As you know, there have been too many serious incidents ending in severe injuries and deaths when Toyota vehicles suddenly speed up and the drivers cannot use the brakes to stop their vehicles. From the beginning (September 2009), Toyota blamed this uncontrollable speed on the floor mats-somehow the floor mat causes the gas pedal to get stuck in the down position.
This past week (December 2009), Toyota finally admitted, although not directly, that there is another defect. Toyota will now shorten the gas pedal and install a new brake system on some of 3.8 million vehicles recalled because of the risk they may accelerate without warning. This new brake will be offered on the Camry, Avalon and Lexus ES and IS models to ensure the car stops if both the gas and brake pedals are pressed at the same time.
Toyota is too late. Again, many injuries and deaths have occurred since September 2009 and Toyota is responsible and needs to be accountable.
A tragic example includes a family in San Diego, California. A San Diego County sheriff’s report says a customer complained of gas-pedal problems with a dealer’s loaner Lexus three days before the same car accelerated out of control and killed a California Highway Patrol officer and three of his family members. The customer told the dealership that the gas pedal on the Lexus was sticking, the same problem that led to the deadly crash. The crash killed 45-year-old Officer Mark Saylor, his wife, daughter and brother-in-law.
Don’t let Toyota ruin families for the sake of profits.