I had a scary experience in my Mustang today. I know it seems like a myth, but my car had an unintended acceleration episode. I was passing this slow Jetta and the throttle stuck wide open! I panicked and kept trying the brakes and after 5 seconds it corrected itself and went back to normal. I did put it in neutral first thing. But, man was it scary.


Update: I just emailed Ford about the incident. Hope to hear back from them.

 

Do you have floor mats that the pedal could have gotten caught on ?

 

The floormats idea did cross my mind, too. I do have a set of winter floormats in it right now, I'm going to check and see clearance issues today.

 

Possible throttle motor hanging open?


PS. If it happens again kill the car put in neutral and then turn the key back into the on position so you can still steer. This will kill the car and let you coast to a stop

 

yeah I did put it in neutral the first thing. and I'll do the key next time (heaven forbid).

 

Sensor on the throttle pedal or throttle motor actuator. That's what I'm thinking.

 

Well, after further inspection, I did notice the winter weather floor mats were mighty close to the throttle pedal and in the parking lot, while in park, I pushed the pedal down to the floor and it did come awful close to the bottom of the pedal. So, I am going to chalk it up to that. I removed the normal pony mat from underneath the all weather one and I moved the mat over towards the driver's door, furthering the clearance. Lesson learned.

 

I had it happen to me years ago when the mat wasn't hooked at the back and so it slid forward under the pedal and got caught. It's a weather tech mat and has a spot to punch out so you can hook it , but I didn't use it initially. I started hooking the mat right after the incident and it's never happened again ...

 

I have a 2005 V6 and had the same problem today. Passing a truck with the accelerator floored and the accelerator would not return. Downshifted the tranny out of O/D and the pedal popped back to neutral and the engine went to idle. Definitely not a floor mat problem as they are anchored securely. I think it is a sensor. Taking it to Ford and asking to see the area rep.

 

Sensor wouldn't cause the pedal to not return... the petal has a loaded spring and will return the petal back to idle position. Transmission gear has no way of sticking the throttle.

 

HI i just got a 2006 gt and it accelerator stuck on me twice

 

IIRC the pedal only moves a sensor and a spring at its pivot...its not connected to anything like a linkage in older cars, that could physically make the pedal stick. either the carpet/floormat is catching the pedal, or the pivot/sensor has gotten corroded or something.

now if the pedal pops up and the car is still WOT, the throttlebody/electronics are the culprit- thats the scariest possibility, but havent heard of it happening much