Accelerator Stopped Working

[Electric Machete]

I was driving home tonight after putting a lot of miles on the car today. After I got off the highway I only had 25 miles left and was just a few blocks from my house when all of the sudden the car just started coasting and slowing. It was weird. The car slowed at a controlled rate. No regen was applied. After going down to 7 MPH I pulled to the side and through the touchscreen turned the vehicle off completely then touched the brake to restart and everything was fine. I was listening to satellite radio at the time and that stayed on and just as loud while I was slowing. The dome lights came on when I stopped. Had this occurred while I was driving on the HOV lane on I-95 it could have been fatal.

Anyone else experience this? I am actually taking the car in in the morning for an owed detailing, a hood wrap and window tinting. I will make an inquiry.

 

[gaswalla]

Sounds like you put it into Neutral, but did not recognize it. Try it again, but purposely put it into N at the same spot... Same thing will happen.

 

[SuperCoug]

Sounds like you put it into Neutral, but did not recognize it. Try it again, but purposely put it into N at the same spot... Same thing will happen.

Perhaps you used the wrong stalk and hit the gear shift on the right side instead of the turn signals on the left side of the steering wheel?

 

[jomo25]

Sounds like you put it into Neutral, but did not recognize it. Try it again, but purposely put it into N at the same spot... Same thing will happen.

Also note that if you bumped the stalk towards Reverse while driving at speed will also have the same effect as putting it into Neutral. Very easy to do by accident, perhaps even easier than actually putting it into Neutral. I did this during my test drive offered to my by Kishdude. Granted it was my first time driving the car and did it due to lack of familiarity. But its a possibility as the behavior you described it what it does in that situation.

 

[stevezzzz]

Total motive power loss without any error messages? Sounds like Neutral to me, too, though it needn't have been your doing. Service should be able to pull the logs and pinpoint what happened.

 

[Robert.Boston]

I know it's off thread topic but; The Service Centers do window tinting?

No. Please discuss in Model S - Window Tinting .

 

[Electric Machete]

I bet you all are correct. I just don't believe that I touched the stalk at all. I had stopped at a light, then went straight through it when shortly thereafter I noticed that the accelerator wasn't working. There would have been no reason for me to try to change gears or even mistakenly try to use the turn signal to change lanes. But just because I don't recall it happening doesn't mean that it didn't happen. Your explanation seems most logical. I will update if I notice it ever again.

 

[mknox]

I bet you all are correct. I just don't believe that I touched the stalk at all. I had stopped at a light, then went straight through it when shortly thereafter I noticed that the accelerator wasn't working. There would have been no reason for me to try to change gears or even mistakenly try to use the turn signal to change lanes. But just because I don't recall it happening doesn't mean that it didn't happen. Your explanation seems most logical. I will update if I notice it ever again.

You mentioned that the dome lights also came on when you stopped. Is that normal behavior, or does some other user-initiated action cause this to happen (like when you put the car in Park?)

 

[Doug_G]

You mentioned that the dome lights also came on when you stopped. Is that normal behavior, or does some other user-initiated action cause this to happen (like when you put the car in Park?)

Yes, they come on when you put the car in Park.