PLYMOUTH, Minn. -- Last month Toyota announced a recall of 3.8 million Toyotas and Lexus vehicles. The concern is over the potential for the accelerator to get stuck. Toyota says the problem is with the floor mats, a Plymouth, Minnesota resident says the company is on the wrong track.
Jeff Pepski will always remember the drive home from work February 3, 2009.
"My car accelerated from 60, 65-miles-per-hour upwards of 80 miles an hour almost immediately," Jeff says as he recounts the day.
He tried desperately to stop his Lexus ES350, pushing the accelerator down and pulling it up with his foot, but nothing worked.
"It was one of the most dangerous situations I've ever been in," says Jeff.
Ultimately Jeff did stop the car but others haven't been so lucky. Four people from the same family were killed in September near San Diego when the loaner Lexus they were driving suddenly accelerated.
A report out Monday in the Lost Angeles Times claims more than one-thousand Toyota and Lexus owners have reported sudden unintended acceleration issues since 2001. The crashes have resulted in at least 19 deaths, the article said.
"The question of unintended acceleration has been thoroughly investigated by the NHTSA engineering experts without any finding of defect other than an incompatible or unsecure driver's side floor mat," says Bob Daly, Toyota Motor Sales Senior Vice President.
The message was posted in a video on Toyota's website. The Company maintains this is not a mechanical problem, that floor mats are the issue, and has asked owners to remove driver's side mats until a permanent solution can be found.
"We are currently developing a remedy and will notify owners of these vehicles when it's ready to be implemented," Daly goes on to say.
Jeff Pepski doesn't agree with Toyota.
"The floor mat wasn't the cause of my incident," he says.
He has filed a petition with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and is hoping it will investigate the issue further.
A spokesperson for the NHTSA says removing the driver's side mats is simply an interim solution, and that Toyota is voluntarily working on a fix that involves the accelerator and floor pan design.
Once that happens, owners will be notified to bring their cars in for service, but until then, the case is certainly not closed.
The recall affects the following Toyota and Lexus make and models:
2007- 2010 Camry
2005- 2010 Avalon
2004- 2009 Prius
2005- 2010 Tacoma
2007- 2010 Tundra
2007- 2010 ES350
2006- 2010 IS250 and IS350
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