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He'll be just fine so long as he installs them correctly (which the car in the accident didn't) and doesn't install them ON TOP OF the existing mats (which is what the car in the accident did).
It annoys me to no end Toyota is in the middle of a crazy expensive "recall" with a crappy fix (first zip ties for the floormats, now it's physically cutting gas pedals, eventually providing shorter pedals) for a problem that is entirely explained by user error.
And even after all the stupidity upon stupidity required for the problem to even happen, there'd have been no accident or death if the driver had been smart enough to just throw the car in neutral when it happened.
Most accidents are a combination of events. However, Toyota does recommend removing the drivers side mats in the interim, regardless of the fix.
snip
Quote:
In the meantime, owners of the involved vehicles are asked to take out any removable driver’s floor mat and not replace it with any other floor mat until they are notified of the vehicle-based remedy, as notified in the consumer safety advisory and the interim notice.
I'm sure they did, based on lawyer recommendations.
I suspect the discussion went a bit like this:
"Some idiot died because his incorrectly installed, not-meant-for-that-car floormat got stuck under his pedal and he didn't know how to put the car in neutral"
"Huh...better tell people to not use floormats at all. If you try to tell them to use them properly they'll obviously just screw it up and sue us."
There's nothing wrong with the OEM floormats if properly installed in the car for which they are intended however... as evidenced by the millions and millions and millions of folks who've been using them without killing themselves for years.
Sadly "user error" isn't an acceptable answer in the nanny state we're moving toward.... so if you bring your Lexus in anytime soon the dealer is going to want to saw off part of your accelerator as the current "interim" fix until they get new, shorter, pedals designed and manufactured to swap on.
from the link you provided-
Quote:
Initially, dealers will be instructed on how to reshape the accelerator pedal for the repair.
even more fun- they're gonna reflash the ECUs so that if you press the brake and the gas at the same time the gas input is ignored... goodbye being able to do a burnout at the track.
I'm sure they did, based on lawyer recommendations.
I suspect the discussion went a bit like this:
"Some idiot died because his incorrectly installed, not-meant-for-that-car floormat got stuck under his pedal and he didn't know how to put the car in neutral"
"Huh...better tell people to not use floormats at all. If you try to tell them to use them properly they'll obviously just screw it up and sue us."
There's nothing wrong with the OEM floormats if properly installed in the car for which they are intended however... as evidenced by the millions and millions and millions of folks who've been using them without killing themselves for years.
Sadly "user error" isn't an acceptable answer in the nanny state we're moving toward.... so if you bring your Lexus in anytime soon the dealer is going to want to saw off part of your accelerator as the current "interim" fix until they get new, shorter, pedals designed and manufactured to swap on.
That's nothing like the conversation they had. The answer is simple...
If it is reasonably forseeable that the "ordinary person" might improperly install the floor mats and that improper installation might result in an injury, then you make the change.
It's also a cost-benefit analysis. Lexus/Toyota obviously knows that the chances of this happening are fairly high (relatively speaking) otherwise they wouldn't make the change. Simply put, they have calculated that defending such law suits would cost more than the fix, which means they anticipate this happening quite a lot, with bad results.
If they thought this would happen only 1 time for every 10 million Toyota's on the road, I guarantee you there would be NO recall.
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2008 IS350 Starfire Pearl
JoeZ Intake & K&N Air Filter
That's nothing like the conversation they had. The answer is simple...
If it is reasonably forseeable that the "ordinary person" might improperly install the floor mats and that improper installation might result in an injury, then you make the change.
It's also a cost-benefit analysis. Lexus/Toyota obviously knows that the chances of this happening are fairly high (relatively speaking) otherwise they wouldn't make the change. Simply put, they have calculated that defending such law suits would cost more than the fix, which means they anticipate this happening quite a lot, with bad results.
If they thought this would happen only 1 time for every 10 million Toyota's on the road, I guarantee you there would be NO recall.
It only -has- only happened 1 in millions.
Like I said, for an accident to actually happen requires you to forget to secure the mat, use the wrong mat, have that mat get stuck in a very specific way, and not know how a car works (ie put it in neutral), all those things at the same time.
Use the correct mat....or install it correctly... or not get it stuck exactly that way....or throw it in neutral and stop the car... do any 1 of those and no accident.
However, since that one in millions accident had a recorded 911 call that got flogged all over the news, it made for very bad press for Toyota....
It also made for a lot of pressure on the govt. agency that looks into safety to "do something about it" so they pressured toyota on it as well.
Hence their insane over reactive response.
But realistically, if you improperly use a part not even meant for the vehicle, and something bad happens, that's not the fault of the people who built the car.
Like I said, for an accident to actually happen requires you to forget to secure the mat, use the wrong mat, have that mat get stuck in a very specific way, and not know how a car works (ie put it in neutral), all those things at the same time.
Use the correct mat....or install it correctly... or not get it stuck exactly that way....or throw it in neutral and stop the car... do any 1 of those and no accident.
However, since that one in millions accident had a recorded 911 call that got flogged all over the news, it made for very bad press for Toyota....
It also made for a lot of pressure on the govt. agency that looks into safety to "do something about it" so they pressured toyota on it as well.
Hence their insane over reactive response.
But realistically, if you improperly use a part not even meant for the vehicle, and something bad happens, that's not the fault of the people who built the car.
It doesn't matter if it happened only once, that is NOT the stick they measure it by. Trust me, I've litigated for and against auto manufacturers and have done risk assessment on such subjects (most notably I've done a lot of work of product liability claims vs. Ford and the Ford Explorer in particular).
Whether there was 1 incident or 100, they are assessing FUTURE RISK and the FUTURE COST. Toyota could give a rats ass about that 911 call or what everyone has heard. Toothpaste out of the tube can't be put back in.
However, they had an "in-house" risk assessment done on the possibility of defending future claims and realized that it would be more cost effective to effectuate a recall, rather than defend future law suits.
The reality is this, this might be a remote possibility (in occurring) but it is the type of incident that could warrant a big verdict by a jury (for a variety of factors). At the end of the day, if Toyota truly believed this might only happend 1 or 2 more times, they'd NEVER issue a recall.
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2008 IS350 Starfire Pearl
JoeZ Intake & K&N Air Filter
^^ wow, looks good. I don't know enough about mods to know the benefits of F-sport stuff, but I'm going to go out on a limb and assume they make your car a lot better.
thanks for sharing the new seats. My wife is already not excited about the new car and additional F-Sport equipment. I think I need to wait a few months . Yes, the F-Sport equipment is amazing! I highly recommend the air-intake
I just got an 06 IS350 on Monday, and brought it back to Oklahoma. Got it CPO from a dealer in Texas, and I'm pretty happy with it so far. No big mods planned for it, since it is my daily driver. After a few hundred miles on the road (lots of snow and ice here recently) it needs a good detailing and the front license plate frame removed.
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. Yes, the F-Sport equipment is amazing! I highly recommend the air-intake
