As you can see from the handy flow chart above, we're now at what you should do if your vehicle continues to accelerate rapidly after release of the accelerator pedal. Toyota tell us "this could be an indication of floor mat interference.," which is somewhat of an understatement. If this occurs, in addition to praying to your preferred deity, click "next" to see what Toyota recommends the driver do (The rest of the information below is is straight from Toyota — no added snark. Well, maybe just a little.).

Step One: If it is possible and safe to do so, pull back the floor mat and dislodge it from the accelerator pedal; then pull over and stop the vehicle. 

Step Two: If the floor mat cannot be dislodged, then firmly and steadily step on the brake pedal with both feet. Do NOT pump the brake pedal repeatedly as this will increase the effort required to slow the vehicle.

Photo Credit: Deeleea @ Flickr

Step Three:Shift the transmission gear selector to the Neutral (N) position and use the brakes to make a controlled stop at the side of the road and turn off the engine.
 
If unable to put the vehicle in Neutral, turn the engine OFF, or to ACC. This will not cause loss of steering or braking control, but the power assist to these systems will be lost.

Step Three-Point-One:If the vehicle is equipped with an Engine Start/Stop button, firmly and steadily push the button for at least three seconds to turn off the engine. Do NOT tap the Engine Start/Stop button.

Step Three-Point-Two:If the vehicle is equipped with a conventional key-ignition, turn the ignition key to the ACC position to turn off the engine. Do NOT remove the key from the ignition as this will lock the steering wheel.

Your Toyota or Lexus should now be stopped and fiery death avoided. Hooray!

Photo Credit: Billselak @ Flickr

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. The Toyota and Lexus models affected include:

2007-10 Camry
2005-10 Avalon
2004-09 Prius
2005-10 Tacoma
2007-10 Tundra
2007-10 ES 350
2006-10 IS 250 and IS350

If, for some reason you're unable to pull the mat out of the driver's side of your car and you experience "unintended acceleration" you are to immediately "pull back floor mat. If that doesn't work, stand on brake pedal with both feet." Seriously.

[via Twitter]

The issue doesn't affect manual transmission-equipped V6 Camaros. They will continue to leave the factory as scheduled. A GM spokesperson had this to say on the matter:

Our engineering team is reviewing data related to the performance of the manual transmission on the Camaro SS, and have temporarily stopped shipment of this model to the dealers.

This only impacts Camaro SS models with manual transmission in production. Camaro SS with automatic transmission, and Camaro LS and LT models are not affected and will continue to be shipped to dealers.

Since this is an "in production" review, we are NOT requesting vehicles be returned for any service or dealer deliveries stopped as a result of this action.

We'll keep an eye on the issue as GM releases more details. [Camaro5]