By Ranjan Bhaduri
Sept 30, (THAINDIAN NEWS) Toyota Motors is set to begin its biggest recall of vehicles in the US to prevent removable floor mats from sliding and causing accelerator pedal jamming, an event which may have been responsible for four death in a runaway Lexus.

The auto manufacturer on Tuesday asked the owners of all its vehicles to remove the floor mat from the driver’s side, saying that an official notice will be sent out to them early next week. The recall comes after the federal government issued a safety alert on Toyota Motors’ Toyota and Lexus models owing to 13 crashes, 5 deaths and 17 injuries.

Toyota had had issues with sliding floor mats in the past when it had to recall the all-weather floor mats in its 2004 model Prius that became loose and interfered with the pedals in Toyota Camrys and Lexus ES 350s. The company warned its clients not to use replaceable paper mats either because these two can slide and cause safety issues while driving. It said it was working on providing on a replacement mat or any other feasible solution and requested its clients to follow the notification and remove the floor mats from the driver’s side till fresh alternatives are announced.

The recall was also prompted by the fact that many of these car models have power on/off buttons that need to be pressed for at least three seconds to start or stop the engine, and may get exceedingly hazardous in the event of a floor mat sliding to interfere with the working of the throttle pedal.