[Photo: The Lexus Enthusiast]

After the tragic vehicle accident that happened to a family of four last August while cruising on a highway in a Lexus ES350, the investigation about the floor mat problem that might have caused the accident gets more serious. The investigation has been fueled by many other complaints regarding the accelerator pedal getting stuck on the mat in several Toyota and Lexus models.

After further investigation involving the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Toyota is now working on its biggest vehicle recall. The recall will involve 3.8 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles:

According to Toyota spokesman Irv Miller, “A stuck open accelerator pedal may result in very high vehicle speeds and make it difficult to stop a vehicle, which could cause a crash, serious injury or death.”

Owners of the automobiles involved are advised to take out the floor mat in the driver’s side of their vehicle until the time when there’s already a solution to the problem.

[Photo: The Lexus Enthusiast]

Luxury cars may all be well-equipped with the safest of amenities, but it only takes a single mistake to get everything wrong. That seemed to be what happened to California Highway Patrol Officer Mark Saylor and three members of his family who died in a tragic vehicle accident while driving a Lexus ES350 that was loaned by a dealer while their car was being serviced—a road accident that could have possibly rooted from a simple floor mat mismatch.

The accident occurred last month, with the victims being able to call the police seconds before the crash to inform them that the accelerator was stuck and the brakes were not working.

Investigation of the accident revealed that the all-weather floor mat in the car was longer than the supposed mat for a Lexus ES350. It was believed to be a mat for another Lexus model, and it might have slipped and interfered with the accelerator pedal, thus the uncontrolled acceleration.

Because of the said accident, Toyota is instructing all its dealers to immediately and carefully inspect their vehicles and ensure that the floor mats used are correct for the vehicle and are properly placed to avoid similar accidents in the future.

It appears that this isn’t the first case of a floor mat problem involving a Lexus ES350 (although this seems to be the most fatal), as there have been previous complaints about unintended accelerations because of the same reason.

If you have a Lexus ES350 and you’re not sure about its floor mats or their placement, you must have your vehicle inspected at the dealership.

Vehicle crashes and other similar accidents are common scenes on the road. But just when we think they’ve been so common there’s nothing interesting about them anymore, there are just some accidents that will suddenly make us stop and say… what?!

Remember my post about the Audi and Ferrari crash in China last May?

The latest accident involving two renowned vehicles happened just last June 19, between a husband and a wife. A Senior Member of the Genesis Owners site, Zedbyers, posted about an accident that happened between him and his wife just after they have picked up his new car from the dealership—a Chevrolet Corvette Z06. Tsk tsk.

So what happened? The Genesis was driven by the wife, following the Vette. When the husband slowed down from 60 to 30 during the exit, the wife failed to notice and banged the Genesis right into the rear of the Corvette, which in turn hit another car. The result? $26,000 damage (26 grand for the Genesis and ten grand for the Corvette), excluding that of the other car. A high-end and luxurious car accident, indeed.

See photos below:

Nobody was harmed during the accident, but still…

Click here to follow the thread.

This crash happened in Fu Zhou, China just last May 25, involving two red exotic automobiles—an Audi R8 and a Ferrari 599.

There were actually three vehicles involved—the two exotic cars and a taxi. The taxi was in front, followed by the Ferrari, which was also being followed by Audi. The latter crashed into the back of the Ferrari when the Ferrari stopped because the taxi in front of it also stopped to pick up passengers.

Fortunately, there are no major physical injuries… Perhaps only hurt pride—especially on the part of the driver of the Audi, which suffered more damage than the Ferrari.

[Source: Wrecked Exotics]