Accelerator Pedal Broke Off

[benjiejr]

Took a friend and his nephew on a ride yesterday to demo some features of the Tesla. They are into exotic and performance cars and wanted to learn more about it. In the parking lot, I went through a lot of the features of the car and they asked a lot of questions. Then, I took them for a ride on the highway to show them autopilot and they were amazed. Next, I took them to a very quiet back road where we could do some launches. I had Max Battery ON and did a launch with Launch Mode (brake, accelerator, release brake) and it hooked pretty well. I turned around and was going to do another launch, but this time without Launch Mode - just stomp on the pedal - like I do most often. When I punched it, the accelerator pedal broke off, regen kicked in hard, and I quickly coasted to the shoulder. I was in shock at what just happened. I have never seen anything like that before.

I called roadside assistance and they towed the car to the Service Center and got me an Uber home. It was a long night, but all ended well. Tesla took care of me. Hope to get the car back today if the part is in stock.

As I thought about it more, I felt very fortunate that it happened on that quiet road with no traffic. I'm so glad I didn't punch it up on the highway and have the accelerator pedal break there. I imagine that it would have slowed down pretty quickly and I would somehow need to navigate to the shoulder without getting in someone's way. Maybe I could have activated autopilot to at least keep the acceleration going and somehow pull over, but I really doubt I would have been able to think that clearly at the moment.

I assume this is very rare and hope it was some type defect in my pedal. I do a fair amount of launches and have been to the drag strip a couple times, so maybe it was cracked for some time and I just finally broke it when I punched it this time.

 

[Buster1]

You ate too many Wheaties that morning.

 

[Knightowl]

wow, yup never heard of or seen that happen before.

 

[benjiejr]

The Service Center just called me and said it's already been fixed and they are bringing it back to me. Tesla San Antonio Service Center is always top notch!

 

[Dbj77]

Is it plastic? I think I remember reading about this in a different thread. Tesla needs to rethink the material the pedal stock is made of.

 

[benjiejr]

Is it plastic? I think I remember reading about this in a different thread. Tesla needs to rethink the material the pedal stock is made of.

Yeah, it's plastic. I never would have thought that piece would be plastic, but maybe that's common.

 

[xborg]

Not very rare, I've just seen these photos on facebook group last week.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Not something I'd heard of before. It could be a manufacturing flaw, or it could be a design flaw.

File an NHTSA report. It's the kind of safety issue appropriate for collection there. If it's filed there, Tesla will see it.

(If it happens and you're caught needing to accelerate, you could theoretically try to engage cruise and then increase the speed).

 

[Tiger]

Yeah, it's plastic. I never would have thought that piece would be plastic, but maybe that's common.

This is absolutely ridiculous to have fragile pedals.

Think about what would happen if it would break while overtaking another car on a narrow road with oncoming traffic ... another headlight story for Tesla.

@JonMc

Tesla, please recall all cars and replace this with different material that does not crack. Only can bend never crack.

This is ridiculous, please fix all pedals before somebody dies because of this.

 

[benjiejr]

Not very rare, I've just seen these photos on facebook group last week.

Wow! That's pretty much identical to where mine failed. Could be a design flaw.

 

[Vitold]

It is a safety feature. When you mistake accelerator for a brake pedal it snaps off and car comes to a stop.

 

[The Duke]

Looking at the photo that shows under the dash it looks like the accelerator pedal was hitting the stop up near the pivot point. If this is true stomping the pedal will break it in time, even with stronger material. As posted above a material that bends would survive, but then your pedal is not in the original position.

We need to check to see if the stop by the pivot is being hit or the carpet is the accelerator pedal limit. It may differ from car to car.

 

[benjiejr]

Not something I'd heard of before. It could be a manufacturing flaw, or it could be a design flaw.

File an NHTSA report. It's the kind of safety issue appropriate for collection there. If it's filed there, Tesla will see it.

(If it happens and you're caught needing to accelerate, you could theoretically try to engage cruise and then increase the speed).

I don't want to get Tesla in trouble, but I do agree that this is a safety concern so I have taken your advice and filed a report on the NHTSA site. FYI, the complaint number is 1000599.

Edit: My reasoning: I would hate for something bad to happen to someone else and I neglected to report it and could have helped prevent it.

 

[VikH]

Thanks for posting. This looks to be a design flaw and would only happen when people are applying a large amount of force to the pedal past the stop point. A pedal stop at the bottom may help, but also may introduce complications. Nevertheless its surprising to see something like this happen and hope @JonMc can forward to the appropriate group in Tesla to investigate.

 

[Tiger]

Aston Martin did a recall on similar issue Aston Martin recalls 17,590 cars due to counterfeit material

Tesla, please fix it so it can never break from pressing hard/repeatedly.

 

[SMAlset]

I'm kind of shocked by your pedal photo and the other two. Was your pedal structured on the right side like the 2nd photo xborg posted? For something as crucial as a brake pedal in stopping and given the launches encouraged by Tesla I would have expected a much better designed part and with better strength. It's doubtful that Tesla manufactures these parts themselves but instead outsources them, but I think you were right to file a safety concern on this issue.

Glad you were able to stop safely but bet your friends weren't too impressed with the car after that happened.

 

[The Duke]

I took a look at the setup and have a question.

Are these accelerator arm breaks on cars with custom/missing/crushed floor mats? On my car the accelerator hits the floor mat and stops just before the arm hits the stop up near the pivot. Unlike the picture above, I have no marks on my stop up near the pivot. Removing the floor mat allows contact. I would imagine prolonged excessive pressure would crush some of the floor mat also allowing contact and subsequent breakage.

As to where they break, the way its made the accelerator arm should ALWAYS break near the stop up near the pivot point. Assuming excessive force is used to break it.

 

[benjiejr]

I'm kind of shocked by your pedal photo and the other two. Was your pedal structured on the right side like the 2nd photo xborg posted? For something as crucial as a brake pedal in stopping and given the launches encouraged by Tesla I would have expected a much better designed part and with better strength. It's doubtful that Tesla manufactures these parts themselves but instead outsources them, but I think you were right to file a safety concern on this issue.

Yes, I should have taken a picture from that side too, but it is designed exactly like the other photo.

 

[xborg]

Aston Martin did a recall on similar issue Aston Martin recalls 17,590 cars due to counterfeit material

Tesla, please fix it so it can never break from pressing hard/repeatedly.

Tesla will/would probably do a "voluntarily" recall. As they scare the word "recall".

 

[snd92]

I hope that the brake pedal is not made of plastic...