Gas pedal went to the floor on its own!

[bagem788]

I was driving around 40-45 and applied a small amount of pedal to get around someone who was half off the road, and all of a sudden the truck just took off and threw me back in the seat! I searched for the gas pedal with my foot and couldn't find it, until I looked and it was smashed on the floor. I pounded on the pedal with my foot to no avail, and pumped the crap out of the brakes and while I was doing that the pedal suddenly came back off the floor and the engine quit revving at top rpm's.

Totally freaked me out! Anyone else heard of this? Truck is in for service.

[bagem788]

Now the dealership has told me that the floor mat was out of its retaining clips and had held the pedal down, so that is the fix. They're going to have to demonstrate this to me before I believe that.

[bagem788]

Final result: svc dept. says they can't safely duplicate the floor mat holding the pedal down, but they can't find anything else that could have done this, so I told them I don't want the vehicle back. I even felt the spring tension of the pedal, there is no way the mat was the problem-the real problem hasn't been found yet, it's unsafe.

[Firehawk97]

The Traverse accelerator pedal uses "Fly by Wire" technology. It has no mechanical connection to the engine what so ever. There are 4 position sensors in the pedal assembly, it uses high and low speed LAN to communicate to the ECM where the pedal position is. It only relays signals, it can't move on its own. If their was a communication signal error (incorrect position WOT when its supposed to be at idle) then yes thats possible, but for the pedal to be physically to the floor thats all most impossible unless their was an obsrtuction mat or carpet. Did the dealer find and TAC codes??? This is the first I have heard of something like this. Thank GOD you were not in an accident.

[crazy Jim]

Thirty years ago a similar incident happened to me. Vehicle was '77 Oldsmobile and I was cruising down the hwy at 60 with the cruise control engaged when I came to my exit. This partucular exit ramp was a very steep up hill which caused the car to slow considerably on hitting the ramp. Immediately the cruise control attempted to regain the lost speed by accelerating the engine real hard thus down-shifting the transmission to second gear(passing gear). I felt the acc pedal depress to the floor (mech CC as opposed to your al elec)and it took my an instant to realize what was happening. I know this does not explain why your acc pedal was on the floor but the rest could.

[Tech II]

Crazy Jim, on your car, the CC was moving your throttle plate, which is attached to the throttle cable, which would move your acc pedal....

This vehicle does not use an accel cable......so if he had a cruise problem, it would have no effect on the position of the accel pedal......

Somehow, the accel pedal of his did not release when he took his foot off it.......I have seen floor mats cause this on different vehicles, in different situations.....whether this was the case, it's hard to say, since it was kind of a panic situation......

I remember when they had the recalls for the Pontiac Vibe/Toyota Matrix.....you replaced the pedal, but you also REMOVED the floor mat as part of the campaign....

Have not seen anywhere, where there have been instances where the pivot point of the pedal could bind(like a bad bushing)......since the pedal was in the down position, the sensors were calling for WOT, and the TAC system just obeyed orders....

[j cAT]

Originally Posted by crazy Jim

Thirty years ago a similar incident happened to me. Vehicle was '77 Oldsmobile and I was cruising down the hwy at 60 with the cruise control engaged when I came to my exit. This partucular exit ramp was a very steep up hill which caused the car to slow considerably on hitting the ramp. Immediately the cruise control attempted to regain the lost speed by accelerating the engine real hard thus down-shifting the transmission to second gear(passing gear). I felt the acc pedal depress to the floor (mech CC as opposed to your al elec)and it took my an instant to realize what was happening. I know this does not explain why your acc pedal was on the floor but the rest could.

had this experience with the 1984 camaro V8. going up a steep grade the cruise control suddenly put the pedal down and it was in passing gear. scared the heck out of me the first time it did it.

with the new vehicles today the pedal does not move in cruise control mode. a little motor moves the throttle plate to increase/decrease speed by way of the computer and speed sensors.

the guy who has this drive by wire vehicle and having the pedal to the floor all by itself is not an easy thing to understand. that pedal has a strong spring. for it to fail and then fix itself is just not gonna happen.

my thinking on this ,,, since a family member has the toyota runaway vehicle is that , the pedals are too small and too close to each other. if you have big feet then you could have a problem.

[danielsatur]

An accelerator pedal needs to be physically pushed down, there is no activator other than human force.

On a drive-by-wire system, if the signal is lost, it go' s into limp mode.

Can a false, or bad Throttle position Sensor give a bad signal to the ECU/PCU?
How about a bad cruise control module, or actuator?

A bad cable, or sticky throttle plate can create some problems, but you need a good TPS + Throttle plate control to get horse power.

It's probably a bad gremlin, or back seat driver.

[Bucklenk]

I have a 2016 Jeep Compass that took me for a he’ll ride
The gas pedal went to the floor on its own !
I was just pulling away from a red lite guy and the damn thing took off on me.
I panicked a bit and put the brake pedal to the floor trying to stop, took me a little l time to throw it into park to get it to stop. Shut the engine off
Started it back up and still reving , shut it off
Tried starting again and stil reving!
Had it towed to the dealer and they said can’t find nd anything wrong and to come pick it up .... haaaa righ !!
Keep you death trap
I find it hard to believe that with every damn light on that dash lit up it didn’t throw any codes at all !!!!