ES350 ES 3.2L V6

• Automatic transmission
• 22,200 miles

While my wife was backing out of our garage, the throttle got stuck under the floor mat. The car traveled across the street at full throttle and end up on a 5 foot snow bank. Other than a sore back and neck the next morning, she had no other injuries.
She did not require medical help. She was extremely lucky that no other vehicle was coming by at the time nor was anyone walking by. Only the snow bank prevented her from hitting a garage that is directly across the street.
I had received a recall notice from Lexus in the fall of 2007 addressing a floor mat to throttle problem. In discussing this with my Lexus dealer, I was told the recall did not apply to my vehicle because I did not have all weather floor mats. I did not give it another though until my wife had this accident.

After the accident I stopped at the Lexus dealer to show them how easy it was for the throttle to get stuck under the floor mat.I had removed the floor mat and put it in the trunk. The Service Manager immediately noticed that the mat I had in hand should have been on the passenger side and not on the drivers side. This information stunned me because I had never removed the floor mats. This left two possibilities; either the car was delivered new to me that way or while in Myrtle Beach I had the car cleaned at a car wash and they switched the mats. In either case it doesn't matter.
This accident should not have happened. Floor mats should not be interchangeable. I showed the Sheriff that investigated the accident as well as the tow truck driver and the insurance adjuster how easy it was for the throttle and none of them picked up on the fact that the mats had been reversed.

The Lexus Owners Manual only talks about the retainer clips being properly attached and they were as indicated in the
sheriff's report. The Owners Manual does not mention the potential danger of the accelerator becoming stuck if the floor mat are inadvertently installed on the wrong side. THE FLOOR MATS SHOULD BE DESIGNED SO IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO ATTACH THE FLOOR CLIPS TO THE MATS IF THEY ARE NOT INSTALLED ON THE RIGHT SIDE.
I have written to Lexus in Torrance, California twice and included the Sheriffs report, Insurance Adjusters report and the repair cost from the body shop in an attempt to recover my $500 deductible. My insurance payed the remaining repair cost. But Lexus has not acknowledged ether of my registered letters.
This may be my last Lexus if I don't get satisfaction or at least an acknowledgment of the problem from them.