Instead of insulting the guy how about having some sympathy for a driver who couldn't move his foot the instant he wanted? Timing is everything and if my foot gets caught up on anything OEM it's a safety risk. I had a Tacoma whose factory floor mats caught the gas pedal once in a while. I was able to play around with the mat , push in the clutch, and fix it while moving but I probably shouldn't have had to focus on a manufacturing defect and instead focused on driving. A short while later there was a recall. I sold that POS by then but will never keep silent or make excuses in the future.
i get where you're coming from, but what i dont understand is how these people get themselves into situations that are solved by common sense. example: i have a 96 honda civic that shortly after i picked it up, had the same issue that alot of people had with the whole floor mat getting stuck and lodging the gas pedal, was able to pull the mat back without taking my attention away from driving and promptly removed the floor mat and put it in the trunk...problem solved (fortunately honda had a recall for this and took it into the dealership where they installed an anchor bolt into the floor mat). example 2: my Versa Note, had the same exact issue that the guy in the article describes...big difference is like anyone who knows how to control their body i moved my foot to the side instead of doing the thing that would obviously make it worse, which is to PULL UPWARD on it, i mean c'mon, if you know pulling upwards isnt getting your foot unstuck why try to keep pulling on it in the same direction? and furthermore, why was this guy going full throttle making a left turn through an intersection to the point where he was making the tires screech? for myself, i just adjusted my footing and havent had the problem since, but i guess if you have larger than average feet it can be a problem. don't get me wrong i fully stand behind making the NHTSA aware of these little issues as it makes the car safer for all of us, but the media circus that surrounds these recalls that alot of manufacturers have been having is just getting rediculous, but i guess it makes the public more aware, so whatever.
edit: did a little test yesterday to see where your foot has to be positioned to get trapped in the trim piece they are talking about...all i can say is that either the guy has really big feet (like around size 20) or he did it on purpose because in order for myself to get my foot stuck i literally had to have my entire foot covering the gas pedal with my heel resting on the bottom of the gas pedal...i dont know about anyone else, but that is not how i position my foot to press on the gas pedal.
