brickdds,
First, let me quote a section of your posting...
“...and I am posting this only to tell you that the petal is not defective, it is the drivers foot position and floor mats that are at issue...”
This is exactly my thinking and I will tell you why. This past November my wife was out of the states to visit her sister so I decided to surprise her with a new Toyota Rav4. I drove it for about a week before she got home.
Two times, using the lazy toe and heel approach, I had part of my foot on the gas pedal and part of it on the brake. When I pressed on the brake I was also pressing slightly on gas pedal. Not a very pleasant feeling for a second or two or until you take your foot off the brake. I can see why some people would continue to press harder on the brake hoping to stop the vehicle all the while giving it more gas.
Told the wife to take her foot completely off the gas before breaking. So far so good...
We have an '09 Camry and you can easily do the same thing.
I think it is silly that you can't buy a nice car without it having carpet on the floor. You are then compelled to go buy this big clumsy rubber thing to install down there amongst the controls to keep the carpet you didn't really want clean. My old truck has a vinyl floor it gets cleaned a couple times year with the hose and scrub brush. I recently bought a new truck and am very tempted to replace the carpet in with vinyl.