Toyota Floor Mat of Death

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=8596131

In the above video (after the story on the Yale girl) there is a story about a accelerator peddle stuck by a floor mat. I do not want to speak ill of the victims but there must be more to this story.
In the time that the backseat passenger could place a 911 phone call, the trained driver (highway patrolman) could not get the mat cleared, the car turned off, downshifted, etc?

When floormats are outlawed, only criminals will have floormats.

My biggest question is why he didn't simply turn the engine off, or slam it into park/neutral. Damn the transmission. I can't help but think that Camry was an automatic.

I can see a few issues, if it was anything like the hyundai genesis, it wouldnt turn off unless it was stopped, so that wouldnt help. It wasnt his car, it was a dealer loaner, so he wouldnt have been used to it. The floormats were supposedly thick rubber ones, not the factory ones. I can still think of several ways the accident should have been able to be avoided, but ther is no way of knowing if there were any other factors that contributed to it.

Ugh...

Does it ever occur to people that they are stupid?

Hit the brakes - shut it off - put it in Neutral - park - E brake, dozens of things you could do.

I have been doing some reading on the topic and others are pointing at an "unintended acceleration"

Posted: 2009-09-17 18:51:37 Robert writes: I had a 2008 Camry SE V6. That I had high idle/surging problems with. I had the Camry looked at 2x. The first time they told me it was the mats. The second time it happened it was at start up that the rpms "pegged" out. I checked the mats and they were not the issue. I took it to the dealer and they "didn't know". 3rd time it happened I was in the car by myself (mechanically inclined and aware of the mat issue). When it happened, I immediately grabbed the mat and the car continue to race to 110 mph before I put it in N and turn the engine off. Toyota needs to own up to this problem. The mats may cause some of the problems. At least with mine it was not the issue. I ended up trading it in for a 2009 4cyl. I hope nobody gets killed in my old car. However, it is a matter of time and I would love to testify. Taken from the comments section of this article. http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/daily-news/090917-Toyota-Lexus-Dealers-Will-Inspect-Floor-Mats-After-Tragic-Accident/

Gee, love the last post...my Camry V6 almost killed me, so I traded it in for a 4 cylinder Camry. What, the 4 cylinders don't kill? they only maim?

But seriously, I can't help think that this issue (unintended acceleration) will only get WORSE as cars with "drive by wire" get older.

Yeah, call me a luddite, but trusting electrons with my throttle, brakes or steering makes me nervous.

You have assumed that it was Camry 6cyl to Camry 4cyl. Yes, it could be true but the writer just states 2009 4cyl. It could have been a 2009 Nissan Altima.

I too, will only trust relatively stationary electrons. Those electrons that go zipping along just don't do the same thing all of the time.

I tried arguing that point with an EE (I am a ME) and he claimed that the hole that the company didn't have to drill the firewall hole more than made up for the extra sensors, programming, testing, motors and wiring in a drive by wire setup. I think they probably do it for some other reason emissions related.

Not for me thanks, I'll take my old-fashioned cable that closes the throttle when it breaks.

I had an issue where my clutch pedal was catching the mat. 2 things: 1. It was probably my fault because i mounted my sparco pedals a bit low on the oem pedal stalks. (yes, my ricer phase) 2. seeing it catch once or twice was enough for me so I have been driving without a floormat for the last 40000 miles.

my point is, any halfwit should feel if the pedals are contacting the floormat, and it should raise a mental red flag immediately. There were several ways to avoid what happened.

More than once I have seen 'it idles too high' issues caused by floor mats. The bad part: when you show people what was causing it, they have a tendency to get embarrassed and then they want to kill the messenger.

I also had a floor mat make an accelerator stick in a 300ZX, that scared the crapola out of me. I killed the ignition and narrowly missed the car in front of me.

And I too am a drive by wire Luddite. Something about that just worries the hell out of me, I guess it's all the times I have seen RC car servos do weird things for no discernible reason. For instance: what happens if the alternator barfs while you are driving at night and the battery voltage drops way low while you are driving?

That video seems like something out of The Onion.

Oh that, no big deal, the CAR GOES LEFT!

Is that a problem?

Jensenman wrote: More than once I have seen 'it idles too high' issues caused by floor mats. The bad part: when you show people what was causing it, they have a tendency to get embarrassed and then they want to kill the messenger. I also had a floor mat make an accelerator stick in a 300ZX, that scared the crapola out of me. I killed the ignition and narrowly missed the car in front of me. And I too am a drive by wire Luddite. Something about that just worries the hell out of me, I guess it's all the times I have seen RC car servos do weird things for no discernible reason. For instance: what happens if the alternator barfs while you are driving at night and the battery voltage drops way low while you are driving?

I place the blame squarely on the car not having a clutch pedal.

Also, in order for the pedal to become wedged under the floor mat, would it have been necessary for the pedal to be fully depressed? If we can then assume that the pedal was fully depressed, does that not then place more suspicion on the driver for causing the subsequent accident?

Related DSM tidbit. The accelerator cable has a plastic sheath inside that eventually becomes brittle and breaks, sliding out. When it does, it can wedge the throttle open making the engine rev uncontrollably. Happened to me many years ago.

I had a friend who was driving his girlfriends Toyota (one of those small SUV ones) that had the accelerator stick while getting on the freeway (also in SoCal BTW, along the 101 freeway). It wasn't a drive by wire though, the accelerator cable had frayed at the throttle body preventing it from returning. I am really surprised that did not generate some sort of recall, the car was not that old.

I don't think he was at full throttle, but he was able to keep the speed down with the brakes but they will of course eventually overheat. He managed to get the car over and set it up so he could kill the engine and coast to a stop.

Two things to consider with killing the engine. One, you loose a lot of braking power as your brakes now become non-powered. Two, you have to be careful not to lock the steering! I remember a story of that happening in a Ferrari, the accelerator stuck, he killed the car but locked the steering and ran into a parked car. (I think that may have been a rock star, maybe Sammy Hagar?)

My car stuck at full throttle once during an autocross (had some ill advised throttle shaft seals on the secondary carbs). After making a somewhat spectacular doughnut, I finished the course by turning the ignition on and off. The benefit of simple ignition, no power steering, no power brakes and no locking steering wheel.

This also reminds me of something I feel strongly about with aviation: Learn how (and when) to crash! (or sacrifice the vehicle). I mean come on, there have been quite a few people killed by trying to save some damage to their plane ( maybe cars also). What is more important to you, your plane / car, or your life!?

Usually the vacuum brakes work for 2-3 good stops before you're boned.

OK, good to know...

Armitage wrote: Also, in order for the pedal to become wedged under the floor mat, would it have been necessary for the pedal to be fully depressed? If we can then assume that the pedal was fully depressed, does that not then place more suspicion on the driver for causing the subsequent accident?

Yes! I was thinking the same thing too.

Why not just hit the brakes? I can't imagine any universe where a camry can overpower it's brakes at WOT.

alex wrote: Yeah, call me a luddite, but trusting electrons with my throttle, brakes or steering makes me nervous.

Me too.

Armitage wrote: Also, in order for the pedal to become wedged under the floor mat, would it have been necessary for the pedal to be fully depressed? If we can then assume that the pedal was fully depressed, does that not then place more suspicion on the driver for causing the subsequent accident?

By this logic (which I do figure is tongue-in-cheek) this board is likely FULL of suspicious characters.

There has certainly not been a day (of driving) since I started driving when I did not use full throttle at some point.

Clem

TOYOTA FLOOR MAT OF DEATH

sounds like a good movie title...

New autocross class FMOD. Floor Mat of Death. You basically have to make the run wide open!

Wires, cables ... blech.

I like rods and bellcranks.

Wait ... that doesn't sound right.

Seen several recalls from various mfgs for this problem, and the double mat o' death where winter mats are placed over regular mats.