Have you removed your driver's side floor mat?

[efusco]

Regarding the recent recall involving the floor mats of many Toyota vehicles including the Prius.
I'm not planning to remove my floor mat any time soon. It's never slipped in 6 years of ownership of my '04, I'm careful to make sure the mat is secured with the hook, and I think there's an element of BS to this being the cause of unexplained accelerations. For the most part I think this may be as much CYA for Toyota as anything.

But, the recall is what it is and many people feel that safety first is the best policy no matter the logic.

So, the recall's been out for about 3 days now, just wondering how many have followed the recommendations.

[cwerdna]

I don't even have the factory Toyota mats. My dealer was able to yank them for me since I didn't want to pay for them.

On every/virtually every car my parents have had, we've either had aftermarket mats which don't even have hooks or had them on top of factory mats (supposedly even more dangerous per some news stories I've seen). We've never had any trouble w/accelerators getting stuck under them on any car. My mom's been driving since ~1979 and I've been driving since ~1991.

Are all aftermarket mats sold dangerous too? The vast majority of them don't even have hooks. Should they all be recalled and banned?

If there really is some problem, I think at least % of them weren't due to floor mats.

If I ever have an unintended acceleration, I know what to do: get on the brakes and shift to neutral.

[ceric]

The floormat theory (or should I say "hypothesis") is total BS.
Why don't other automakers have similar problems? Honda uses the same dual hook also.

It is probably the crappy pedal position sensors Toyota used, and they refuse to admit it still.
A floormat does not impose enough pressure on the pedal to accelerate a Lexus to 120mph and fry the brake in the process. Put your Prius in P and try it. It just isn't heavy enough. I call BS on this one.
You have to assume that a CHP officer is not automabile-challenged.

[rkskeet]

All: I agree with the above posts... This does not sound logical but as efusco mentioned it appears to be a CYA from Toyota.. I might say a very expensive CYA.. With the cost of a floor mat probably (and I am guessing) around $5 plus the 1 hour of dealer labor (ave $90/hr) charged back to Toyota, it is going to be a very costly activity for them.. So far, I have not had any mat problem with my 08 Gen II... Don't plan to remove the mat that is unless it needs a cleaning...

[spinkao]

I always make sure that it is properly installed and clipped back to the correct position whenever it was out. I am not going to remove it, it is pretty safe when installed properly. I really cannot imagine what is Toyota going to do with that - nail it down to the floor ?

I really don't think this is a car issue. The driver should be responsible enough and make sure it is installed properly before driving out.

[Shawn Clark]

There ain't no way in hell that the factory mat I have could cause the reported problem. I'm an engineer and until I see something that can explain how the floormat could move about 6 inches (with the current clips), depress the accelerator and cause this sort of problem, I will remained convinced that the CHP officer was a friggin' idiot.

[Mike Dimmick]

Originally Posted by ceric

The floormat theory (or should I say "hypothesis") is total BS.
Why don't other automakers have similar problems? Honda uses the same dual hook also.

It is probably the crappy pedal position sensors Toyota used, and they refuse to admit it still.
A floormat does not impose enough pressure on the pedal to accelerate a Lexus to 120mph and fry the brake in the process. Put your Prius in P and try it. It just isn't heavy enough. I call BS on this one.
You have to assume that a CHP officer is not automabile-challenged.

This photo from the NHTSA suggests that with a particular type of mat, the accelerator pedal can get wedged down:



I don't think this is a picture from an actual accident, though.

That said, I'd be surprised if this could happen with a cloth mat.

We have had reports of uncommanded accelerations but they have been frustratingly difficult to follow up on - as you would expect from some intermittent glitch. The closest we got was nylion's thread, where the OP eventually traded in the car with the problem. Since the sensors are magnetic, Hall-effect (after the 'big hand' syndrome caused by potentiometers on Gen 1) I recommended keeping electromagnetic fields out of the driver's footwell - don't put a bag containing the smart key or a mobile phone down there.

The shielding of the accelerator pedal sensor wiring is connected to a different ground point (IK) from the HV ECU's ground connections (IH). IK is way over on the left (RHD: right) of the car and IH way over on the right (RHD: left). Poor continuity could I think potentially cause some extra voltage to be induced, or the noise rejection to be affected - I'd be happier to see the shield on this cabling connected to ground at the ECU end, not to a faraway ground point on the other side of the chassis. I'd be surprised if it could induce the 2.4V necessary to change the interpretation of pedal position from fully-closed to fully-open, though.

It could also be cruise control enabled and the brake light switch, which cancels CC if pressed, not operating correctly.

[nascrlvr]

Good morning all......I agree with the doc also that this is a gigantic CYA move by Toyota. I checked "Eleanor's" clips yesterday just to make sure she was holding tight and she is. So, no I am not taking the mats out. Also checked the hubby's mats in his "09 Taco truck that is also under the notorious recall....same finding. All is well. I am curious though to see how Toyota fixes this!!!

[bobguynn]

We have an '09...haven't noticed any such issue. Further, our '05 Sienna seems to have the same floor mat attachment hook system installed and it wasn't on the recall list. Before I remove floor mats from any of our vehicles, I want to have a replacement available. Toyota's motives with this announcement are left open to question since they have no replacements available....Press releases seem cheaper than fixes.

[cheeper]

Not removing mine either! The mats stick to the floor and the cutout for the gas pedal is big enough not to interfere with the gas pedal.