Floor mats don’t kill people, governments not regulating car companies into oblivion kill people.
The U.S. Government warns 3.8 million Toyota and Lexus owners affected by an urgent recall to “immediately remove driver’s side floor mats” after one was suspected of causing a fiery Lexus crash killing a family of four in San Diego.
Toyota says it will order an immediate floor mat recall at the behest of the Department of Transportation after a mat was suspected of snagging a gas pedal on a runaway Lexus, ending with a fiery crash that killed four family members in San Diego.
#20 LL the libertarian still living in his fantasy libertarian land. Watchdog groups? What watchdog groups? LL waves his magic libertarian wand and conjures up watchdog groups. Safety companies? What safety companies? LL waves his magic libertarian wand again and conjures up safety companies. He then waves his magic libertarian wand yet again and conjures up the large amounts of money these mythical groups need to perform their function. And press? What press? Without government regulation, the press will be owned by the big corporations and would never print anything to hurt their profit margins. But no matter. Just wave that wand again. Poof, poof, poof. All is well in libertarian land.
And psst… here’s a secret for ya. The founders of capitalism considered oversight an integral part of capitalism. Maybe you missed that, living in your libertarian fantasyland. We violated the fundamental rules of capitalism, i.e. removed oversight, and capitalism failed. How about that.
What happened to you… did a government beat you up on the way home from school when you were a kid? Is that why you hate them so much? What goofs these libertarians are!
I was surprised to learn some driver’s side mats did not attach to the carpet to prevent this. I have owned three Toyota’s and all of them do this. What is also interesting is that these are the more expensive models? If common sense was more common people would have prevented this without a recall. I have always been more concerned about those mud mats that are much thicker. Those look like they could really cause problems.
#21,
Watchdog groups? What watchdog groups?
Safety companies? What safety companies?
The ones that will pop up when government regulations are removed, making them a viable enterprise.
large amounts of money these mythical groups need to perform their function.
Notice I said “subscribers?” You pay a fee to get their reports. Like Consumer Reports? Get a clue.
And psst… here’s a secret for ya. The founders of capitalism considered oversight an integral part of capitalism.
Oversight. Not Control. And Personhood was certainly NOT in the picture.
Big Difference.
We violated the fundamental rules of capitalism, i.e. removed oversight, and capitalism failed. How about that.
Um, the regulations were there. They just weren’t enforced. Laws don’t prevent illegal activity unless you USE them.
What happened to you… did a government beat you up on the way home from school when you were a kid? Is that why you hate them so much? What goofs these libertarians are!
What happened to you? Did your little sister protect you from school bullies so now you don’t know how to take care of yourself?
What a bunch of pussies these liberals are.
Didn’t Nader have a car watchdog group that blasted the Corvair. When the government started doing safety tests of cars they decided the Covair was fine.
Then there is the Pelzmann effect that if car accidents are safer, people drive more aggressively which causes more accidents than the safety features prevent. Therefore safety regulations cause more danger and death.
I have never had a car that had clips that hold the floor mats down. Is this a common feature on newer cars. I have used the same floor mats that I bought a flee market in Pennsylvania on all six cars I’ve owned since my first car and they didn’t have clips. None of them wanted to bunch up and get under the accelerator. If they got out of place, they usually slipped under the seat.
I had a baby bottle roll under the brake pedal and I couldn’t stop and had quite a panic for a moment (didn’t hit anything, though). The kid had one hell of an arm…threw it from the BACK seat!
Why didn’t the car company have the baby or the bottle recalled or the government ban babies or bottles from the car?
I had something similar happen to me in my airplane. My passenger dropped his coke bottle and it rolled under my rudder controls. On short final. I aborted the landing, pulled it out, and everything was ok. I think it scared him more than me, though I wasn’t too happy.
I now insist on stowing EVERYTHING in the backseat, in a bag, while landing and taking off.
The IIHS and Consumer Reports are both examples of private watchdog groups. they both do more testing and better testing than the government ever has. Yay free market!
Better yet let’s quit giving driver licenses to idiots that don’t know what to do if a car starts running away. This should be part of basic driver training. Put the car in neutral, do not turn off the engine as most cars have power steering and brakes. Pull safely to the side of the road then turn off the engine. Yeah the engine will be racing like hell but so what. The Car Talk guys have covered this before. Getting on the phone to 911 while careening through traffic is just plain lame.
heck, most states don’t even require a student driver to parallel park, anymore. Teach them what to do in an emergency……yeah, right. Text “help”?
#23 The ones that will pop up when government regulations are removed, making them a viable enterprise.
There goes that magic wand again. Things “just happen” in libertarian land.
I rather think the floor mat is about as dangerous in one car as another. Mine has hook in the floor to help hold it in place but it can still shift as can anything not firmly attached.
#28 – I said all those things about how to stop a car in such a case, earlier. Also, some older model cars lock up the steering, when you turn the key off. So you can’t steer, even without the power steering assist. Newer model cars don’t appear to lock the steering any more, to prevent theft (this didn’t work anyway).
As for the floor mats. I’ve never seen one that does secure to the floor. Our 2005 Buick is the first GM we’ve had with any cleat sticking out of the floor. The dealer sold us the car, without GM’s own floor mats. So I got some at our local Target store. None of them had a cleat hole or strap. Maybe they do now.
If anyone cares to. Check what’s car floor maps are sold online, and see if any feature a way to secure them on the driver side. Most probably won’t. So how is this Toyota’s fault?
#30, Well, I could go into each state’s requirement on how to form a corporation, but you would spend so much time looking up the multi-syllable words in the dictionary, I thought I would bring it down to your level.