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Toyota Recall Update: Your Car’s Floor Mats AND Gas Pedal Can Kill You!

toyota-recall-by-minds-eye.jpg As an update to a story we reported on earlier (How Your Car’s Floor Mats Could Kill You), I saw 2 new reports on the same topic this morning.

Both CBS and ABC provided updates to Toyota’s original floor mat recall on their morning news broadcasts.

Following are the videos which highlight yet another related Toyota recall — this one pertains to cars’ gas pedals.

First up, the report that aired on CBS this morning…

Their video provides a rather dramatic real-life example on a test course showing how a car’s brakes are completely ineffective when the gas pedal is fully depressed. Unfortunately, the gas pedal is wired to override the brake pedal in most vehicles.

Good news: Beginning with next year’s Toyota vehicles, this will no longer be the case. The brake pedal will be re-wired to take precedence over the gas pedal. *Thank goodness!*

 

The Takeaways:

#1 Unintended acceleration can happen to anyone driving any vehicle.

#2 If it happens to you, put your foot on the brake. Put the car in neutral. Then turn off the engine. (This video provides greater detail on what exactly you should do if your car is accelerating out of control, plus advice to practice this routine now… before you need it.)

 

Here’s another take on the same story from ABC News.  The end result: Toyota is voluntarily recalling 2.3 million vehicles due to an accelerator problem. (There’s a video in that report worth watching.)