Have you removed your driver's side floor mat?

[yadax3]

We have OEM all-weather mats in both of our cars and the Gen II driver's mat comes within an inch of the bottom of the accelerator whereas the Gen III mat has plenty of clearance around the pedal on the left and underneath. If the Gen II mat were to come loose from its hooks and slip even a little I can see where it could interfere with the accelerator.

We have no intention of removing the mat from our Gen II but we'll probably be more vigilant about insuring the mat stays secured from now on. And if Toyota wants to give us a replacement mat, all the better.

That said, I don't understand why so many people are ticked off about this issue. Warning people about a potential safety hazard a generally a good thing. Of course Toyota is covering their hind quarters. Corporations rarely do anything without financial incentive but so what?

[David Beale]

Pearl came with the Toyota carpet mats, drivers side clipped in (so well, it's hard to remove for cleaning and is hard to re-install properly, which may be the problem!). If I get a recall in the mail I'm not going to let them take my mats until they have something better at no cost. They have -never- slipped, and I don't think they -could- jam the pedal (I tried repeatedly after hearing about the woman who burned her brakes a few years ago - including folding the mat and trying to wedge it around the pedal - no way could I get any jamming action).

I have soft rubber winter mats from the anti-Prius (aftermarket - the anti-Prius was a 2001 Nissan Pathfinder LE AWD). I put them in on top of the carpet mats and even then there is no jamming action with two winters use so far.

Soooo, I must conclude you have to be -very- clever to jam the pedal. The cop who died, so sorry, but why didn't he just shut off the ignition if he was so clever? If they had time to phone 911 and ask for help there was plenty of time to actually -think-. Darwin in action?

[usbseawolf2000]

No, I am not going to remove mine. It is installed correctly and I always put both clips in whenever I clean it.

[dogfriend]

I like to live on the edge with my dangerous floor mat.

[PriusLewis]

Originally Posted by dogfriend

I like to live on the edge with my dangerous floor mat.

I second that. Let's start the "extreme sport" of driving a Prius with a floor mat! We can have "slam the pedal down" competitions to see if they catch, and intentionally wad up the mat so the pedal sticks and perform the dangerous and risky "hold the power button down for 3 seconds" manouver that seems to be beyond the capability of even the most professional drivers. Maybe we can get on a sports channel somewhere as "professional athletes" (like those most athletic of professionals, bass fisherman). It will probably get outlawed, and we'll have to go underground like base jumpers, practicing our extreme sport of Driving-With-The-Mat as social outlaws.

[Rae Vynn]

Both DH and I did some serious looking at our floor mat situation, and decided that there is no way the mat is any sort of threat to the accelerator pedal.

It's staying.

[a_gray_prius]

I removed my stock floormats when I put in the molded/heavy-duty/whatever weathertech mats in.

[finman]

Jesus Christ this is stupid. Floor mats? C'mon people. Is this where we are now as a species? Floor mats are picking us off. Wow. what next, cupholders are throwing us down? completely and utterly ridiculous. And it wasn't even a stock OEM Toyota mat at fault? Okay, I'm finished here, got an errand to run in my death machine...

[skruse]

I have double carpet mats (one set from my previous 2005) plus a Toyota black rubber mat in all four sections of the floor. They do not move or slip, help keep things clean. The triple thickness absorbs sound and helps keep the interior quiet. I'll keep mine.

[spinkao]

Originally Posted by dogfriend

I like to live on the edge with my dangerous floor mat.

Yay, I'm gonna place a sticker saying "I have a MAT in my Prius!" on my rear bumper . Complete with the urinating "No-Respect" boy .

On the more serious note, I agree that it is a good thing that this issue is brought to attention - at least people will check their mat instalation, hopefully...

And I am also still horrified by the Lexus-crash - four innocent people died, and whatever we might think about the abilities of the driver, we definitely shouldn't laught at *that*.