Comment: Re:Bandwagon effect (Score 1) 930
Notice that all the problems happened at around the same time. It's not a constant failure rate.
It's entirely possible that a couple of drivers did have a stuck throttle due to a floor mat or other issue. This made the news. Then a bunch of other people thought that this would be a great way to make money on a class action lawsuit by faking the same problem. It doesn't have to be a defect or bad drivers, just a bandwagon effect of people trying to scam money in tough times.
It doesn't even have to be people who are trying to scam the system. If, for example, a young, relatively inexperienced driver (read: child) borrows a car from another driver (read: parent) and crashes it because they hit the gas instead of the brake, well, the perfect excuse is just sitting there in the news. Why wouldn't they jump on a chance to shift the blame?