Curious about why there is a plastic zip-tie jammed through what would be an otherwise average floor mat? Wonder no more! These are to prevent Toyotas from killing their passengers. Or to be more exact, to prevent your Toyota floor mat from getting wedged in your gas pedal.

In the past couple weeks, Toyota Motor Corp. has begun recalling the largest number of U.S. vehicles in its history, 3.8 million Toyota and Lexus models. The problem lies in the aforementioned floor mats sliding up into the driver side footwell causing the accelerator to get stuck, leading to a very serious high-speed accident, in some cases in excess of 120 mph. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration suggests removing the floor mats entirely and not replacing them. What we don’t suggest is what some dealerships have been asked to do: zip-tie the mat to the seat.

Seriously.

No, seriously.

[Sources: LA Times, Jalopnik, Xenophilius]