Sudden Unexpected Acceleration today

[diamond.g]

I have read the replies to the original post. Unless this has happened to you, it is easy to put the blame on the driver.
My wife and I have owned our Model 3 for 6 months. She drives it as much as I do. She has NEVER had an accident in her 30 years of driving. As with many, she was slowly pulling into a parking spot. She was utilizing the creep function, not putting her foot on anything as you do with these cars. She was about to put her foot on the brake to fully stop the car when it suddenly accelerated, drove over the parking curb, through a chain link fence, and into 2 parked cars. Thank God nobody was hurt. It happened so fast. She wasn't distracted, had nothing to drink and knows how to drive a Tesla.

I know that this will elicit "this is total BS, it is driver error, there is no way these cars do this, etc, etc." Hey, I love this car but all I can think is what if my kids had been standing in front of the car? On autopilot, it has done some screwy things, but I love autopilot for the most part. At this point, I'm selling it. Ok, now everyone tell me how stupid I am to post this, etc. I'm glad this doesn't happen very often, but for us, once is enough.

Based on @wk057 past post. It is more likely that she pressed the accelerator and not the brake. If she did press the brake and the car didn’t stop seems like a slam dunk lawsuit towards Tesla runaway acceleration.

Honestly this is a good reason to not have creep on. Then it makes it obvious which pedal you are pressing.

 

[seattlite2004]

I have read the replies to the original post. Unless this has happened to you, it is easy to put the blame on the driver.
My wife and I have owned our Model 3 for 6 months. She drives it as much as I do. She has NEVER had an accident in her 30 years of driving. As with many, she was slowly pulling into a parking spot. She was utilizing the creep function, not putting her foot on anything as you do with these cars. She was about to put her foot on the brake to fully stop the car when it suddenly accelerated, drove over the parking curb, through a chain link fence, and into 2 parked cars. Thank God nobody was hurt. It happened so fast. She wasn't distracted, had nothing to drink and knows how to drive a Tesla.

I know that this will elicit "this is total BS, it is driver error, there is no way these cars do this, etc, etc." Hey, I love this car but all I can think is what if my kids had been standing in front of the car? On autopilot, it has done some screwy things, but I love autopilot for the most part. At this point, I'm selling it. Ok, now everyone tell me how stupid I am to post this, etc. I'm glad this doesn't happen very often, but for us, once is enough.

Its expensive...but data is recorded if you want to find out accelerator position prior to crash....links at the bottom of the article: Tesla releases new tool for people to retrieve ‘blackbox data’ after a crash

 

[commasign]

For reference:

Sudden Unexpected Acceleration today

Sudden Unexpected Acceleration today

 

[jat255]

I have read the replies to the original post. Unless this has happened to you, it is easy to put the blame on the driver.
My wife and I have owned our Model 3 for 6 months. She drives it as much as I do. She has NEVER had an accident in her 30 years of driving. As with many, she was slowly pulling into a parking spot. She was utilizing the creep function, not putting her foot on anything as you do with these cars. She was about to put her foot on the brake to fully stop the car when it suddenly accelerated, drove over the parking curb, through a chain link fence, and into 2 parked cars. Thank God nobody was hurt. It happened so fast. She wasn't distracted, had nothing to drink and knows how to drive a Tesla.

I know that this will elicit "this is total BS, it is driver error, there is no way these cars do this, etc, etc." Hey, I love this car but all I can think is what if my kids had been standing in front of the car? On autopilot, it has done some screwy things, but I love autopilot for the most part. At this point, I'm selling it. Ok, now everyone tell me how stupid I am to post this, etc. I'm glad this doesn't happen very often, but for us, once is enough.

If this is indeed the case, then you should report it to NHTSA and Telsa and let them investigate. I hate to be the first one to call it out, but as someone with one post, well... it's easy to make up a story. I can imagine that selling a car with such a serious known safety defect (if not disclosed to the buyer) could place substantial liability on you were something to happen to the next party that owns the vehicle, although IANAL.

 

[EVnut]

>> She was about to put her foot on the brake to fully stop the car when it suddenly accelerated, drove over the parking curb, through a chain link fence, and into 2 parked cars <<

I appreciate your input. I won't call anybody an idiot or worse, because stuff happens to all of us, and no system is perfect. And I still need to ask:

If she was prepared to brake when the car suddenly accelerated.... why didn't she use that brake pedal to avoid all that damage? Even after the scare, you have to admit that the sequence of events sounds *exactly* like the wrong pedal was used. And the car continued to go, so more pressure was applied... to the wrong pedal. The car will not accelerate with any pressure on the brake pedal. Yet it will accelerate quite smartly with pressure on the go pedal. I didn't hear anything in the sequence of events that said she applied the brakes. And the "black box" will tell us everything we need to know.

And I'll tell you what could account for the surprise acceleration even if she remained off both pedals: inadvertently tapping the right stalk down once. It just takes a brush with your hand (don't ask how I know!) or coming from years of Toyota ownership, and using that stalk to turn on the wipers (don't ask me how I know that either!). Was it perhaps raining? The car will accelerate up to whatever it thinks the nearby speed limit is because of the stupid way that TACC is set up (assuming you have TACC). But again... in every scenario imaginable, the brake pedal stops it.

Summary: There are only two ways that I can personally accept or acknowledge for "unintended acceleration" from the Model 3. One is application of the wrong pedal (yes, even from experienced, otherwise safe drivers with excellent records). The other is inadvertent application activation of TACC. Both are a heck of a surprise. And the brake pedal terminates the problem instantly in every instance. Beyond the subjective anecdotes, there is zero objective evidence of anything else occurring.

 

[gilscales]

First let me just say that I truly do not care if anyone believes me, that out of the way, this unexpected acceleration has happened to me twice, (ok once) first time was just after a detailer washed the car BUT it was because the floor mat (3D Kagu) was on the accelerator so no big deal, hit the brakes and pulled over to the side of the road, found it, fixed it

The last time was the real one, driving on my street at 15 mph and a sudden burst of acceleration when my foot was lifting off using regeneration, I hit the brakes and stopped without an issue, acceleration was not drastic BUT I know that I did not hit the accelerator and I even checked the floor mat again and no obstructions around the pedal, it is a little concerning but I hit the brakes and everything worked as intended so....?

 

[Az_Rael]

The other is inadvertent application activation of TACC.

The last time was the real one, driving on my street at 15 mph and a sudden burst of acceleration when my foot was lifting off using regeneration, I hit the brakes and stopped without an issue, acceleration was not drastic BUT I know that I did not hit the accelerator and I even checked the floor mat again and no obstructions around the pedal, it is a little concerning but I hit the brakes and everything worked as intended so....?

This fellow seems to be dealing with an issue of some sort that is causing his cruise to engage unexpectedly.

Cruise control activates randomly - Becoming rather dangerous!


The other possibility on the regen one could be lack of traction. I haven’t experienced it in my Tesla, but in my Volt, if you lost traction (pothole, whatever) while using regen, the car immediately would disable regen. It felt like being jetted forward when it happened.

 

[EVnut]

The other possibility on the regen one could be lack of traction. I haven’t experienced it in my Tesla, but in my Volt, if you lost traction (pothole, whatever) while using regen, the car immediately would disable regen. It felt like being jetted forward when it happened.

Probably not relevant to this latest episode, but yes... I know just what you mean from past EVs with regen on, and really poor traction control. The older Prius was similar, but muted due to pretty weak regen.

 

[seattlite2004]

someone get some data....and post...or get data, lawyer up, then post.

Links to tools:
Tesla releases new tool for people to retrieve ‘blackbox data’ after a crash
Event Data Recorder
https://www.amazon.com/Peak-System-GC-CAN-USB-Adapter-PCAN-USB/dp/B078VRJS5X/
Tesla EDR Kit - Crash Data Group

Sample data: https://www.crashdatagroup.com/pdf/TESLA_EDR_SAMPLE.pdf

 

[ngogas]

Something smells like bs.

 

[gilscales]

The other possibility on the regen one could be lack of traction. I haven’t experienced it in my Tesla, but in my Volt, if you lost traction (pothole, whatever) while using regen, the car immediately would disable regen. It felt like being jetted forward when it happened.

I will disagree with you my instance as it was very evident what happened to me, I was coming up to a turn I have taken 1,000's of times right around the corner of my home, it was dry, clear weather and daytime, I am doing approx. 25 mph before approaching the turn and let off the accelerator when at approx. 15 mph the car accelerates as if I had depressed the pedal a bit, not floored or anything like that, it did not concern me a lot because i caught it so fast, the brakes worked fine and it went away immediately, I have not experienced it since, the car has 18,500 miles on it and it appeared to be a one off thing, it was a very weird feeling though for a very brief moment.

 

[EVnut]

This fellow seems to be dealing with an issue of some sort that is causing his cruise to engage unexpectedly.

Yeah... that was five years ago, in a Model S. With no resolution posted. Call me skeptical.

The two most obvious options remain...

 

[diamond.g]

I will disagree with you my instance as it was very evident what happened to me, I was coming up to a turn I have taken 1,000's of times right around the corner of my home, it was dry, clear weather and daytime, I am doing approx. 25 mph before approaching the turn and let off the accelerator when at approx. 15 mph the car accelerates as if I had depressed the pedal a bit, not floored or anything like that, it did not concern me a lot because i caught it so fast, the brakes worked fine and it went away immediately, I have not experienced it since, the car has 18,500 miles on it and it appeared to be a one off thing, it was a very weird feeling though for a very brief moment.

Did you have Tesla pull the logs for that incident?

 

[Az_Rael]

Yeah... that was five years ago

He started the thread last week.

 

[gilscales]

Did you have Tesla pull the logs for that incident?

I did not, it was such a quick isolated incident and I did not really even think about that option to be honest, I was not shaken up and I was just taken by surprise for such a short period of time and the acceleration was not that dramatic.

 

[diamond.g]

I did not, it was such a quick isolated incident and I did not really even think about that option to be honest, I was not shaken up and I was just taken by surprise for such a short period of time and the acceleration was not that dramatic.

Dang. I would be curious to know what was logged.

 

[gilscales]

Dang. I would be curious to know what was logged.

IF it ever were to happen again, first I would hit the button for the dash cam to save and then note everything and call Tesla, hopefully it was a one time only incident though.

 

[Big Earl]

This fellow seems to be dealing with an issue of some sort that is causing his cruise to engage unexpectedly.

Cruise control activates randomly - Becoming rather dangerous!


The other possibility on the regen one could be lack of traction. I haven’t experienced it in my Tesla, but in my Volt, if you lost traction (pothole, whatever) while using regen, the car immediately would disable regen. It felt like being jetted forward when it happened.

If it’s a Model 3, it sounds like a flaky drive control stalk (shift lever / autopilot controls). Some people have reported issues with the turn signal stalk, so it’s plausible that the same issue could manifest itself in the drive stalk.

 

[mongo]

I will disagree with you my instance as it was very evident what happened to me, I was coming up to a turn I have taken 1,000's of times right around the corner of my home, it was dry, clear weather and daytime, I am doing approx. 25 mph before approaching the turn and let off the accelerator when at approx. 15 mph the car accelerates as if I had depressed the pedal a bit, not floored or anything like that, it did not concern me a lot because i caught it so fast, the brakes worked fine and it went away immediately, I have not experienced it since, the car has 18,500 miles on it and it appeared to be a one off thing, it was a very weird feeling though for a very brief moment.

Was the turn in the direction that, if you accidentally hit the stalk, would engage TACC?

 

[EVnut]

He started the thread last week.

Sorry. This is why I usually try to avoid posting from a small screen.