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A safety feature common in most German vehicles, which reduces the likelihood of an unintended acceleration, could have prevented the injuries and deaths of people caught in runaway Toyotas. According to a report published by the New York Times, the technology isn’t new. It just hasn’t been adopted by most automobile manufacturers outside of Germany.
Toyota is telling drivers of certain Toyota and Lexus cars and trucks to remove their driver’s side floor mats immediately until the company can develop a solution to its floor mat problem. The company announced in its September 29 safety advisory that the accelerator pedal may become jammed in full open position when an “unsecured or incompatible floor mat” is used, causing the vehicle to accelerate unintentionally.
Guadalupe Gomez was driving his new 2007 Toyota Camry south on interstate 280 in San Jose, California, when his car began accelerating out of control. Racing down the busy highway at speeds of more than 100 mph, Gomez did all he could to avoid a catastrophic collision. He held down on his horn, pushed the ignition button repeatedly, kicked the accelerator, and switched gears — all while dodging traffic. Unfortunately, Gomez’s car didn’t stop until it collided with Troy Edwin Johnson’s Honda Accord. Johnson, a 39-year-old father of 5, burned to death when his car went up in flames.
Floor mats are behind Toyota’s most recent safety warning affecting some 3.8 million vehicles. But the problem isn’t a new one. A report in the New York Times says that both Toyota and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have known about the problem for more than two years. Toyota Motor Corp., according to the Times, has been investigating the potential for floor mats to interfere with the gas pedal since March of 2007. The problem has caused some vehicles to accelerate unintentionally, prompting Toyota to look for solutions. No recalls of the affected vehicles have been announced yet.
Toyota Motor Corp. announced it would recall 3.8 million vehicles in the U.S. in response to reports of sudden and unexpected acceleration in several car and truck models. Toyota and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) believe that removable floor mats are responsible for the runaway acceleration. The mats can shift and interfere with the gas pedal, causing the vehicle to race forward.
If it’s not lead in paint or melamine in dog food, then perhaps it’s poisonous drywall? The latest batch of toxic Chinese imports – some 550 million pounds of highly sulfuric drywall – has found its way into homes throughout the U.S. and even Canada. The cheap Chinese drywall flooded into the U.S. during the building boom, beginning in 2004, and peaked as the bustling economy and Hurricane Katrina put a strain on domestically manufactured drywall. Most of the affected homes appear to be in Florida, but newly constructed homes in several states and beyond are also affected.
Florida homeowners whose walls are made of a defective and toxic brand of Chinese drywall have filed a class action lawsuit. The Florida Department of Health has received a flood of complaints from homeowners who suspect problems with their drywall, prompting Florida senator Bill Nelson to petition the Consumer Products Safety Commission and Environmental Protection Agency for an investigation.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced a voluntary recall of a popular brand of highchairs. The government agency says that people who use an Evenflo Majestic ™ high chair, manufactured by the Evenflo Company of Miamisburg, Ohio, should stop using the high chairs immediately.
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