Very sad story. I hope they get to the bottom of it so it doesn't happen again. FWIW, the RX loaner I had last week from the dealer had clear plastic mats. So it's possible some dealers change them out to preserve the originals.

 

Very sad story, the loss of a family is tragic. May they rest in peace in Gods hands.

 

lol

engine power will just cook the brakes.

also we dont know yet if it was the floormats that caused the malfunction.

 

If it's the same issue, all he needs to do is to remove the carpeted mats from underneath the all-weathers, then use the floor anchors to hold down the all-weather mats in place.

 

Well since the guy was a highway patrol officer, I would assume he isn't your average driver, and I would think he would know to try putting the vehicle into neutral. Lets wait for more details in the investigation.

 

I've never seen a car so powerful as to be able to overcome the brakes. NEVER! It is a tragic story, though.

 

When this issue first surfaced, a lot of auto engineers said the same thing - The brakes will stop a car under full throttle. They'll be toast but the vehicle will stop.

It's no consolation to the family though.

 

Yes, I want to see the conclusion after a full investigation and hopefully we will understand root cause after that.

 

I just don't understand how one could have the where-with-all and time to make a 911 call but NOT to shift into neutral. It'd be one thing if they were coming up to a light from highway speeds and all of the sudden the accelerator stuck. Otherwise, it is practically effortless to just bump the shift *** up to neutral

Leads one to believe that A SERIOUS malfunction just had to occur... ESPECIALLY considering it was a highway patrol officer.

In any event, I hope Lexus gets to the bottom of this and issues any necessary safety recalls soon.... even if it means I have to live with clunky sway bars for a while longer.

 

Sad to hear, but I know of my car it has anchors to hold the floor mats in place. I have the all weather set in right now.

 

Man the same thing happened to my brother in law but luckily he walked out minor injuries in his 2007 Jeep Cherokee. He put his car into neutral and tried shutting ignition but it kept accelerating getting up to 100MPH. Finally instead of rear ending somebody he decided to take it into ramp divider with the plastic bins. He's saying investigators claim it to be a faulty accelerator cable.

 

This happened to me over the weekend in a Lexus ES350 loaner as well, from another dealer. I knew exactly what was going on, but only because I read about the recall of the AW floormats. I was able to yank the mat out, which had slid forward and under the accelerator, to slow the vehicle down, but believe me, it was NOT possible to shift into neutral. I had no idea you had to hold the start button for 3 seconds to shut the vehicle off while driving (which Lexus probably fees is a safety feature in and of itself). I do, however, find it disturbing that there is a 3 second delay - if I need to shut my car off while moving, it needs to be instantaneous because there's an emergency! I will venture a guess here: AW floormats are expensive and not likely an investment Lexus would make for a loaner. Many dealers, however, turn the mats over to protect them from wear, while still protecting the carpet... in this situation, many dealers don't "lock" them into place with the clips on the floorboards, so they will still slide/move around... hence, my problem... It was RIDICULOUSLY scary.

My thoughts are with this family...

Lee

 

A very tragic accident. At first when I read the title I thought it was because the driver was out of control. Very sad any way you look at it.

RIP to those who lost their lives.

 

That hasn't been my experience. I've bedded brakes using a combination of throttle and braking, and if you're imprudent, the brakes will cook very quickly.

Still an awful lot we don't know about this particular incident. The fire is really going to make the root cause investigation a lot more difficult.

 

Couldn't the emergency brake be depressed in a situation like this? Wouldn't that at least slow the car down?