Deadly floor mats + zip ties = quick fix for Toyota *Update*

[nissangirl74]

Sorry if this is a repost, but you have to see this. Toyota is fixing their floor mat problem by simply zip-tieing the mats to the driver's seat frame. I'm sure the people driving a brand new Lexus are loving that idea.

They should have bought a Nissan. Every Nissan we own has a clip in the floor board to secure the floor mats and keep them from sliding. Hell, even the 1967 WRL411 has clips to hold the mats in place!



http://blogs.thecarconnection....-ties

Your thoughts?

[MinisterofDOOM]

Psh, I'm sure they never wanted to wash their floor mats anyway.

As for mat clips...Nissan's version sucks. The one on the driver side of my Maxima is actually embedded permanently in the floor.

I think my Ford provided the best solution to this issue:It did not have floor mats. It had a rubber floor. Easy to clean, doesn't move. Lexus owners should love it.

[boro drift]

My old man's '99ES 300 had clip in floor mats. Toyota got rid of them?

[ADDirishboy]

Awesome. Very nice Toyota.

[Gold Digger]

I have those clips in my GT-R, but for some reason, the driver side doesn't hold well. I have to re-clip it about once every couple of days, more if I drive it more often. Really gets annoying.

[nissangirl74]

I'd take the floor mats out completely before I'd zip-tie them. That's just ghey.

[mRodiek]

lol manufacturers making mistakes and cheaping out....

Google: Ford Pinto explosion

In some incidents when the car was at a stop with its left turn signal, if the Pinto is rear ended, it will cause the gas tank to explode causing injuries and possible death. To solve tthis problem would have cost Ford $13 per car or sometthin like that

Also see: Ford Explorer roll over.

[Razi]

My stock 240sx floor mats have metal rings for removable hook things on the floor. They rock.

Why does Lexus not have those? The floor mats I got from Pepboys constantly move since they do not have the rings, so I zip tied them to the hooks.That's pretty ghetto for Lexus.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Google: Ford Pinto explosion

Also see: Ford Explorer roll over.

Both of those examples were really non-issues that were blown WAY out of proportion by the media.

[RCA]

Also see: Ford Explorer roll over.

Both of those examples were really non-issues that were blown WAY out of proportion by the media.

Wait, what?

[MinisterofDOOM]

The whole Explorer/Firestone fiasco was a media mishandling. It was USER ERROR, not Ford's or Firestone's fault. And the stupidest part is that the media's mishandling led to more government mandated nannytech: the tire pressure monitoring system.

If you look into it, a LOT of highly publicized automotive recalls are media blowups. A lot of recalls are actually enacted to PREVENT the media from mishandling related information. Sort of a preventative measure before the fire.

[hvp014]

Zip Ties save lives

words to live by

[MinisterofDOOM]

Zip ties end lives, too. They make great garrotes...

[Red coupe]

I am all for bashing toyota, but this thread would be much better if you bothered to figure out what your talking about, considering the floor mats in toyotas being recalled have hooks too.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Apparently they suck like the ones in my Maxima if they need zip ties to work correctly.

[Red coupe]

Apparently they suck like the ones in my Maxima if they need zip ties to work correctly.

tbh I really just think this is a case of stupid people and over reacting.

It covers like a 5 year+ span of camrys, and a bunch of other vehicles. That is A LOT of cars, and there are very few incidences.... I wouldn't be surprised if the few cases of this happening were also the ones were the people had recently cleaned their car, and couldn't figure out what those hook thingies were on the floor...

[MinisterofDOOM]

I'm sure you're right.

But that's fine. I enjoy the idea of utterly incompetent Camry and Lexus owners much more than poorly designed floor mat clips.

[Jesda]

I am all for bashing toyota, but this thread would be much better if you bothered to figure out what your talking about, considering the floor mats in toyotas being recalled have hooks too.

The original issue didn't have anything to do with the hooked OEM floor mats you're talking about anyway. Toyota expanded the original safety campaign on its own to make sure everyone had their mats checked, to avoid fatalities and lawsuits.

[AE240SX]

It blows my mind how ridiculous this is. I understand the need to check the cars out and fix a possible problem, as mats under pedals can be a serious problem. But only if you don't know how to deal with it. For people to have actually died or been injured because of this is almost pure stupidity. If the mat gets stuck under gas pedal and car starts accelerating, put the vehicle in NEUTRAL!!!!!! As a watcher of Myth Busters I know that under the right circumstances anything is possible but really? Death by floormat has to qualify for a Darwin Award. The slobbering masses have to be protected from themselves by big bro and we smart ones get to deal with the consequences.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Yeah. Modern anti-darwinism at it's best. Stupid people who die from stupidity are supposed to die. If you can't figure out the many ways to stop the car aside from letting off the gas (like the BRAKE?!) I won't miss you. Get out of my gene pool. And take your ES350 with you.

[Jesda]

Get out of my gene pool. And take your ES350 with you.

That's probably the quote of the year.

[marlin29311]

Yeah. Modern anti-darwinism at it's best. Stupid people who die from stupidity are supposed to die. If you can't figure out the many ways to stop the car aside from letting off the gas (like the BRAKE?!) I won't miss you. Get out of my gene pool. And take your ES350 with you.

The guy did use his brakes actually - that's what started the fire - overheating the brakes with the accelerator jammed up...

Now all he had to do was put the damn thing in neutral...this should be like, driver education stuff here....I don't give a crap about the exact way I should execute a 3 point turn, I'd rather know how to save my life if my car goes crazy...

[hachiroku781]

I really don't understand toyota now, seems like every year something goes wrong with millions of cars they sell. i miss the old fun toyota.

[numbnuts240]

i miss the old fun toyota.

it's still around, but they renamed it "mazda".

[darens13]

i would just secure my floormats by running drywall screws right through the floor.

[s0m3th1ngAZ]

Well..having worked as a detailer at a Toyota dealer this year, I have no idea where this is coming from. All models of their cars had those hooks and all of them worked just fine for the half mile between the detail shed and the service drive I had to drive them. So it's prolly just stupid people??

[nissangirl74]

Here's an update. Looks like there are roughly 3.8 million people affected by the recall.

http://blogs.thecarconnection....Blogs)

[Jesda]

Lets hope this scares Camry and Prius owners into parking their cars and taking the bus. Traffic flows much better without them.

[s0m3th1ngAZ]

Like I said before...I dealt with having to remove floormats in near brand new lexi and yotas on a daily bases to detail them and they are attached quite well. So this recall boggles my mind.

[s0m3th1ngAZ]

Lets hope this scares Camry and Prius owners into parking their cars and taking the bus. Traffic flows much better without them.

That's wierd...usually all the prius drivers I see drive like they own an oil feild. They must think because they drive the "most effecient" car on the road they can put the petal to the chinzy carpet.That's my experience anyways. Subaru drivers, minus WRX and modified, are the worst drivers here.