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Sudden Unintended Acceleration

croman

Active Member
Nov 21, 2016
4,627
6,553
Chicago, IL
I had the same problem. I did not crash, but I removed my foot from the accelerator and the car accelerated. I was able to stop by applying the brakes, but it scared the crap out of me and my wife. It happened AGAIN about a mile later when I removed my foot from the accelerator because I was approaching a stop sign. Again, I was able to stop but we should all agree this should NOT happen.

To those on this forum who have written off a driver's unexplained acceleration as operator error, all I can say is that's not always the case. I was not applying pressure to ANY pedal. I did not accidentally press the accelerator after removing my foot from it. The car ACCELERATED ON ITS OWN. Pure and simple. Twice. I submitted a bug report immediately (which Tesla inexplicably deleted after two weeks without investigating it--supposedly a routine procedure). Tesla says they cannot find the cause. And they insist the car did not accelerate because the logs do not show the accelerator pedal as having been pushed (no pressure on the pedal). If one believes them (which, given other issues I've dealt with, that is NOT a given), now what? I'll tell you this, however: I've had nightmares about it ever since. The car was only several weeks old at the time. Careful about drawing conclusions and accusing a forum member of doing something wrong. Things aren't always as they seem--even if "the computer" supposedly says it's so.

Were you going downhill? Gravity is 9.8m/s^2, so that's acceleration without pressing a pedal. Otherwise, yes, strange things could happen I suppose, but you have no proof other than your subjective feeling that the car accelerated. Plus first post skepticism and we're at a stand still with this. I don't believe it without further corroboration.
 
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Joe F

Disruption is hard.
Sep 19, 2016
1,923
8,309
Outside Philly
I don't believe it without further corroboration.
Oh no, I believe him! I had it happen to me, too!

I went about 10 miles before I could stop the car! It was the scariest thing I’ve ever experienced. My wife was traumatized by the random unintended acceleration, and passed out from the sheer terror of the disaster.

Then I woke up.
 
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jeffro01

Active Member
Jan 30, 2013
2,676
1,926
Teller County CO
I had the same problem. I did not crash, but I removed my foot from the accelerator and the car accelerated. I was able to stop by applying the brakes, but it scared the crap out of me and my wife. It happened AGAIN about a mile later when I removed my foot from the accelerator because I was approaching a stop sign. Again, I was able to stop but we should all agree this should NOT happen.

To those on this forum who have written off a driver's unexplained acceleration as operator error, all I can say is that's not always the case. I was not applying pressure to ANY pedal. I did not accidentally press the accelerator after removing my foot from it. The car ACCELERATED ON ITS OWN. Pure and simple. Twice. I submitted a bug report immediately (which Tesla inexplicably deleted after two weeks without investigating it--supposedly a routine procedure). Tesla says they cannot find the cause. And they insist the car did not accelerate because the logs do not show the accelerator pedal as having been pushed (no pressure on the pedal). If one believes them (which, given other issues I've dealt with, that is NOT a given), now what? I'll tell you this, however: I've had nightmares about it ever since. The car was only several weeks old at the time. Careful about drawing conclusions and accusing a forum member of doing something wrong. Things aren't always as they seem--even if "the computer" supposedly says it's so.

Yes you absolutely did, the car didn't accelerate on it's own. You committed human error, live with it...

Jeff
 
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DarkMatter

Active Member
Jul 13, 2016
1,126
870
Olympia, WA
Could have not been human error. It could have been limited regen due to a cold battery or 100% charge. At least when that happens to me the first time I try to slow down and the regen does not kick in I always have a little moment of getting used to it.
 

Electroman

Supporting Member
Aug 18, 2012
6,116
6,173
TX
When I tried creep on, I ended up accidentally going forward several times. If you are totally used to one or the other, you can either try to relearn, or just switch the option.

With creep on - the only danger is you may end up creeping unintentionally.

With creep off - you may end up accelerating unintentionally.
 
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Bet TSLA

Active Member
Dec 8, 2014
2,812
10,264
Cupertino, CA
Hmm. I get unintended acceleration happening fairly regularly. Then I realize TACC is on. I don't always remember that TACC stays on if I terminate autosteer by overriding it using the steering wheel. It can be disconcerting to have the car suddenly speed up for no apparent reason. But pressing on the brake turns off TACC so it doesn't happen over and over.
 

Don85D

Member
Mar 25, 2016
331
287
Markham, Ontario
The truism of technology is that ...''hardware breaks, software has bugs and people make mistakes'. Any and all of these things can occur to cause a system to fail. Blaming all failures on human error is myopic, in my opinion.

Over 10 years ago we ordered a new BMW 3 series which I discovered had an electrically operated steering column lock. The previous design point was to lock the column manually when the key was turned to off and removed. BMW's automated feature would lock the steering when the fob was removed from the holder. My fear was that an electrical malfunction would lock the column while the car was in motion so I asked for this locking device to be removed from our car before delivery. The risk of a problem far outweighed any theft deterrence provided by a locked steering wheel. At the time of delivery all cars including ours had this feature disabled.

You can rate the risk of a problem caused by hardware, software or operator but it never goes to zero for any of them. That's perhaps why I am open-minded to the possibility and why each error needs to be investigated. Pilot error is just too easy to declare even after a plane banks left and plows into the earth.
 

DarkMatter

Active Member
Jul 13, 2016
1,126
870
Olympia, WA
With creep on - the only danger is you may end up creeping unintentionally.

With creep off - you may end up accelerating unintentionally.
I stand by what I said. I had to catch myself with the brake because I used the wrong pedal. My habits are wired hard for manual transmission vehicles and I find creep dangerous and unnatural in all vehicles.
 
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Texas

Member
May 19, 2015
137
174
Houston, Texas
(I have described the following events in several threads on this site.)

I have experienced not one, but two sudden unintended acceleration events in my 2015 P85DL.

These two very scary “sudden accelerations ” events occurred in the first year after delivery. Both occurred in parking lots where I was maneuvering at 4-5 mph, and both occurred when suddenly and unexpectedly I hit 6 -8” high curbs located in places where I didn’t anticipate hitting anything. My knee jerk reaction was to hit the brakes, of course. Unfortunately, in those days I kept Creep turned off, so my foot was on the accelerator, not above the brake. So when I “hit the brakes” my foot actually hit the accelerator and power launched right there in the parking garage. Remarkably, I had the same accident on two separate occasions, under identical circumstances!

Thanks to good luck, I didn’t hit anyone or do any property damage, even to the car, although I was really shaken. Thereafter, I spent a lot of time analyzing these two events, and concluded that Creep off was the cause.

I now keep Creep turned on, so that when slowly driving around in a parking garage the natural place for my foot is over the brake. I have had no more “sudden acceleration” scares since then. Now if I hit something in a parking lot, the result will be braking—not acceleration.

Two of my family members, both women over 70 who had never been very good drivers, have also experienced sudden acceleration events, and both swore their feet were on the brake, not the accelerator. I did enough analysis of each crash, and pedal error was the only logical explanation in both cases.

The hard truth is, it basically impossible for a car like a Tesla to accelerate on its own.
 

mhan00

Active Member
Oct 13, 2014
1,055
1,271
Southern California
I had the same problem. I did not crash, but I removed my foot from the accelerator and the car accelerated. I was able to stop by applying the brakes, but it scared the crap out of me and my wife. It happened AGAIN about a mile later when I removed my foot from the accelerator because I was approaching a stop sign. Again, I was able to stop but we should all agree this should NOT happen.

To those on this forum who have written off a driver's unexplained acceleration as operator error, all I can say is that's not always the case. I was not applying pressure to ANY pedal. I did not accidentally press the accelerator after removing my foot from it. The car ACCELERATED ON ITS OWN. Pure and simple. Twice. I submitted a bug report immediately (which Tesla inexplicably deleted after two weeks without investigating it--supposedly a routine procedure). Tesla says they cannot find the cause. And they insist the car did not accelerate because the logs do not show the accelerator pedal as having been pushed (no pressure on the pedal). If one believes them (which, given other issues I've dealt with, that is NOT a given), now what? I'll tell you this, however: I've had nightmares about it ever since. The car was only several weeks old at the time. Careful about drawing conclusions and accusing a forum member of doing something wrong. Things aren't always as they seem--even if "the computer" supposedly says it's so.


Could be regen kicking off for some reason. That happened to me fairly regularly in my Leaf and Volt, where if I was on regen and I went over a slight bump in the road regen would kick off for whatever reason and it felt like the car suddenly jerked forward until regen re-engaged. Dunno, but i will note that it does seem a little odd this is apparently your first and only post ever on this forum.
 

MDR SEA

2015 Model S 85D, 2016 Model X 90D
Dec 29, 2016
210
136
Pac NW
For what it's worth I haven't experienced sudden acceleration in my 2015 85D with 42K miles.
I have experienced self-inflicted curb rash on many wheels...
 

DarkMatter

Active Member
Jul 13, 2016
1,126
870
Olympia, WA
Could be regen kicking off for some reason. That happened to me fairly regularly in my Leaf and Volt, where if I was on regen and I went over a slight bump in the road regen would kick off for whatever reason and it felt like the car suddenly jerked forward until regen re-engaged. Dunno, but i will note that it does seem a little odd this is apparently your first and only post ever on this forum.
It does not seem odd to me. Everyone has to start somewhere, and it is a balanced story.
 
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shadows

Member
Feb 20, 2014
27
6
Arizona
Happened with my model 3 today. SUA, jumped the curb, hit a tree hard, and the front is completely damaged. I was brushing these off as driver errors until it happened to me. We are now scared!
 

Mark_T

Active Member
Nov 1, 2017
1,278
1,117
UK
It is still driver error even when it does happen to you, but now you know what it feels like to be sure you didn't make a mistake even when you did.

Tough to deal with that self-doubt when you have years of no errors behind you. The good news is you probably have years of no more errors in front of you as well, just takes time to get comfortable with that thought...
 

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