Gasoline Fuel System Problems of Lexus ES

I just purchased this car (Lexus Es 300 2002 sedan) for my daughter less than a week ago on 4/11/2014 from a private owner, with 267,000 miles and it ran well for a transportation vehicle, seems to have been well cared for mechanically, interior and exterior is in great shape and was checked out my friend a longtime mechanic. My daughter had just left the dmv which was closed today 4/18/2014 and street driving back home. The car made a loud popping sound, smoke started from under the hood and soon flames and she had to pull over and ditch the car. Soon it blazed and the whole front end, engine, windshield the front tires all burned. Fire and police departments showed up, extinguished the fire and did traffic control. The fire damage was control to the front and engine, the firewall did it's job. All the interiors, dash and console are all in tact and in good condition no smoke damage. VIN:[xxx] Lexus Es 2002 information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

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While driving, I pushed gas pedal down to accelarate quickly. Engine reved to high rpm and car accelerated and rpm stayed high in spite of letting off of gas pedal. Initially I put car in neutral and engine continued at high rpm. I tapped hard on gas pedal and pedal released. This recurred again when I pushed down on pedal. Appeared to be due to Lexus floor mat catching on bottom of gas pedal. I called Lexus dealer and was told this had never been reported. (I had already had the recalled pedal replacement done). I pulled the floor mat back to prevent the edge catching on the pedal. Approximately one month later the problem recurred--presumably because the mat has slowly pushed forward over the last month.

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The contact owns a 2000 Lexus Es. The contact stated that all of the instrument panel lights illuminated, fumes were coming in through the vents, and fuel was leaking out of the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to the dealer who had not performed a diagnostic test when the complaint was filed. The manufacturer was not contacted. The vehicle was not repaired. The vehicle identification number was not available. The vehicle failure and current mileage was 140,000.

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