Over the last two months, floor mats have been responsible for recent car accidents.  One of those car accidents caused the wrongful death of off-duty California Highway Patrolman Mark Saylor and three of his family members.

Toyota Motor Corporation has blamed the car accidents on a products liability error involving floor mats that were not installed improperly.  When they aren’t installed right, the floor mats can jam the accelerator pedal.

UPDATE: Toyota has issued a recall for defective accelerators.

Our San Diego firm’s car accident attorneys know that after the Saylor crash Toyota issued the largest recall in the company’s history.  About four million vehicles were recalled in models and years spanning as far back as 2004.  Now, there are concerns that the floor mats aren’t the only reason why more car accidents could be possible.

In many Toyota cars, the mats are held together by two clips that can come loose.  Toyota offers the regular floor mat or another rubber version.  Both mats have a cutout around the accelerator.  The easiest fix according to Toyota is to remove the floor mat altogether, but some critics say that is only the beginning.

There is a possibility that Toyota’s braking systems, transmission and ignition could make it hard for drivers to correct unplanned or mistaken accelerations and recover.  Toyota critics also say the company’s computerized engine control system doesn’t have a mechanism that can cancel sudden acceleration.

One possible fix to the problem is to redesign the accelerator to make it harder to get caught by floor mats.  Another possible fix is to reprogram the engine’s computer to automatically cut power when a driver brakes while the gas pedal is pressed down.

Regardless of how the car accidents are caused, our car accident attorneys in San Diego want to know what Toyota is doing to prevent more car accidents.  Toyota as well as other auto makers have a responsibility to produce cars with as few flaws as possible.  This makes driving safer because a car accident can lead to serious injuries like whiplash or traumatic brain injuries or worse wrongful death.

When these personal injuries occur, it is hard to know where to turn to get the best medical attention, but you have many medical resources available to you and it is a smart idea to explore all your options before deciding on a specific kind of treatment.

Call us now at 1-800-655-6585 or click here for a free consultation with an experienced car accident attorney after you get into a car accident and find out how we can help you.  We speak English and Spanish, and we look forward to providing advice for your case.  No fee if no recovery.

About Michael Pines

Michael Pines is a former insurance company attorney who specializes in car accident injury. While he was an insurance attorney, he learned from behind the scenes on how insurance companies work and how they decided to pay injured people. Now that he works against insurance companies, Michael's inside knowledge has resulted in significant benefits to his clients injured in car accidents.