A fatal wreck last Saturday in Southlake, Texas has left four dead and police confused. At about 11:30 a.m. a 2008 Toyota Avalon crashed through a fence into a tree, then flipped into about six feet of water without any obvious cause.

Monty Hardy, Hadassah Vance, Wendy Akion, and Sharon Ransom were all Jehovah’s Witnesses going to door-to-door on return visits for service to their church. All four were wearing seat belts when their car was immersed in water. They all drowned and died within 24 hours.

The 2008 Toyota Avalon was recalled in November when it was discovered that the gas pedal might get stuck on the floor mats and cause sudden acceleration. Unfortunately, the vehicle was too damaged for police to determine if the floor mats had any part to play in the fatal accident.

Police are hoping to examine the car’s internal computer to find the cause of the wreck, but may not have the equipment to do so.

It is very important to heed recalls and warnings issued for your vehicle. If the floor mats did indeed influence this wreck, it is possible that it could have been avoided if a recall had been issued sooner or the owner of the vehicle had acted on it faster.

To find recalls issued for your vehicle, visit http://www.recalls.gov/nhtsa.html today.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 13th, 2010 at 3:40 pm and is filed under Motor Vehicle Accidents, Recall. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.