Insane (but tragic) floor mats/car safety story -

JWoods

I don't know how legitimate - we do not yet have a good link - but here it is: (from a car forum I go to) -

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heard on the radio today,a loaner lexus crashed ,killing 4 on board,driver was an off duty cop,going 120+ into an intersection hit an other car,driver was on phone with 911 ,were he said no brakes[witnesses said fire was coming out of the wheels,like driver had brakes full on],prelim says dealer installed floormats jammed gas pedal on,,car had no ignition key just a pushbutton start,,sad,but my only thought is why didn't he put the shifter into nuetral ?

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Most of the California posters seem to be believing that this is the real thing. Some have claimed recalls on other makes on floormats/no-key ignition systems. Me? I dunno - seems like it would have easily made the weird news page on MSNBC or a TV program if real.

However, the exact thing happened to me with a 1970s era Corvette. Turning off the key of course put things back in order. Wonder what happens on these new pushbutton start cars if you really really want things shut down in a hurry?

bluecanary

I'm a little confused about what happened here, but it reminds me of something that happened to me: I drove someone else's car and almost rolled out into traffic because I couldn't get the brake to go down--one of the floor mats had gotten shoved back and rolled up under the pedal. I was able to pull it out in time. Ever since then, I always make sure my mats stay in place.

sir82

I saw the news story on ABC, I think. They played the 911 call, up to the point of impact. But likewise, I wondered why it would have been so impossible to shift into neutral at the first sign of trouble, rather than waiting until the car reached 120 mph.

Satanus

I always get rid of driver side floormats.

S

JWoods

I saw the news story on ABC, I think. They played the 911 call, up to the point of impact. But likewise, I wondered why it would have been so impossible to shift into neutral at the first sign of trouble, rather than waiting until the car reached 120 mph.

I would suppose failure to recognize what was happening to him until high speed (being a loaner, sad to say, maybe doing a little "test run"?) - I cannot believe that this transmission could have been made in such a way that there was no emergency way to get into neutral...for sure that would be what I would have reached for instead of a cell phone...deal is, being a cop, probably he had more high-speed driving instruction than the ordinary person - and it still was not enough for this case. If you already had 120+, and then just mashed down full brakes (with full throttle still on), I would certainly think the brakes would gass out, glaze, and catch on fire instead of stopping you short of disaster. No matter how expensive or "safe" the car. Of course, American Legal Reality will soon be at work and blame BOTH Lexus and the Dealer involved. Probably the owner of the Lexus as well. Remember the mess that AUDI got into in the 1980s after several elderly drivers got on the gas instead of the brake and crashed - claiming of course that the brakes failed and "the engine ran away with the car"...?

daniel-p

I have had my floor mats mess with how far i could compress the brake pedal, but no where near a life-threatening situation, since I didn't have to slam on them at any point. The solution, is to find smaller floor mats or simply cut out a piece of your old one to make sure it won't interfere.

BizzyBee

Horrible.

http://www.sandiego6.com/mostpopular/story/Santee-CHP-officer-Saylor-killed-Lexus-accelerator/AzYjOhtvFE2mIuxTtxrK4Q.cspx

VoidEater

I had a similar problem with a Plymouth.

On Audi: IIRC, the main problem was a stupid design decision to make the gas and brake pedals the same shape and height, making it easier to confuse the two. I saw the "60 minutes" segment on it.

Push button cars can be easily turned off, just hold the button in. Auto trannies can be shifted to neutral.

Mismatched floor mat implicated: http://www.leftlanenews.com/mismatched-floor-mat-implicated-in-catastrophic-lexus-crash.html

Lexus and Toyota nationwide inspection: http://www.ksby.com/Global/story.asp?S=11166009

Some floor mats were recalled in 2007 for the problem of jamming accellerators. If the dealer indeed installed a mismatched mat and this caused the problem, I have no difficulty in them being found responsible (at least to some degree) for the accident.

JWoods

Hate to say it, but should we merge this one with the "Do you trust the Police" thread?

It did occur to me that this could have been the next guy up for the usual weekly California high speed chase...

undercover

Too much wrong here...

An off duty cop should've known (technically all drivers should know, but cops deal with pressure situations more than the average soccer mom) to knock it into neutral or hit the kill switch. Okay, it's push button start...no key...you still have to be able to shut the engine off.

Brakes are more powerful than the power to the drive wheels. How do you do burnouts?

Insane (but tragic) floor mats/car safety story -

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