Stuck Accelerator

[Nibbo]

Just a heads up for all Outlander owners...

I have just heard from a work colleague about what could have resulted in a horrific accident.
His wife has a 2015 PHEV and just called him to say that her accelerator pedal was stuck in the fully depressed position!
Braking did not seem to have any effect!!!!! She managed to pull on the handbrake and put the vehicle into a spin where it eventually came to a stop!
I was not there and have not spoken to her so I don't know what else she tried, I personally would have tried the start/stop button or pulled the 'gear lever' towards the drivers seat which puts the car in 'neutral' but I don't know if either would have worked.

What was the problem we all wondered... quite simply the pedal had become 'buried/stuck' in the floor mats; these are standard Mitsubishi issue mats.

I for one will be checking the state of my mats to make sure there isn't excessive wear or anything that the accelerator could catch on.

Keep safe...

 

[mellobob]

Don't know about her particular model, but my last 3 cars (including 2 Mistsu PHEVs) have had hooks on driver's side floor mats to prevent exactly this. I complain about them when I'm trying to remove the mats since unhooking them always seems to dump some fine gravel onto the carpet ... but this story should mitigate some of the cursing!

 

[jaapv]

That sounds a bit drastic, as all she had to do was to pull the selector stick to the right to put the car in Neutral instantly... :ugeek:

 

[Nibbo]

That sounds a bit drastic, as all she had to do was to pull the selector stick to the right to put the car in Neutral instantly... :ugeek:

Don't think she has had the car long so panicked a bit.

 

[littlescrote]

That sounds a bit drastic, as all she had to do was to pull the selector stick to the right to put the car in Neutral instantly... :ugeek:

You say instantly, but it's not instant. You have to hold it over on the Neutral selection for a short while for it to switch (to prevent accidental selection). You can however press the P button and if you are moving it will select N but thankfully without engaging the transmission lock.

 

[Nibbo]

I did a test over the weekend and with the accelerator fully depressed I pushed the brake with my clumsy left foot and my car stopped without a problem. I will feed this back to my work colleague as this is not their experience. Must be something seriously wrong with their car/driver.

 

[littlescrote]

I did a test over the weekend and with the accelerator fully depressed I pushed the brake with my clumsy left foot and my car stopped without a problem. I will feed this back to my work colleague as this is not their experience. Must be something seriously wrong with their car/driver.

At what condition did you do this test? Doing it at low speed in Parallel mode is completely different to high speed in Series mode where the engine power is directly to the wheels and will remain fully coupled whilst the accelerator pedal is pressed.

 

[kpetrov]

I did a test over the weekend and with the accelerator fully depressed I pushed the brake with my clumsy left foot and my car stopped without a problem. I will feed this back to my work colleague as this is not their experience. Must be something seriously wrong with their car/driver.

At what condition did you do this test? Doing it at low speed in Parallel mode is completely different to high speed in Series mode where the engine power is directly to the wheels and will remain fully coupled whilst the accelerator pedal is pressed.

You are completely wrong regarding what is 'parallel' and what 'series' mode. It is actually vice versa.
The rest is easy to try.

 

[Nibbo]

At what condition did you do this test? Doing it at low speed in Parallel mode is completely different to high speed in Series mode where the engine power is directly to the wheels and will remain fully coupled whilst the accelerator pedal is pressed.

It was fairly low speed so probably not exactly reproducing her incident but I don't think the engine directly powers the wheels until about 90mph, I maybe wrong?

 

[kpetrov]

At what condition did you do this test? Doing it at low speed in Parallel mode is completely different to high speed in Series mode where the engine power is directly to the wheels and will remain fully coupled whilst the accelerator pedal is pressed.

It was fairly low speed so probably not exactly reproducing her incident but I don't think the engine directly powers the wheels until about 90mph, I maybe wrong?

90mph is out of any permitted speed in almost all countries.
So why would one design a vehicle in which the most efficient mode to travel in highway speed out of battery range is over the speed limit!?
Parallel mode is available at 65km/h or 41mph.