Toyota officially recalled its 2004-09 Prius hybrid models last November for floor mat issues – including both models involved in the latest cases of unintended acceleration – but the Japanese automaker is reportedly still working on a complete fix to the floor mat problem.
Toyota recalled 4.26 million Prius models in November for floor mats that could potentially entrap the vehicle’s accelerator pedal. Toyota said the recalled vehicles would receive reshaped accelerator pedals and new floor mats but, nearly five months later, Toyota has yet to begin its Prius repairs.
Some Prius models received zip-ties to keep the floor mats from slipping under the accelerator pedal, but that is far from a final solution. Toyota is still working on a complete fix for the accelerator problem, but it remains to be seen when that solution will be made available to customers. Toyota is hopeful it will have a fix for the problem “sometime this year”.
Although floor mat entrapment has not been ruled the cause of unintended acceleration incidents in California and New York, it remains possible that the lack of a concrete fix was responsible for the cases. More details should come to light in the next few days as the NHTSA and Toyota take closer looks at the two most recent cases.
References
1. ‘Toyota still working…’ view
