The letter, in compliance with the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act and reviewed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) also confirms that no defect exists in vehicles in which the driver’s floor mat is compatible with the vehicle and properly secured.
After conducting an extensive technical review of the issue, including interviews with consumers who had complained of unwanted acceleration, NHTSA concluded that “…the only defect trend related to vehicle speed control in the subject vehicles involved the potential for accelerator pedals to become trapped near the floor by out-of-position or inappropriate floor mat installations.”
Consumers in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex that would like to have their vehicles inspected can contact Rene Isip's Toyota of Lewisville at 469-671-5500.
Steve DeWitt, General Manager of the dealership, said, "First and foremost, we want to make sure that our customers and their families are safe. The recent findings continue to reinforce what we already know--Toyota's are still of the highest quality.”
Randy Frazier, Fixed Operations Director for Toyota of Lewisville added, “We are delivering quick, no-cost inspections so that customers can confirm that the mats are properly installed and get back on the road again. Safety is our top priority."
This is the sixth time in the past six years that NHTSA has undertaken such an exhaustive review of allegations of unintended acceleration on Toyota and Lexus vehicles and the sixth time the agency has found no vehicle based cause for the unwanted acceleration allegations.
“The question of unintended acceleration involving Toyota and Lexus vehicles has been repeatedly and thoroughly investigated by NHTSA, without any finding of defect other than the risk from an unsecured or incompatible driver’s floor mat,” said Bob Daly, TMS senior vice president.
“Toyota takes public safety seriously. We believe our vehicles are among the safest on the road. Our engineers are working hard to develop an effective remedy that can help prevent floor mat interference with the pedal. As soon as it is ready, we will notify owners of the relevant models to bring their vehicle to a dealer for the necessary modification at no charge,” Mr. Daly added.
The Toyota letter is an interim notice to owners of a future voluntary safety recall campaign. The following models are affected:
2007 – 2010 Camry
2005 – 2010 Avalon
2004 – 2009 Prius
2005 – 2010 Tacoma
2007 – 2010 Tundra
Until Toyota develops a remedy, it is asking owners of affected Toyota and Lexus models to take out any removable driver’s floor mat and NOT replace it with any other floor mat.
The Toyota letter also informs owners of what to do if they experience accelerator pedal interference, general floor mat warnings and proper floor mat application information. Owners who have further questions are asked to visit www.toyota.com/
