Toyota Motor Corp will recall 3.8 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles manufactured in the last six years because of the risk that a loose floormat could prompt a stuck accelerator. The problem is suspected of causing crashes that killed five as well as 17 crashes and 100 related incidents.

The recall will cover recent versions of the Camry and Avalon sedans, the Prius hybrid, the Tacoma and Tundra pickup trucks and luxury Lexus models, the IS250 and the IS350 as well as the ES350.

The U.S. safety recall would be the largest in Toyota's history.

Toyota and U.S. safety regulators warned owners to remove all driver-side floor mats from eight Toyota and Lexus models sold in the United States, including its Prius hybrid, as an immediate safety precaution.

The U.S. safety recall would be the largest in Toyota's history.

A cost estimate for the company's still-developing recall was not immediately available.

In August, an off-duty California state trooper and three members of his family were killed in the San Diego area in a crash of a 2009 Lexus ES350.

Before the crash, a passenger in the car had called 911 and told dispatchers the accelerator was stuck and the car had reached 120 miles per hour.

Toyota said it would issue specific recall notices as soon as it had a plan to address each of the models affected.

NHTSA
closed an investigation into all-weather floor mats in Toyota vehicles in 2007 that resulted in a recall of more than 50,000 vehicles.

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