GS69

Toyota Recalls 55,000 Floor Mats
Toyota has recalled 55,000 floor mats as a result of a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigation. The recall — which includes 30,500 mats in the Lexus ES 350 and 24,500 mats in the Toyota Camry — is due to several complaints filed earlier this year that some Toyota models accelerated unintentionally.

The NHSTA investigation found that the unintentional acceleration was due to improperly installed all-weather floor mats sticking underneath the accelerator pedal, causing the pedal to become lodged.

According to the Detroit Free Press, the NHSTA has also received similar complaints for several other Toyota vehicles including the Prius, Avalon, RAV 4 and Tacoma. “We have also received complaints about the RAV 4 and Tacoma,” said Rae Tyson, a spokesman for NHTSA. “We will continue to monitor all of the other Toyota vehicles not involved in the recall."

Toyota will notify owners next month and will begin replacing the mats in November. Earlier this year, Toyota mailed a warning of the unintended acceleration to all owners.

amf1932

Are they going to exchange ALL the floor mats, or just the front mat on the drivers side?

LexBob2

I also wonder why just 30,500 Lexus ES 350's. If they've revised the mat, maybe just the early builds?

Dave Mac

I read the announcement to mean they were just replacing the all-weather mats therefore the lower number.

Dave Mac

toneman

Curious as to the design of the replacement all-weather mat, especially given that the most common reason why the all-weather mat was installed improperly was due to it being placed on top of the carpeted mat. Yes, there have been a few instances of unintended acceleration w/ the all-weather mat even when it wasn't placed/installed on top of the carpeted mat, but suffice it to say that the number of those incidences were outnumbered by those that were due in part to all-weather mats placed on top of the carpeted mat.

My guess is that the area around the opening where the hooks go through might be a bit thinner in profile so that the hook does not more easily slip out of the opening. I would be shocked if the replacement mat is designed in such a way so that owners can choose to place it on top of the carpeted mat if desired...

Now don't get me wrong--I applaud Toyota for offering the recall, but IMHO I cannot reason as to why they would offer a recall on a product that quite frankly, was defective primarily because it wasn't being installed correctly...while in the meantime they pretty much have blown off the tranny flare issue (i.e., if there is anything about the ES 350 that deserves a recall, the tranny flare would be number one in my book)--which BTW is/was relatively way more commonplace than the mat/acceleration issue (heck, count how many posts/thread in this forum there were about it, compared to the number of posts/threads about the mat issue), and had nothing to do w/ how the owner was operating the vehicle.

scheung

The floor mats in Canada are of different design.

The exact words quoted from Lexus Canada:

"...Neither the 2007 and 2008 Camry and Lexus ES 350 sold in Canada nor the optional All-Weather Floor Mat designed for vehicles sold in Canada are involved in this campaign."

LexBob2

Are your all-weather mats the soft flexible type or pretty firm? In the U.S.they're somewhat flexible, but on the stiff side.

scheung

It is a flexible rubber mat. See photo.

MD350

The mat issue is causing accidents. The tranny flare is not. As long as no one gets killed or injured due to a tranny flare, you won't see Toyota or Lexus issuing a recall. A TSIB, sure....a recall, no.

07LexusGuy

How sad is it that we need to spill blood before a company will agree to recall and fix a flaw in their product (I'm talking about the tranny, not the mats)?

MD350

That is business. Recalls cost a lot of money. So, just think of all the money Lexus is saving by having those owners who have no idea their tranny is flaring to continue driving it. Not to mention, even if they wanted to issue a recall, they can't because they have no fix to the problem.

MD350

I read an article in this week's automotive news. It says only the driver's front mat will be replaced.

toneman

If memory serves me correctly, that mat definitely looks nothing like the recalled mat that's in my US-spec ES. I should take a photo of mine and compare the physical difference(s) between the two...if someone else doesn't beat me to it.

gs4NY

I appreciate all the info about the redundancy, but I have had numerous instances in the past few days in my 07 GS350 AWD including tonight while I was stopped at a light where my foot was clearly on the brake for over 10 seconds without moving and my floormats are very well secured.

Engine was already warm and the car had been driven a few blocks or on a highway before each instance.

You can report that back to Toyota, before the ^$%$#%$@ problem leads to someone getting hurt or worse.

twister

Hmm, that's a first one I ever heard about 3GS. You should post it over in that forum; who knows maybe someone else had a similar experience in there. I had my winter mats, of course without regular ones underneath, for over a year and never a problem.