Unintended/Over Acceleration Event

[Az_Rael]

One possibility I haven't seen mentioned yet: if you previously had your cruise control set to something high (say, 70 mph) and then unintentionally activated it when driving at a much slower speed, the sudden lurch forward as it tried to accelerate to the set point would certainly be disconcerting. And of course, hitting the brake would cancel it, just as described in the first post.

I had this happen when I was first getting used to the Model S cruise control, so I wonder if this is also happening to other people.

Well, the 3 doesn’t really have “sticky” cruise set speeds (much to my disappointment). So it would have to think it was on a road and had a speed limit in the display for the cruise to have accidentally accelerate like what you are talking about. Possible, but doubtful the 3 was recognizing a speed limit in a parking lot.

The mechanism to make that happen is there though, if the OP accidentally pulled the drive stalk again. Like if it had a delay showing the car in D after the first pull, so you pull again thinking you didn’t engage it, but that actally turns on TACC.

However, I believe the OP said they removed their foot off the pedal and that stopped the acceleration. Cruise wouldn’t do that.

 

[brkaus]

Cruise on the S will not activate unless the car is locked on a vehicle in front of it, in which case it would wait or follow, or over 18 mph.

 

[fr100]

Sometimes when shifting, I press the brake too hard, activating brake hold. You need to give the go pedal a bit of a push to get out of it, causing the car to lurch forward?

 

[thecloud]

Cruise on the S will not activate unless the car is locked on a vehicle in front of it, in which case it would wait or follow, or over 18 mph.

Good to know. In my case, I would have been going over 18 mph when I noticed this.

Re-reading the original post, if letting up on the accelerator pedal caused the acceleration to decrease, then accidental cruise control activation is probably not the issue.

 

[mswlogo]

The first and only time I charged to more than 90% I was quite startled by the lack of regen. You really get used to it.

You would think they could use an artificial load when the battery can't be the load for consistent behavior.
How hard can that be?

 

[Daniel in SD]

You would think they could use an artificial load when the battery can't be the load for consistent behavior.
How hard can that be?

You could certainly heat up the battery really quickly if you dumped all the regen energy into a resistive coil. That actually sounds like a really good idea. Send the regen energy to the resistive heater and/or a battery pack heater. That would only help for the cold weather case and not the high SoC case.

 

[bbapties]

Well, the 3 doesn’t really have “sticky” cruise set speeds (much to my disappointment). So it would have to think it was on a road and had a speed limit in the display for the cruise to have accidentally accelerate like what you are talking about. Possible, but doubtful the 3 was recognizing a speed limit in a parking lot.

The mechanism to make that happen is there though, if the OP accidentally pulled the drive stalk again. Like if it had a delay showing the car in D after the first pull, so you pull again thinking you didn’t engage it, but that actally turns on TACC.

However, I believe the OP said they removed their foot off the pedal and that stopped the acceleration. Cruise wouldn’t do that.

This is the first thing that came to my mind as well.....Ive had this happen on a 35 MPH road where i didnt realize it was set on TACC and it was set to 50 mph, car took off when other car in front of me turned off road.

 

[brkaus]

You would think they could use an artificial load when the battery can't be the load for consistent behavior.
How hard can that be?

Or they use the brakes.

 

[eprosenx]

Something that freaked me out a bit happened earlier today so I thought I'd share. I've already reported it to Tesla and they've escalated and are pulling the logs.

I hopped into my Model 3 to head home from work, stepped on the brake and shifted the car into D to pull forward out of the parking spot (I backed in).

As I gently applied the accelerator pedal to ease forward (and turn left) out of the parking space to head down the parking aisle, the car moved forward much faster than expected so I let off the pedal. I try again and the car lurches forward pretty quickly as if I mashed the pedal about halfway down. Letting go of the accelerator pedal doesn't seem to kick in regenerative braking so I press on the brake to slow the car down to a speed appropriate for a parking lot.

After hitting the brake, the problem never reappeared.

It's almost as if the "throttle map" was messed up for a few seconds asking the car to deliver much higher current than it should have at a 5-10% pedal position.

Very odd and a bit freaky.

So my Model 3 kind of felt odd today while accelerating a couple of times. I have had it since July 3rd and so I know the feel pretty well. It just felt like I had more power at a lower throttle position than normal. I wondered for a moment if something odd might be going on.

Most likely I was just imagining things, but I wanted to throw it out here in case there could be a real issue that others are experiencing.

This is how rumors start, so I want to be explicit that I am probably wrong.

 

[csshih]

You would think they could use an artificial load when the battery can't be the load for consistent behavior.
How hard can that be?

that's going to be a very big sandbar that can do 50kW

 

[nvx1977]

Apart from regen limited when near full charge (no where for regen to put power back in the battery), those new to their car should also be aware with winter coming up that once the temp starts dropping, you will wake up to find that it takes a while for the battery to warm up and allow for regen. On our Model S you could visually see this by the graph going yellow. Not sure how Model 3 handles this on any display/s. I really need to sit down with the manual for a while.

The car will show you in 2 ways: when you first start driving, you'll get the black oval popup telling you that regen is limited. That goes away after a few seconds. Your other indicator is the regen bar. The left side of that bar will show up as dotted. That's the part that's unavailable. If you're fully charged to 100%, then the entire regen half of the bar is dotted. Likewise when it's 0F and below, you likely won't be able to regen at all until the batteries warm up abit.

To the OP:: awesome that you reported this to Tesla. Let us know what they say. I personally haven't experienced this and hope I never will. Must have been really disorienting to have the car react in an unexpected way. I had this feeling when I lost brakes in a previous car. It's like the world that you know is all wrong.

 

[Hota]

Anyone have any idea on how long it might take for Tesla to pull logs and get back with customers for escalated issues?

 

[eprosenx]

So my Model 3 kind of felt odd today while accelerating a couple of times. I have had it since July 3rd and so I know the feel pretty well. It just felt like I had more power at a lower throttle position than normal. I wondered for a moment if something odd might be going on.

Most likely I was just imagining things, but I wanted to throw it out here in case there could be a real issue that others are experiencing.

This is how rumors start, so I want to be explicit that I am probably wrong.

FWIW, my car felt totally normal and fine today. So likely I was imagining things.

 

[ash0403]

Hey guys,

My Tesla crashed few days after I bought it. While I was driving my vehicle started making beeping sounds and asking me to stop near a stop sign.

I initially thought that my Tesla is detecting a stop sign and asking me to stop. However from my understanding Tesla doesn’t yet detect stop signs or traffic signal in Canada. It happened to me twice, 5 mins before the crash.

I pull my car and turn left on a friends drive way. I must be driving around 10km-15 km/hr. My car suddenly accelerated and rear -ended an SUV. My airbags were almost deployed. The impact was so strong that the suv moved and ramped into the garage door.

I read on the forums about Sudden unintended acceleration problems. However I don’t think I pressed the accelerator. I know in most cases they are saying it’s a user error. But I really need to find it out for my mental peace and to drive the car again.

This is really scary!

Is there a way to retrieve the car logs to Get more information about the acceleration? Is it possible to rent the EDR kit?

 

[Marionettez3]

Something that freaked me out a bit happened earlier today so I thought I'd share. I've already reported it to Tesla and they've escalated and are pulling the logs.

I hopped into my Model 3 to head home from work, stepped on the brake and shifted the car into D to pull forward out of the parking spot (I backed in).

As I gently applied the accelerator pedal to ease forward (and turn left) out of the parking space to head down the parking aisle, the car moved forward much faster than expected so I let off the pedal. I try again and the car lurches forward pretty quickly as if I mashed the pedal about halfway down. Letting go of the accelerator pedal doesn't seem to kick in regenerative braking so I press on the brake to slow the car down to a speed appropriate for a parking lot.

After hitting the brake, the problem never reappeared.

It's almost as if the "throttle map" was messed up for a few seconds asking the car to deliver much higher current than it should have at a 5-10% pedal position.

Very odd and a bit freaky.

Wow. This exact thing happened to me just an hour ago in almost the exact sameness situation you describe. I thought I might have accident my put it into autopilot. Weird.

 

[Trips]

My Tesla crashed few days after I bought it.

Correction, you crashed your Tesla a few days after you bought it.

While I was driving my vehicle started making beeping sounds and asking me to stop near a stop sign.

It will beep it you are driving through a stop light or the flashing yellows before a stop sign. It has never told you to pull over at a stop sign. If there is an issue it will tell you to pull over when it is safe.

I pull my car and turn left on a friends drive way. I must be driving around 10km-15 km/hr. My car suddenly accelerated and rear -ended an SUV... I read on the forums about Sudden unintended acceleration problems.

There is no problem, the cars response to pushing the accelerator is to go forward.

However I don’t think I pressed the accelerator. I know in most cases they are saying it’s a user error.

If 100% is most then yes, most are user error.

Is there a way to retrieve the car logs to Get more information about the acceleration? Is it possible to rent the EDR kit?

Yes, there are people on here that buy a kit and then sell them. You should be able to do a search for that.

 

[Daniel in SD]

I pull my car and turn left on a friends drive way. I must be driving around 10km-15 km/hr. My car suddenly accelerated and rear -ended an SUV. My airbags were almost deployed. The impact was so strong that the suv moved and ramped into the garage door.

A theory. Your foot was probably on the accelerator when your muscle memory said it should be on the brake. I bet you've pulled into your friends driveway hundreds of times in your previous vehicles with your foot on the brake. In your Tesla your foot was on the accelerator because you were using regenerative braking.
Is EDR available for crashes that don't trigger the airbags or pretensioners?

 

[wk057]

Put. Your. Money. Where. Your. Mouth. Is.

Sudden Unexpected Acceleration today

 

[bijan]

Not sure how Model 3 handles this on any display/s. I really need to sit down with the manual for a while.

Model 3 uses dots on the regen/power line on the left side to indicate limited regen (due to high SOC and cold), and dots on the right side to indicate limited propulsion (due to low SOC and cold).

 

[bijan]

You would think they could use an artificial load when the battery can't be the load for consistent behavior.
How hard can that be?

I'm not sure how hard it is, but the energy would be wasted in that case to provide that consistent experience. Also regen can hit 60kW that's a lot of power. Random google search indicates that's a pretty big resistor.
Edit: The easiest way to do it, would be to use the friction brakes since they're already there. Kind of like blended brakes but in reverse.