USAToday: Government study points up potential safety shortcomings in Toyota and Lexus models if accelerator sticks
As Toyota undertakes its largest recall ever starting with having 3.8 million owners remove the driver-side floor mats to keep them from jamming accelerators wide open, a government report from last year indicates many owners will likely have a terrible time trying to stop their cars in the event of a stuck gas pedal, fire or other emergency. as pedal, fire or other emergency. The report concerned National Highway Traffic Safety Administration tests on the Lexus ES 350, but the features it talks about can be found on some of the other six Toyota and Lexus models covered by last week's safety warning. The report said Lexus ES 350 owners would need 150 pounds of force, five times the normal foot pressure, to halt their speeding car. They likely would have trouble finding the neutral gear in an emergency. And the three seconds needed to turn off the engine by continuously pushing the keyless power stop-start button, found on many Toyota models, "is not widely known by owners." The three-second requirement is not even mentioned in the owner's manual. Yet one out of 10 of Lexus ES 350 owners surveyed said that they had experienced an instance of the accelerator becoming stuck open by floor mats creeping underneath. See the whole report by clicking here (PDF) ...more...