NHTSA Blames Unintended Acceleration Incidents On Floor Mat Design And Driver Incompetence

Couldn't help but notice there hasn't been a peep about Ford's unintended acceleration recall for MY 2001 and up.

People need to accept that they are just plain stupid rather than blaming everyone for their mistakes.

No, people aren't' stupid. It's really interesting how only Toyota/Lexus has been the only companies with this issue that has resulted in injuries and deaths. It is absolutely not the floor mats....nope!!!

The easy joke here is that Toyota/Lexus has the stupidest drivers of all behind the wheel (at least when it comes to driving skills) JK, but in reality with so many Toyotas out there one probably crashes every couple of minutes and once there was media hype I bet at least some drivers blaimed unintended acceleration rather than taking responsibility for pressing the wrong pedal.

''''all the negative and Mr. Toyoda is still back on top with no end in site!

Once upon a time people wrecking Audi's were busy suing for magically accelerating cars. Made for great news.
Could someone ask some better questions? On any given Sunday- why are the brake lights on during acceleration? Many people don't even know they're pushing the brake while they're accelerating. Then they brake when they see a curve on the highway. In a 65 zone? With nothing in front of them. Look out for that shadow! It's time to slow down.
Sometimes they miss that brake pedal. What other option do they have? The big tall pedal next to the brake pedal. Easy target. Usually a near miss. It won't be long before there's a camera recording where your feet are and how much force you are applying at any given moment while operating a car. Then the cars will drive for us and save us from ourselves.

For the record: The NHTSA, CSIs, a Government Inquisition, and even NASA could not find *ANY* defect that actually caused the alleged unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles, including the alleged floor mats or “sticky” accelerator pedals. NONE! That’s right. They ALL agreed they could find no defect, and like in the Audi unintentional acceleration debacle, the closing verdict stated the cause was “pedal misapplication,” which is a nice way of saying the driver was mashing the gas pedal when they *thought* they were standing on the brake.

Those are the facts, folks.

Meanwhile, there are those amongst us who “reason” differently. Their “reasoning” includes:
- “All those allegations can’t be wrong” (Yes they can, and they are, just like with Audi)
- “Why did it happen only in Toyotas?” (It didn’t...the press hyped the first few incidents, and then the rash of copies followed...other vehicles also have similarly misguided drivers, but they weren’t parts of a media frenzy, so you haven’t likely heard of them)
- “All those deaths and accidents HAD to be caused by a defect” (Nope. Virtually all accidents are caused by human error. Just like this fiasco. Not by mechanical defect.)
- “If there was no defect, then why did Toyota make all those changed?” (Because the Government Inquisition kept burning them at the stake, and told then we’ll call off the inquisition if you fix the problem (even though nobody can find one)...so Toyota did a lot of “fixing” to put an end to The Inquisition, even though the alleged unintended acceleration was never shown to be caused by any defect.)

You can believe whatever you want. That’s your choice. But you don’t get to choose the facts. They are what they are.

I have a feeling, Steve, that you have been explaining that exact line of reasoning for 3 years. I know I have. From Day 1. And I'll state it all again a hundred times.

Steve, Exactly!!!

NHTSA gets to say what Toyota was not allowed to say, although they knew it.