Floor Mats and Vehicle Safety: A Cautionary Tale
On August 28, a California Highway Patrol officer and three family members were killed when their 2008 Lexus ES 350 careered off the road at 120 mph in Santee, California. According to a backseat passenger's 911 call, the throttle was stuck open and the brakes were unresponsive.
The Lexus was a loaner, and a post-crash inspection determined that it may have been equipped with floor mats that were a couple inches too long, meaning they could have slid forward and interefered with pedal operation. In response, Toyota/Lexus has ordered its dealers to inspect the floor mats in all of its vehicles.
We'll likely never know exactly what happened in that Lexus, but the incident serves as a sobering reminder that floor mats can be hazardous if not installed properly. Moreover, many drivers of older cars use aftermarket floormats that are not secured by clips -- these are inherently prone to sliding around. So be mindful of your floor mats and whether they have the potential to interfere with your footwork. With everything else you have to worry about on the road, the last thing you need is a floor mat getting in the way.
Josh Sadlier, Associate Editor
- Posted by
- Josh Sadlier September 16, 2009, 12:08 PM
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- Car Safety, Lexus, Toyota
I often wonder if just shoving the shifter into neutral would have prevented these deaths. The car would just bounce of the rev-limiter and eventually the brakes would cool and work again.
A driver of a standard transmission would instinctively push the clutch to disengage the engine.
Problem is, yellobal, is that we CAN'T blame the driver, oh no no NO!!! It HAD to be the car's fault.
It's a pretty sad state of affairs when these days you can actually blame a FLOOR MAT for a fatal crash like this and no one bats an eye. Sounds like a trial lawyer's wet dream.
Uh, you're telling me that he couldn't turn the ignition key and kill the ignition? Definitely a case of driver stupidity - er, please don't send the PC police after me for saying that.
^That Lexus has a push-button ignition. Button malfunction, maybe? Who knows.
-JS
neutral + handbrake.
This is why you are required to remove floor mats when participating in an autocross.
It's likely that the lawyers in all the other car companies are panicking as did Toyota. They should because if there are floor mats in their cars, supplied by the car maker or dealer as an authorized option, and they aren't anchored in some way, this can easily happen to their cars. It really doesn't have anything to do with the length of the floor mat....if they move, they can go over or under the pedal and cause problems.
I expect to see a few more "copycat" recalls in the VERY near future.