Toyota Orders Inspection Of Lexus Floormats After Tragic Crash Kills Family Of Four

Not the time for stupid jokes.

— GTR35 (View Profile)

Posted on 9/17/2009 11:33:43 AM | | Votes: 9   

This particular Cop needs to relearn how to drive, he caused this accident and killed everyone. If the car was doing 120mph, he's mashing the gas pedal pure and simple!! Mofo probably had a rough night at work and saw an asian kid in a modified Civic and decides to intimidate the kid and caused the crash. Carpets don't, won't and can't push on their own no matter how wrong size they are! If they did stick, car will just continue to maintain speed, not accelerate. Lexus is wasting their time and money catering to stupidity. The guys wife even had enough time to make a 911 call, that means the dude was either too dumb to make the "PROPER" correction or he had an agenda which turned the situation for the worse.

I use to have an RX7 turbo that had an exhaust leak and would accelerate on it's own at highway speed. It's very easy to control, just ease of the gas, pop in neutral, look around you and move to a safer lane and use the brake to control the power. How hard can this be for a "trained" cop? Lets keep in mind that RX7 turbos were notorious for engine problems and was never recalled.

To be fair to this dude, I do have a friend who is also a highway patrol, he can't drive worth shyt and don't know crap about cars and couldn't careless. Whatever driving skill they taught him in class went out the other ear.

— Badgewhore (View Profile)

Posted on 9/18/2009 12:07:35 AM | | Votes: 1   

you obviously haven't had your throttle stick before. When it sticks it provides some resistance, which 9 times out of 10 will cause the operator to apply an excessive force to it which generally tends to pin the gas pedal.

— Joe_Limon (View Profile)

Posted on 9/18/2009 5:38:11 PM | | Votes: 0   

true. but this was a lexus driver. he was likely 92 years old and didn't know how to drive. sad. very sad.

— enthusiastx11 (View Profile)

Posted on 9/17/2009 12:01:06 PM | | Votes: -15   

Yes. Somthing dosent make sence here. Especially since the driver was a CHP officer. He should have been able to handle the stress of an emergency.

Honestly I've been in this situation (in a mazda) and where at first my responce was "Holy S!@t" it only took me another second to step on the brake then when that didnt work I threw the car in nuetral. That worked...even though I almost blew up the engine trying to coast over to the side of the road.

My thought is while I'm just an ordinary guy with my wife and daughter in the car...I have no special training in emergency vehicle situations... and I can stop my vehicle, how does a CHP officer not react in enough time to prevent a car from reaching 120mph? Also even if the brakes cant completly prevent a pegged engine from turning the tires it sure as heck would have made it really hard to reach 120mph. I mean you would really have to try to reach that speed...and it would have taken quite a bit of time as well.

The tape recording of the 911 call is 50 seconds long and thats not including the time required for them to realize they were in a desparate situation, find a cell phone and then dial 911. Honestly I don't understand how anyone even someone crazy with fear, couldn't come up with turning off the car in over 50 seconds.

Five miles. They traveled five miles and didn't do anything accept apply brakes. Even at 120mph from the start the time alotted to reach 5 miles would have taken them 2 1/2 minutes.

This just dosent make sense.

— Spectator (View Profile)

Posted on 9/17/2009 1:14:55 PM | | Votes: 13   

+1

There is always turning off the car.

— SteedPub (View Profile)

Posted on 9/17/2009 1:16:22 PM | | Votes: 10   

No, turning off the car was NOT an option. This is a "smart key" car - aka push button.

Its still possible to put the car in neutral tho. Also, the brakes WILL overpower the engine. This was a case of pure stupidity, IMO.

— TehShibbs (View Profile)

Posted on 9/17/2009 5:20:34 PM | | Votes: 2   

Yes, even though it's a sad tragedy, people should know that there are things that could have been done. A few things come to mind, including what you said 009.

Excuse my ignorance, but, is it possible to shut the engine off while in motion? I think that could have been another solution; they would have probably still crashed but at least they would have slowed down enough to survive <<<<---- please correct me if I'm wrong.

— GTR35 (View Profile)

Posted on 9/17/2009 11:33:05 AM | | Votes: 2   

Yes the engine can be killed but you risk locking the steering column.

— Agent009 (View Profile)

Posted on 9/17/2009 2:04:32 PM | | Votes: 0   

No you will NOT lock the steering wheel, you will just lose power steering assist. Car will actually have better steering feel due to no assist. But if it is a "smart key" car, I'm not sure how to kill the engine, but I'm sure those Toyota guys probably have a simple solution for situations as this(like holding the start/stop button for more than a few seconds). It's probably in the manual that nobody bothers to read.

— Badgewhore (View Profile)

Posted on 9/18/2009 12:14:54 AM | | Votes: 2   

The driver was a TRAINED highway patrol officer!

— Invisible (View Profile)

Posted on 9/17/2009 11:47:13 AM | | Votes: 11   

The wife apparently didn’t panic/freeze...she was able to call 911!!!

The officer should have turned off the key, put gear in “N, 2 or 1,” slam on the brakes, and pull the hand brake.

— hatepusss (View Profile)

Posted on 9/17/2009 11:57:52 AM | | Votes: 7   

Yeah but, there is no key, you those fancy start/stop button ? Not everyone one know you need to hold them a few secs (like a computer) for the engine to sut down. The guy probably tried but didn't hold the button long enough.

If the car has been equipped with an old fashion key/starter, the whole family would be alive.

— MSP6 (View Profile)

Posted on 9/17/2009 1:41:53 PM | | Votes: 1   

yep

— sdcarguy (View Profile)

Posted on 9/17/2009 5:53:59 PM | | Votes: 1   

No the family would not be alive, he was too busy accelerating and not trying to slow the car down by going into neutral. He had an agenda that he felt couldn't wait and would risk his whole family to fulfill it.

— Badgewhore (View Profile)

Posted on 9/18/2009 12:18:49 AM | | Votes: 1   

invisable you do a great job of that yourself.

— 1UAW (View Profile)

Posted on 9/19/2009 12:03:14 AM | | Votes: 1   

I wonder how the ES will fare in Consumer Reports after this?

"CR no longer recommends the Lexus ES. Get a Camry instead."

— Willis (View Profile)

Posted on 9/17/2009 12:17:00 PM | | Votes: -2   

Hantra said "Read the comments after the "Read Article" link. There are people saying this has happened to them before in Camry's and other Lexus vehicles. They were treated as if they did something wrong."

Does anyone reading this remember the "Audi unintended acceleration" issue, from decades ago. Scores of people had problems in which Audis unintentionally accelerated, like in this story. 60 Minutes painted Audi black. There was massive press coverage. After extensive studies by unbiased parties, they concluded the true culprit was "pedal misapplication" (their term!). This translates into a less euphemistic "driver error."

— Steve (View Profile)

Posted on 9/18/2009 8:58:32 AM | | Votes: 0   

Did anyone read the article above?

"Plastic floor mats that were not the right size for the 2009 Lexus ES 350 "

Someone installed the wrong mats....end of story. There is no conspiracy!

— 800over (View Profile)

Posted on 9/18/2009 4:23:45 PM | | Votes: 2   

I'm sure they read that. I'm sure they understand. But the people posting this are just hate filled and will dig up anything they can to post, twist, plot.

— Invisible (View Profile)

Posted on 9/18/2009 4:55:29 PM | | Votes: 1   

Actually my 2008 Camry SE V6 did the same thing about 4 months ago. It scared the crap out of me and it took all of 4 seconds for me to realize what was happening. But like one of the previous comments, I reached down and grabbed the mat off the accelerator. If that didn't work, I was going slamm on brakes and put the car in "N"

— Mason3Robert (View Profile)

Posted on 9/17/2009 12:08:24 PM | | Votes: 5   

this happened to me too in a (then) new 2000 ford focus. but the cause was not mechanical like a floormat. it was a defective cruise control unit. which i was NOT EVEN USING at the time.

since i was only going about 40 mph, i was able to brake to a stop. i shut off the engine, and restarted, which apparently re-set things.

it happened again later, and i had to go to the dealer for a fix.


a coupla years ago, this also happened to my nephew on a freeway, in a buick. this time it was the throttle linkage which got stuck. he panicked (a new driver) but i had the presence of mind to tell him just get on the brakes harder. he did. but it did not fix the stuck throttle. brake fade impended.

so i next told him to shift to neutral. with no load the engine of course wound out. i then advised him to cut the ignition, and turn it back on just before the engine died, to avoid having to restart. he did that a few times until we were able to pull over to the break down lane.

— XYZZ (View Profile)

Posted on 9/17/2009 5:32:18 PM | | Votes: 2   

Is this the only way to turn it off?! The officer has borrowed the Lexus from a local dealer and was probably unfamiliar with that requirement. This is from the article referenced below:

The National Highway Transporatation Safety Administraton recall report from 2007 found some Lexus drivers with stuck accelerators tried to turn off the car with the engine control button but didn't know the button must be held for three seconds.

— sdcarguy (View Profile)

Posted on 9/17/2009 12:16:03 PM | | Votes: 1   

You can't just borrow a Lexus, you have to already own a Lexus and taken it in for service that require more than a day to fix in order to get a lexus loaner. This cop should already be familiar with Lexus.

— Badgewhore (View Profile)

Posted on 9/18/2009 12:22:22 AM | | Votes: 2   

Dude, news is news. And if I had these mats I would want to know about it. I urge everyone to be respectful.

— Agent009 (View Profile)

Posted on 9/17/2009 2:05:40 PM | | Votes: -1   

Yes, IF you were stupid and put the wrong mats in....you are right someone should tell you.

— 800over (View Profile)

Posted on 9/21/2009 12:17:40 PM | | Votes: 1   

So un Toyota? Isn't this like the 5th or 6th issue they have had in the past six months where they knew about a problem but did not inform people? They need to stop wasting time trying to figure out how to make a supercar and get back to their appliances.

— rigid (View Profile)

Posted on 9/17/2009 1:03:25 PM | | Votes: 0   

Rigid you are an idiot. This has nothing to do with a malfunction. As with the last spate of "camrys out of control" it has to do with people putting mats on top of mats without the hook to the floor installed. People get in and push the mat up. Then they hit the gas and wedge the mat into the accelerator/brake/clutch (pick one). The "RECALL" that was issued was to add a warning to the mats saying "DO NOT PUT ON TOP OF OTHER MATS etc" It has nothing to do with the drive by wire system (which wasn't even around during the lasts incidents). This whole article is based on human error installnig the mats. You need to stop drinking the coolaid and go back to internet porn.

— 800over (View Profile)

Posted on 9/18/2009 4:13:49 PM | | Votes: 3   

has nothing to do with engineering and everything to do with people putting mats in without anchors.

— 800over (View Profile)

Posted on 9/18/2009 4:15:19 PM | | Votes: 2   

do floor mats need anchors? my car doesn't have them or suffer from this problem.

— Joe_Limon (View Profile)

Posted on 9/19/2009 12:33:57 AM | | Votes: 1   

If it really was the mats (personally doubt it, as though a floor mat could apply that much pressure to wedge the gas fully open?) it would not have happened if the car had been designed to mitigate against this happening. A floor hinged gas pedal has less moment at the base, than one hinged from the top. My VW has a floor mounted hinged pedal (like a porsche 911) and also has large clips which go fully through the mats to prevent them ever from coming free.

The fact that a CHP driver couldn't bring the car to stop does not leave much hope for an ordinary driver. I'm sure he did everything he could to try and stop the car. It's quite possible that the tranny doesn't let you shift into neutral in case you over-rev that precious toy-lexus engine. What a pity the brakes couldn't save them.

Horrible accident and a reminder how ordinary good people are needlessly killed every single day. Condolences to the family and may they all RIP.

— elduderion (View Profile)

Posted on 9/17/2009 11:55:23 PM | | Votes: 0   

At this point you don't really car about the engine blowing up...
Just put it in neutral, hold the brakes and the handbrake, try to avoid obstacles until the car stops.

— MSP6 (View Profile)

Posted on 9/17/2009 6:17:52 PM | | Votes: 3   

yes but if you keep a cool head like i did, you DO NOT have to sacrifice the engine. also, an engine wildly revving could be unnerving to the driver and occupants.

(if i recall, my nephew was REALLY rattled, and actually it was i who reached over and cut the ignition, and knew just the right time to switch it back on. and repeat until he learned how to do it.)

— XYZZ (View Profile)

Posted on 9/18/2009 9:16:20 PM | | Votes: 1   

Way to pick specifically German cars in your examples to reflect your bias for Jap motors. I didn't even bother to look at them.

I am suggesting that I do not believe the mats were responsible for this accident, and found another example of similar crash with a Lexus going way to fast for the conditions and crashing and burning. (SUV doing 120mph, on a road with tunnels?) In light of this CA wreck, that SUV crash might be looked at in a new perspective.

Please contine to post other german wreck pics to 'defend' the Lexus and japanese brands beyond any point of reason.

— elduderion (View Profile)

Posted on 9/19/2009 1:19:08 PM | | Votes: 0