70Mph Without Using Accelerator Pedal!

[noby76]

Glad to me back home after the scariest drive ever in my life.. on my way back from work on the M1 cruising at around legal speed limit minding my own business and about 5-10 miles before exiting my junction I switched over from the 3^rd lane over to the middle lane, pressed my brake to slow down and nothing happens …! hung on a minute am I pressing the accelerator pedal I thought to my self looked down and it was the brake pedal and the car was not stopping..thought OMG is this it?? How can I slow
this car down if traffic starts slowing ?? looked ahead and I could see traffic building up about 5 miles ahead with my
foot still pressing the brake pedal and nothing was happening and still travelling around 70mph..pulled over to the slow lane and thought I need to act quick and now.. trying not to panic I switched my hazards on and moved gear lever from D to N , turned off my engine and allowed the car to coast itself whiles speed started dropping now the M1 northbound does not have a hard shoulder so I thought it won’t be a good idea to pull my hand brakes and get hit from the back due to sudden deceleration good thing was another junction exit was approaching so kept coasting to about 20mph with hazards on.. whole thing happened soo fastI I recall I still couldn’t use the brakes due to the engine being turned off.had a sec to look down before I exit the junction and noticed my foot mat had edged forward and managed to wedge itself on my accelerator pedal. Quickly moved
it away freed the accelerator pedal turned ignition on and started the car whilst coasting in N now traffic was heavily building up behind me due to doing around 20mph on the M1 with no hard shoulder available quickly stamped on my brakes moved lever back to D and all was back to normal. PHEWWW … was now thinking how the foot mat managed to come loose and remembered I had my car valeted over the weekend and after the valeter cleaned the mat forgot to fit it back into the holding hook which keeps it in place. I hooked it back in place and all was ok… I was lucky I was at the right place at the right time and on the right road in that the road was clear of traffic for this to happen as I kept thinking what if there was slow traffic ahead of me and this happened I would NOT be able to stop in time and drive into cars at 70mph on the M1. Someone up there was looking out for me today for sure.. so one advise always make sure your drivers foot mat is very secure after you valet your car as they are quiet weighty and could wedge/rest on your accelerator pedal if not hooked in place I count myself very lucky today..

[Pete Shawn]

Thank God

Glad you are safe . :zee:

[Noreen is200]

Oh gosh that sounded scary....and the M1 and M25 is not a good place for that to happen!

[gstarr60]

WOW!! the exact same thing happened to me but the difference is i was on a 30 road doing 60, i think like a week after i got the car, so like we all do when we just got the car, i was driving like a maniac, the only difference is my accel pedal was floored and i didnt know what to do, so the car was being redlined and over-reving like a biatch! so i switched into neutral , then pulled over then switched the engine off. before i knew it my car wasnt taking electric charge and everything started dying. when i popped the hood, my altonator belt snapped.

Thank God your good anyway

[noby76]

@Pete.. am Thankful man

@Noreen I don't know how I managed to pull it off and I think it was my calmness which helped. it could have been a different story! tbh knowing a bit about operating a car helped the situation aswell! I had to think and act quickly and in that moment I was concentrating on stopping the car the last place I would have looked for an answer is the accelerator pedal. but managed to pull it off as all I was tought in my driving lessons was how to do an emergency stop but not how to stop an out of control car. ask around and only a few motorists know they could kill an engine whilst the car is still moving so looks like this needs to be included in driving lessons aswell on how to stop an out of control car if the brakes are not responding. on second thought does the electronic throttle control deactivate the brake pedal when the accelerator is activated? cus it felt like the brakes had failed.

@Gee at least yours is a manual so in a situation like this you can clutch down to kill the revs.. an auto is a different story! I thought this was it for me..

[Noreen is200]

In terms of stopping an out of control car, maybe getting lessons in an automatic car has different lessons being taught?? I don't know...

I thought the brake pedal works regardless of whether its auto or not? It scary to know that the brakes don't work when engine is turned off...I think that's put me off a future automatic!

[noby76]

yes Noreen you right tbh if you pass your test with a manual lesson you are allowed to drive automatics aswell in UK but not vice verca. but once your engine is killed in an auto when the car is moving, forget using your brake pedal cause it will not respond to your commands. still don't know how I pulled it off cus this is my first auto as I have drove manuals all my life..

[gstarr60]

the only way youd be able to stop with the killed engine would be the hand brake but u gotta be a hell of a driver to pull that off at 70 on the motorway!

[noby76]

the only way youd be able to stop with the killed engine would be the hand brake but u gotta be a hell of a driver to pull that off at 70 on the motorway!

+ 1 with no hard shoulder in sight.

[gstarr60]

thats crazy.. any pics of your car John?

[noby76]

sorry mate don't have any valeted ones on my pc yet! took this during the winter months tho!! but hey it has body kits.

[gstarr60]

lol cant really see much from that pic.

[rigga955]

Brakes will work with the engine off, but there will be no servo assistance so they will be greatly reduced in their effectiveness. ....

Carpet mats under the throttle cable has been an issue with Toyota /Lexus for many many years, only really suffered on start up when the engine has raced away upon turning the key, can only imagine the terror when it happens when traveling at speed.

[noby76]

I have never been this terrified in a car until this experience rigga..I can only explain how I experienced it and it seems like once the electronic throttle control is activated it cuts of link to the brakes maybe its a way of stopping one from acceleration and braking at the same time so you can either have one or the other but not the two at the same time. I knew I could use my hand brakes to stop the car but at 70mph?? not until this situation that's when I realised my driving instructor had short changed me 11 years ago and never taught me how to stop an out of control car if the foot brakes is out of the question.. a lot of motorist do not know how to do this... a lot of things do run through ones mind quickly during this situation with 'this is it' being on rewind. tbh it was my calmness that saved my life cus any excessive panic and I would have steered into the M1 barriers but stayed calm and first thing was to reduce my speed did not have any choice than to kill the engine as using hand brake was out of the question. and with the engine off trust me the brakes were not responding..still sitting in the car thinking I pull that handbrake and I would get a train of cars ramming me from behind cus there was no hard shoulder not until a voice told me to look back down and noticed the mat was wedged under the accelerator pedal and holding it in place firmly. am here to testify cus of that last voice as it would have been a different story.

[petayV8]

I think what you did is the best thing you could of done tbh. maybe pulling the handbrake up a couple of notches wouldnt of hurt because it just works like a drum anyway. bet that was scary, so glad you got out of it anyway

I was intially thinking what a idiot to the valeter but then realised not many cars have a clip for mats (in my experience) so maybe its a Lexus thing and hes never done one before. Wish i could see his face when you next go and tell him lol

[stevlee]

Glad you stayed calm, I too had that experience when I was looking to buy my IS300, tested a blue sportcross, luckily the car was parked. The matt somehow got stuck on the gap between the accelerator and the floor carpet, and the accelerator just red lined. Needless to say, first reaction was to turn it off, thank goodness our lexus still have the key, I don't know what to think if it was an unfamiliar hired car with one of those push start button. Needless to say, after that instance, I walked away from that sportcross rather quickly.

[petayV8]

Just thinking something. Did you have the CC on when cruising at 70 because surely it would of gotten faster before you realising it when needing to slow down?

[noby76]

No Petay only ECT-PWR was activated as I drive in this mode all the time.. and you right about not a lot of cars having the mat hooks so most valeters don't know or either don't remember to hook it back once the mats are cleaned. they do a nice job for a 10ner so will still use them again but will mention it to their manager would help save a life out there..

[petayV8]

Talking of the clip, wasnt it a recall i read somewhere?

[Mr.Rudus]

that freakin happened to me once but at 40mph. I changed the mats to lexus ones. all good now.

what an experience though'

god had mercy on you john!

[ChrisIS200SportTTE]

Talking of the clip, wasnt it a recall i read somewhere?

Yes on a lot of Toyotas!!

Glad your ok Noby, scary huh! Lol....;)