I purchased a 09 Toyota Matrix 5dr, 2wd, cuv on 1/24/09. During the first week in March 2009 I was driving on a 45 mph city street going a little less than the speed limit when all of a sudden my car sped up. I gave the gas pedal a tap thinking it had just stuck, but the motor kept racing as I picked up speed. I took my foot off the gas pedal and put my foot on the brake pedal, but the car would not slow down. I never looked to see how fast I was going, I was too busy, trying to slow down and find a place to pull over before I caught up to the car ahead of me and rammed into it. Luckily the traffic was light and the car in front of me a ways off, and I was in an outer lane and found a place to pull in, continuing to press down on the brake pedal as hard as I could. I immediately turned off the key and put the car in park. I tried to start it up again after a few minutes, but the motor continued to race in park. I tuned the ignition off, and I then discovered that a floor mat had slipped under the gas pedal, so I pulled it out and started the car again. I started normally. My heart was racing and it took me more than an hour to get my emotions under control because I knew what could have happened had I been driving on nearby rt. 95 where traffic moves at a fast clip and there is really nowhere to pull over. A few months later I saw on tv about other people having the same problem, but with heart wrenching results. I called Toyota headquarters and had the incident documented. It has only been a few days that I saw the recall in the newspaper, so I am waiting to hear from Toyota.

- Melbourne, FL, USA