Toyota to Recall 2004 to 2009 Prius Cars -- It's Another Floor Mat Issue

On Tuesday, Toyota Motor Corp. said that hundreds of thousands of Priuses currently in use will be recalled to prevent floor mats from pinning down the gas pedal. However, according to Toyota spokesman Brian Lyons, the recall hasn't yet been issued because Toyota "hasn't developed the remedy yet."

In November 2009, the automaker recalled several models, including the Toyota Camry and Avalon, as well as the Lexus ES sedan in order to reshape the floor and gas pedals to prevent unsecured or poorly fitting floor mats from entrapping the pedal in an open position. As a part of that recall, Toyota now says that Prius hybrids from model years 2004 to 2009 will be recalled in the future to address the same problem.

Toyota is advising owners of those Priuses which fall in those model years to remove their floor mats in the meantime. From the 2004 to 2009 model years, Toyota sold 745,000 Priuses.

This recall follows an incident which occurred Monday in California, when the driver of a 2008 Prius called police when his car would not slow down on a San Diego County highway. James Sikes, 61, has been driving on the busy I-8 freeway when he noted that his car began to accelerate on its own. The car flew across the roads going more than 90mph, with the driver left helpless. Using a loudspeaker, police officers talked the motorist through the process of slowing down his vehicle using the emergency brake and then turning of the engine.

As the car decelerated and rolled to a stop, cops put the rear bumper of their squad car against the front of the Prius. On Monday, Toyota was also giving a demonstration designed to disprove allegations that problems with its electronics may cause cars to speed out of control.

Update: Toyota has issued a response to this report by stating:

Toyota Responds to Inaccurate Reports of Future Prius Recall for Floormat Entrapment
Media reports, citing a Wall Street Journal article, have incorrectly reported that Toyota plans to announce a new recall for the 2004-2009 Prius to address the potential risk for floor mat entrapment of accelerator pedals.

There is no new recall being planned for the Prius to address this issue. To be clear, the 2004-2009 Prius was part of Toyota’s November 2, 2009 announcement of a voluntary safety recall campaign to address floor mat entrapment in certain Toyota and Lexus vehicles. This announcement can be found at our press room at: http://pressroom.toyota.com/pr/tms/lexus/toyota-begins-interim-notification-112086.aspx.

Other models involved in this previously-announced recall include 2007-2010 Camry, 2005-2010 Avalon, 2005-2010 Tacoma, 2007-2010 Tundra, 2007-2010 ES 350, 2006-2010 IS 250, and 2006-2010 IS 350. On January 27, 2010, Toyota expanded the campaign to include the 2008-2010 Highlander, 2009-2010 Corolla, 2009-2010 Venza, 2009-2010 Matrix and 2009-2010 Pontiac Vibe.

The remedy process for these vehicles began at the end of 2009 and is occurring on a rolling schedule during 2010. Owners of the involved vehicles that have not yet been remedied are asked to take out any removable driver’s side floor mat and not replace it with any other floor mat.

Owners who have further questions are asked to visit www.toyota.com or www.lexus.com or contact the Toyota Customer Experience Center at 1-800-331-4331 or Lexus Customer Assistance at 1-800-255-3987.