My sons has a Tesla S and I ask him if something happened that the car took a mind of its own went to accelerating and wouldn't stop, how do you shut it off to avoid a collision? He wasn't sure. We worked together and found one thing he could do is put it in neutral. There is no way to our knowledge to shut it off while driving. If there is other alternatives please reply. Every owner should be prepared for an emergency such as this. Randy
In the event of unintended acceleration, the mechanical brakes can be applied. There is enough stopping force to bring the car to a stop despite the acceleration. You can have your son confirm this by stepping on both pedals at the same time. (The car will also yell at you if you do this..)
I would hope everyone would try the brakes first but what if it didn't stop accelerating. The brakes would be short lived. Just looking to help everyone know what to do in that case. I mentioned neutral and that appears to be the best answer so far.
The brakes have enough force to bring it to a complete stop (assuming good/maintained condition) Once at a complete stop, there will no longer be wear on the pads as there is no movement. At that point if you have not already you can place the car into neutral and/or park.
*Note: You can also call Tesla. They have the ability to remotely limit your vehicle. They usually prefer the vehicle to be in park, but perhaps a life/death situation can allow them to turn on valet or loaner mode to limit speed and acceleration.
Computers all have some sort of cooling system. I work in a industry that the cooling systems fail. If not caught in time, meltdown. I wasn't interested in how the emergency could happen just how to be prepared if it did.
Since you want to go down this road...
Let's assume you're driving down the road at a almost legal speed of 155mph. Your car decides to pin the accelerator first, then melts down and somehow manages to keep the accelerator pinned. Let's also assume that you have not maintained your brakes, and while they bite initially, the fluid boils and/or the pads glaze over and give out. You're now pinned at a maximum speed of 155mph, unable to throw it into neutral, with no computer screen, and no brakes. What do you do?
Well, you have several options.
1. A Tesla traveling at a aerodynamically challenging speed of 155mph will get horrendous wh/mi, meaning you will likely run out of juice before you come up with a better plan. This will by default slow you. Stay calm, stay safe, stay focused and navigate until you run out.
Assuming you've modified the battery to be unlimited...and no outside help is available.
2. You find the object that is travelling at the closest speed to you, preferably travelling at 145mph and you brace for impact. Hopefully the minor speed difference will reduce any damages. If it goes well, they will step on their brakes and bring you to a stop. If it does not, you may or may not face manslaughter charges.
3. Find a stationary soft looking object and question why you bought a Tesla.
*Note: Remove Tesla from any of this and the strategy still applies. Many modern cars do not have manually activated mechanical emergency brakes anymore, so that can't be applied. A gas vehicle with a pinned throttle cable will run out of gas eventually. etc.