IV. Background

The defect is the potential for an unsecured or incompatible driver's floor mat to interfere with the accelerator pedal and cause it to get stuck in the wide open position. A stuck open accelerator pedal may result in very high vehicle speeds and make it difficult to stop the vehicle, which could cause a crash, serious injury or death. Toyota has determined that this defect does not exist in vehicles in which the driver's side floor mat is compatible with the vehicle and properly secured.

To make it less likely that an unsecured or incompatible driver's floor mat can interfere with the accelerator pedal, dealerships are requested to do the following:

^ Modify the rigid plastic accelerator pedal (floor surface modification is not necessary on RAV4 vehicles).

^ If the vehicle is equipped with a set of optional genuine Toyota All Weather Floor Mats (AWFM), it must be inspected to determine if the AWFM set is of an older design. If it is, the older design AWFMs for the driver and the front seat passenger positions will be replaced with newly designed mats.

^ Before the vehicle is returned to the customer, inspect the front carpet and floor mat and clean them as appropriate.