scary experience

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Cathlete
This morning as I had just got onto the main interstate, my car started to exhilarate and not let up! My car kept going faster and faster. I was nearing 90 mph! I was practically standing on my brake to slow down. It took a few miles to get the car to stop. When it did, I put it into Park. That caused the engine to be revved, so I bent down and pulled the gas petal up.

The State Police stopped shortly after I did and called a tow truck for me. The driver said if I didn’t stop where I did, I would have about one more mile up the road. It was bumper to bumper traffic up there.

The mechanic at the garage said he saw nothing wrong. Nothing. I was scared to death! Something WAS wrong. I would have rather him say it would cost $200 to fix, but it won't happen again.


Susan C.M.
 
Wow, that IS scary!

The only thing I can think of is - does your car have cruise control? If so, maybe you accidentally were pushing on the accelerate button/knob? Sometimes those buttons and knobs are in just the right place where they're really easy to hit without trying.

Or you just got your gas pedal stuck, like the other person suggested. If it happens again (and hopefully, it won't!), just stick your toe under the pedal and pull up. Maybe have the mechanic lubricate that pedal really good so it is less likely to stick.

I can't imagine how scary your experience must have been! I'm glad you are okay!
 
Oh my gosh Susan! My heart was racing just reading about it! I cannot even imagine how scared you must have been. Glad you are okay. I hope they find out what caused it.

Your-Friend-In-Fitness, DebbieH (AKA "Den Mother Debbie")http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/wavey.gif[/img] If You Get The Choice To Sit It Out Or Dance...I Hope You DANCE!!!
 
One possibility is that your throttle cable got stuck. That made my old truck rev really high occasionally so I would stomp on the gas a couple times to unstick it. If that was the case, the mechanic wouldn't see anything wring since it came unstuck.

That is scary. I'm glad you're ok!
 
Wow that is scary! I'm glad you're okay.

When I read your post it reminded me of a story I saw in Oprah. She was talking about the show "What Should You Do" on Lifetime and she had the host as a guest. One of the scary stories they showed involved a young lady that was in the road and her car all of a sudden started accelerating and she couldn't make it stop. She called 911 and she was extremely scared. The police surrounded her car with patrols and she was told to crash the car in front of her so that she could stop. I don't remember all the details of the story, but it turned out that her car computer was messed up and caused that problem. I did a quick search and I couldn't find the story so I could post it. Maybe someone that has a little more time than I do can find it. However I found a couple of safety tips that were posted on the lifetime website after that show aired. Here they are http://www.lifetimetelevision.com/shows/wsyd/tips/no_brakes.html
 
What do you drive? there have been several accidents here that had the same problem, the cars involved were both Jeep Cherokee's and they both excelerated like you described. If you own one I would contact the Jeep people.
 
I drive an Aurora. Yes, the gas petal was pushed down further than I was pressing on it, all on it's own (pegged to the floor). There is no way I could have gotten my toes under the pedal to pop it up again. I don't use cruise control during rush hour...(it would automatically turn off once the brake is hit anyway), which is another thing... rush hour. Thank GOD He let me have a straight away for such a long period of time. Thank you Rose for that link, it looks very useful.

Susan C.M.
 
Holy cow, Susan, my heart is thumping just reading your story. Reminds me of the movie "Speed". I'm glad you're okay. I wouldn't want to step foot in that car again, though!!


Angie
 
>I wouldn't want to step foot in that car again, though!!
>
Me either... I called my husband. He's driving it now.

Susan C.M.
 
What a horrible experience! I can iomagine how horrified you must have been. I hope you took the day off to rest after that adreniline rush. Thank god it worked out.

Terri
 
Just reading about your experience scares me. And that the mechanic found "nothiing" wrong. Driving that car from now on, I'd feel like a sword of Damoclese (sp?) was hanging over my head, waiting to drop any second. I didn't get the year of your car, but definitely contact the manufacturer. I would hope they would do something because they wouldn't want to be involved in a lawsuit if someone is killed. I would NOT drive that car again until something is found and fixed.

The idea that the car's computer could muck up like that is scary. So much is left to computers in our society nowdays, that when they go flooy (that's the technical term!;-) ), we are left feeling powerless.

FYI: gas pedal, flower petal.:+
 
Wow Susan! That must have been so scary...my heart is literally pounding after reading that. I'm so glad everything worked out fine. Stay safe girl!

Tammy
 
Hi Susan, I'm so glad your OK! My husband is a pretty good mechanic and I ran your story by him. He said that a stuck gas pedal would mean problem with your linkage. He also said that if it happens again you should just turn your car off. You'll lose your power steering, but it would be best way to stop your car. I hope that helps.
Carolyn
 
That is terrible. I am glad you are fine though. I remember when our Saturn Ion acted up and I could not put the stick into any gears and was on a main road. Luckily for me, I was downhill and just let the car drift while I put on my hazard lights. We did get the problem fixed, but Hubby said just last month that our Saturn Ion would just stall out while he was going 60mph, etc. so he would have to keep starting it while the car was flying down the road. Crazy! We just recently traded it in for a Subaru Impreza WRX.

Charlotte~~
 
Would it work to first try to throw it into neutral, so you don't lose your power steering? That might be a pretty dangerous thing to lose at 99 mph.
 
I talked to my husband about this, he's a gearhead and an electrical engineer. He thinks that your cruise control circuit may be messed up. Even if you don't even think your cruise control is turned on. He said the only thing that can physically pull the pedal toward the floorboard is the cruise control. He also mentioned something about the linkage assembly, but didn't think that was as likely because there's not really anything that can cause it to pull on the pedal like that. It can get stuck, but to pull the pedal down... well, it just doesn't make sense. So, it might be a good idea to just disconnect the cruise control circuit, so it can't run at all.
 
Whoa. That is very scary. It sounds like a recurring dream that I sometimes have. Which always gets me a little out-of-sorts the day after I have it.

MAYBE your car is possessed! The spirit of a demon has overtaken it - like in the book Christine. Sorry, just trying to lighten your mood over it.

It's an awful thing that happened, and I would never drive that car again. I'd trade it in for sure!
 
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