeted mats as part of my UL package, and to this day I've never noticed that they shifted around in the least, even though they're not being held down with the plastic hooks. The rubber mats have dimples on the back to prevent this movement. You can rest assured that if I found shifting, I'd remove the carpeted mats.

I don't know what all the fuss is about, since aftermarket mats don't come with holes to prevent movement, and the first time I saw hooks in an automobile was a few years ago.

ES350Bob

I still have both of mine and they were not mailed by dealer, they came from Toyota Motor Sales, a P.O. box in San Diego, with a Torrance CA return address on the actual document.

nyardich

They did same thing to me. Said flare was possibly caused by floor mats and my mats never never shifted.

ES350Bob

Nick,

I saw where ES had posted that was told him and I was hoping it was a fluke that they had said that to him and that they were not seriously telling people this stuff on a wider scale and now you share you were too.

No wonder you let them have it, I don't blame you though I first thought you were being very proactive when you said you had let them have it!!!! They darn well know the floor mats are not causing the flare/slipping.

meadoel

Has anyone else considered lodging a complaint on the NHTSA website ?

ES350Bob

Yes, I had considered it but was told that with 2 cars it would have to be in writing and I have not pursued it yet. Maybe I'll get the NHTSA item in the mail like Nick did and save some major hassle for me by that method. Or maybe call the 800 number for the guy since he lists that as an option in his writing. Though it seems every ES350 owner is likely to get what Nick got.

sarge43

I wouldn't think that the rubber floor mats would be used during the summer months and this was the time period when a lot of discussion was held on this forum about the flaring. Cannot see their connection for the flare (stuck accelerator, yes).