FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Edmunds.com Comments on Toyota Recall of Accelerator Pedal
SANTA MONICA, Calif. — (November 25, 2009) — Edmunds.com, the premier online resource for automotive consumer information, conducted an independent investigation of the floor mats and accelerator pedal using vehicles being recalled today by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) alert of 3.8 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles. Edmunds.com's examination concluded the following:
"Our tests have confirmed that an out of position floor mat can cause the throttle to stick because of the shape and geometry of the current gas pedal," said Dan Edmunds who served as Engineering Manager of the chassis and brake development group at Hyundai America Technical Center and Senior Chassis Development Engineer for Toyota's Technical Center before joining Edmunds.com as Director of Automotive Testing in April 2006.
Toyota announced it will have dealers shorten the length of the gas pedals beginning in January while it develops replacement pedals, available beginning in April.
"Temporarily shortening and replacing the accelerator pedals are viable solutions to alleviate the problem," Dan Edmunds commented.
More information on this issue can be found in the article How to Stop a Runaway Vehicle (And Make Sure it Never Happens in the First Place) at http://www.edmunds.com/car-safety/car-safety/how-to-stop-a-runaway-vehicle.html.
Edmunds.com maintains a database of recalls and technical service bulletins for all cars at http://www.edmunds.com/car-maintenance/maintenance-entry.html.
About Edmunds (http://www.edmunds.com/about/)
Edmunds publishes four Web sites that empower, engage and educate automotive consumers, enthusiasts and insiders. Edmunds.com, the premier online resource for automotive consumer information, launched in 1995 as the first automotive information Web site. Its most popular feature, the Edmunds.com True Market Value®, is relied upon by millions of people seeking current transaction prices for new and used vehicles. Edmunds.com was named "Best Car Research Site" by Forbes ASAP, has been selected by consumers as the "Most Useful Web Site" according to every J.D. Power and Associates New Autoshopper.com Study(SM), was ranked first in the Survey of Car-Shopping Web Sites by The Wall Street Journal and was rated "#1" in Keynote's study of third-party automotive Web sites. Inside Line launched in 2005 and is the most-read automotive enthusiast Web site. CarSpace launched in 2006 and is an automotive social networking Web site and home to the oldest and most established automotive community. AutoObserver.com launched in 2007 and provides insightful automotive industry commentary and analysis. Edmunds is headquartered in Santa Monica, California, and maintains a satellite office in suburban Detroit.
