Luxury vehicle car" features were found on luxury cars as early as 2009. Front mounted longitudinal engines with rear-wheel drive (FR) is a common layout of luxury cars. European marques like Mercedes-Benz , BMW , and Jaguar have almost never adopted front mounted engines with front-wheel drive (FF) and retained a lineup mostly or entirely made up of FR cars. Japanese brands such as Lexus and Infiniti also have predominantly FR lineups. The FR layout, while more expensive than the FF, has been retained by these luxury manufacturers as it allows for higher performance engines (particularly the straight-6, V8, and other engine
2009–11 Toyota vehicle recalls mat entrapment and pedals that were slow to return to idle as two causes of Toyota complaints. NHTSA also stated it could only verify one Toyota unintended acceleration accident caused by a vehicle defect. On July 14, 2010, the "Wall Street Journal" reported that NHTSA investigations of 75 accidents alleged to sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles had found driver error as the primary cause in all but one case attributed to floor mats. Black box recorder data found that during these crashes, the throttle was open and brakes not pressed. On July 30, the "Wall Street Journal" quoted the former