A very sad story: Toyota Crash / Recall *some may find this hard to watch
 

Please take a moment, if you can stomach it to read this story, and if you can go this far, listen to the Audio Playback of this drivers last moments. After, think for a moment and reflect.

If you have have any who owns a Toyota please be sure to inform them of the recall in effect.

http://www.sandiego6.com/mostpopular...uxTtxrK4Q.cspx

http://www.sandiego6.com/media/lib/3...295/car911.wma

There have been tragic things going on all around us this week, as a personal request, when it comes to this story please be respectful with your comments.

wow, that is really sad. my heart goes out to this family.

Why didnt he take it out of gear? There must be more to this than a floor mat..

In any case.. RIP :(

Driving 120MPH is terrifying enough... when things are outta control, sometimes logic gets fuzzy. I think I would be panicing for sure. Assuming there was sum traffic, its amazing he didnt rear end anyone.

Watch out during winter when you guys buy those rubber mats It happens.

yeah he was going 120 at the crash but how fast do you think he was going when he realized?? i bet he wasent going over 60mph before he found out he should have had enough time to put it in neutral and slow down

Agreed. Its a real shame that lives were lost from a simple miscalculation in trimming a floormat for formfit a vehicle.

wow... horrible

i had a winter floor mat stick in my chrysler 300...
i can see why everyone says 'why didn't they put it in neutral... well... i didn't...
picture going at a normal pace and then out of no where your car is WOT...
yea... i got lucky... i stomped on the breaks with two feet before i went into an intersection... my light was red...
i was sitting at the light in the turning lane (pulled into it last second to avoid re ending a car) and i found myself there doing the biggest burnout of my life for a few seconds... THEN i popped it in neutral...
yea... it's not fun...
crazy that this is with OEM floor mats... mine were crappy tire ones...

sounds terrible but i wonder why they didnt think about taking it out of gear or just turning the car off

RIP... Terrible design by Toyota, they will pay some serious fines and lawsuits for this one, and pay a good deal on the recalls, as they should... Spread the words to your friends and family about this and get them to check their cars, all we can do is learn from a tragedy.

Same reason why we forget to do the most basic of things when we are scared like hell. Everything is slow motion... Tunnel vision, you dont hear correctly, you dont see correctly.

Second, 120 MPH can you imagine cutting the power and trying to stir that. It could have been something that crossed his mind.

If the person was perhaps trained for that sorta thing, like a race driver, they stand a much better chance But I heard stories where guys are driving some serious rigs and even a turn of the key can't save ya.

:(

neutral would have given him accessory's and power brakes - with no power to the trans.



Wasnt he a CHP? You would think he would stay cool under pressure such as this.


I would think a tense gun stand off would be more mind boggling then a 100+mph cruise

you can be trained for a gun stand off, but not being in control of your car like its possessed can shake anyone. that and having your kids / family around you. I am sure even a cop would be rattled if those he carried about are in equal danger.

my OEM floor mats in my sunfire GT used to slide up all the time, once jamming the gas on, put the clutch in, it redlined for a bit and shut off, scary time was when i got up behind my brake and the break wouldnt go down at all

I've gotten the recall letter last year, a bit surprising to be bringing my car in for new mats but I'm not complaining.

i used to let me dog ride up in the front seat and she is terrified of thunder and one day i was driving with her in a storm. she started to get scared and when she went to go hide she went to my side straight into the pedals. thank god i was still on the break at a light or it could have been disaster!

That is horrible. I always worried that something like that would happen. To be honest, I would have probably never thought of putting it in neutral if this happened to me, I would've probably just tried the brakes but I hope I never find out how I'd react. My prayers go out to the families.

just terrible..

i would assume that emergency cases like these, you would:

1) shift into neutral
2) pump the brakes?

would pulling the ebrake be really dangerous? @__@

i think also in this case because it was an automatic car, automatic drivers may not have realized the option of N. i am sure most manual drivers in a manual car, if in this situation would just clutch in and neutral to disengage the engine from tranny.

^ true, eventhough my car isn't standard, when I drive standard the cutch is my best friend.

I must offer I too have had the Pedal stick, Not fun. On ramp merging to the 401, I was going to merge on and needed to slow down to avoid running into the car in the lane. Least to say the pedal got stuck and I ended up in on the shoulder to avoid hitting him. Did I need a new tire? Yes! Did I get new mats after the fact? Yes!, All in all I avoided causeing a collision and thats the first reaction for most.

I did't even think of popping it into neutral. Live and learn.

Its a totally different beast when there are 4 people in the car especially when its your family. I'm pretty sure that he was trying to keep cool but when you know thats happening and there are two yonger children in the car, doesn't matter how much Police traing you have you will panic. Its human nature.

Second point is, this was no run down beater toyota or even a middle of the road kinda Camery. It was powerful ES350.

"Witnesses saw flames coming from the front and rear tires of the speeding 2009 Lexus ES 350 before it crashed Aug. 28 in Santee, suggesting “long, constant heavy braking,” said Sgt. Scott Hill, the lead sheriff's investigator."...... "Hill said the evidence shows that there was prolonged “heavy, heavy, hard braking.”

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stori...p-crash-probe/

The fact that he was going that fast for so long tells me that he had some of his witts about him. But like AJ said, when it happens to you for the first time.. you just react and not think. I think that guy saved lives even though it cost him his own/family :(

This sucks I had this happen to me once at 70mph car made it up to 80mph before I yanked the floor mat up and threw it in the back seat