A driver of a 2007 Toyota Camry is blaming a recent accident at the Shoppers Plaza in Hampton on a stuck accelerator pedal -- a problem that has been reported before and is part of a continuing investigation under way by both Toyota Motor Sales Inc. and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Toyota is cooperating with NHTSA to discover the cause of an incident in which four people in a 2009 Lexus ES 350 were killed in suburban San Diego. Initial reports traced the accident to the car's accelerator pedal being caught in the floor mat.

Hampton Police said Linda Geyer, 68, who could not be reached for comment, had both a mat and a piece of carpeting on the drivers side floor, but that they didn't know if the mat was an "original equipment" Toyota mat, how thick the piece of carpet was or any other detail. The accident occurred Nov. 11. Ms. Geyer was not seriously injured.

"The factory floor mat was still in the vehicle and she also had another piece of carpet there as an additional mat. She said when she got into the car and put the transmission into drive, the accelerator pedal stuck. She said she panicked and didn't know what to do so she stood on the brakes and it still wouldn't stop. She started blowing her horn, continued through the parking lot and eventually crashed," said Hampton Township Patrolman Peter Halli.

Brian Lyons, Toyota's quality communications manager, when asked about the company's theory as to why these accidents were occurring, said, "If you are looking at a root cause for these kinds of accidents, we think it's because the accelerator pedal is entrapped by a floor mat."

Both Toyota and NHTSA believe that some kind of "vehicle-based" solution to the car, not simply removing the floor mats, will be necessary. NHTSA has said it believes that the design of the car's floor pan, the bottom of the car upon which carpets, seats and other trim are installed, may be a factor in these incidents.

Mr. Lyons added: "We're still not speculating on how this vehicle-based remedy is going to look. I don't have any information on that. Nor do I have any idea as to when a vehicle-based remedy will be found and implemented."

As to speculation from Internet-based chat rooms and other sources that some other engine-related issue, not the floor mat, might be causing the problem, Mr. Lyons said: "We have never found any evidence leading us to believe that there is a malfunction of the engine control system. We did make an adjustment to our computer software in 2002.

The engine had a flat spot. You'd be driving between 38 and 42 miles per hour, and you would get a momentary delay, and the vehicle would surge a bit after that. We implemented some consumer software fixes and eliminated that problem."

On Sept. 29,Toyota issued a statement asking Toyota owners to remove the driver's side floor mat from their cars and not to replace them while the company investigated the issue. They also recalled 3.8 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles to address the problem.

"What we are saying is that the issue is not resolved, and we are working on a vehicle-based remedy to help avoid accelerator pedal entrapment by the floor mat," Mr. Lyons said.

In a statement dated Nov. 6, Toyota said: "The question of unintended acceleration involving Toyota and Lexus vehicles has been one of the most thoroughly and repeatedly investigated issues by Toyota as well as by the engineering experts at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. ... Six times in the past six years, NHTSA has undertaken an exhaustive review of allegations of unintended acceleration on Toyota and Lexus vehicles, and six times the agency closed the investigation without finding any electronic engine control system malfunction to be the cause of unintended acceleration."

In a Nov. 4 statement, NHTSA said it had "told Toyota and consumers that removing the recalled floor mats is the most immediate way to address the safety risk and avoid the possibility of the accelerator becoming stuck. But it is simply an interim measure.

This remedy does not correct the underlying defect in the vehicles involving the potential for entrapment of the accelerator by floor mats, which is related to accelerator and floor pan design. ... This matter is not closed until Toyota has effectively addressed the defect by providing a suitable vehicle-based solution."

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