G37 Unintended Acceleration

[telcoman]

Telcoman

[larsG35]

I'm not saying that sudden (vehicle equipment failure) unintended acceleration never happens, but from past investigations of Audi and Toyota (and some other minor cases), I really find myself skeptical of most of these claims.

In my opinion, driver error is to blame in almost all of these cases. It might be awkward pedal placement, sizing, resistance, etc. which I suppose could be design oversights, but in the end it is probably driver error and not mechanical or electronic failure most of the time.

Personal story here from when I was 16
(maybe 3 weeks after getting my license) I was backing into my driveway where my car was typically parked, right behind an old conversion van my family had. When it came time to stop, I hit the gas instead of the brakes. For about 1 second (seemingly forever at the time) I thought I had my foot on the brakes and my first instinct was to brake harder to stop the "unintended acceleration"! Needless to say, my car went literally through the back of the conversion van and pushed it another 2 feet from where it was originally parked. Finally I realized the problem and that I should stop flooring it and actually put my foot on the brake pedal.

Would have been awfully convenient to claim it was some sort of mechanical failure! And I could certainly understand how it would be possible for someone to never realize what they had done wrong. In the heat of the moment, I was pretty damn confused and mentally numb from the surprise. As for the "scientific investigations" by the Department of Transportation engineers of Audi and Toyota, I'll leave a link, but to be blunt, it's driver error.

http://www.caranddriver.com/features/it ... re-feature

As for my car? Somehow the 1995 Subaru Legacy got away unscathed. Slight dent in the bumper and a handful of scratched paint on the body... 1982 Dodge ram van (which was actually scheduled to be towed to the scrap yard)... well words don't do it justice, but it was a mess. I guess momentum means everything.



TL;DR I honestly think 99% of time it's driver error, people just don't know or like to admit they were at fault.

[telcoman]

TL;DR I honestly think 99% of time it's driver error, people just don't know or like to admit they were at fault.

+1
I agree
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2010/0 ... n-debacle/

Telcoman

[kmckis1029]

trolling...

you cant do this... i tried it in both my 2005 g35x and 2010 g37x. then anyone who tracks their G knows its very hard to "brake launch" the G as the throttle will we cut after about 2k RPM if brake and gas held at same time. then on top of that VDC will cut the trottle for excessive tire spin if you try and burn out your tires even if its "off". THEN on top of that the brakes on the G are more than strong enough to overpower the engine.

please remove this troll.

[audtatious]

The G can have some unintended acceleration but it's a quick "surge" when coming to a complete stop and can be quite surprising. I've had it happen in my coupe a few times.

[kmckis1029]

the quick surge you are speaking on is the foward "throw" every gear has when a gear is engaged. People forget the G is a sports car and the forward throw when engaging a gear is normal and wanted for accelerating quickly.

[audtatious]

In my case it's long after I've been off the pedal and nearing a dead stop. Always when I'm not expecting it.

[annuity01]

On Sunday December 15th I was dropping off my wife at a local restaurant. Since I drive only with my right foot, it was on the brake. All of a sudden the car is up to 4000 rpm. I put it in park and shut the engine off. Thought it was just a quirk, but if my foot wasn't on the brake, I would be in the rear end of the car in front of me. Today Dec 18th I was coming to work and stopped at a light. Again my foot was on the brake and the same thing happened. Up to 4000 rpm put it in park and shut it off. Took it directly to the dealer and no codes came up at all. Service manager says that if it happens again give him a call immediately.

The guy who comments that it's hard to believe must be someone working in the industry. It happened, my foot was on the brake and not the gas. I do know the difference

Trading the car in. (2011 G37x) Not safe for an inexperienced driver.

[larsG35]

On Sunday December 15th I was dropping off my wife at a local restaurant. Since I drive only with my right foot, it was on the brake. All of a sudden the car is up to 4000 rpm. I put it in park and shut the engine off. Thought it was just a quirk, but if my foot wasn't on the brake, I would be in the rear end of the car in front of me. Today Dec 18th I was coming to work and stopped at a light. Again my foot was on the brake and the same thing happened. Up to 4000 rpm put it in park and shut it off. Took it directly to the dealer and no codes came up at all. Service manager says that if it happens again give him a call immediately.

The guy who comments that it's hard to believe must be someone working in the industry. It happened, my foot was on the brake and not the gas. I do know the difference

Trading the car in. (2011 G37x) Not safe for an inexperienced driver.

There is a difference between a reving engine and unintended acceleration.

A car I used to drive had a bad fuel pump/sensor/idk exactly the issue. Basically, the when stopped, the engine had a slightly low idle speed (probably the average driver wouldn't even notice - like from 650 rpm down to 400 rpm when stopped) when the car was warmed up. Rarely, it would suddenly jump to ~2500-3000 rpm for 10 seconds or so. Did I have uncontrolled acceleration? No, as soon as I noticed this, I applied more brake and the car didn't move. This probably happened 10ish times before I brought it to a mechanic.

I don't think it actually brought up any error codes for this either because sometimes the issue was there (when it happened) and then it wasn't anymore. It took a while to get the right diagnosis from a mechanic, but whatever they eventually did fixed it. He pretty much explained it as: Bad connection/inconsistent connection in the fuel delivery system so the computer had to "ask" for more gas than it was getting when the connection wasn't good. If the connection suddenly worked better again, the engine suddenly gets all the gas the computer was "asking" for and revs really high for a short time.

Something similar could be the issue in your case; it might not. Personally, I have pretty low confidence in any "mechanic" that plugs a computer in and asks the car to do his job for him. I think the problem is your dealer (wouldn't surprise me, a lot of people here hate their dealers) not the car (aside from the faulty part).


So, I believe what you are saying. However, I generally do not believe people that claim to have suddenly rammed through their garage door when they were "stomping on the brake". As you noticed, the car's braking system can comfortably prevent unintended acceleration even when the engine is at high RPM.

(If this comment - "The guy who comments that it's hard to believe must be someone working in the industry" - was direct towards me. I'm a chemist who does research on anti-cancer compounds. I just think logically.)

[annuity01]

No offense, I was a little upset when I posted. You are correct it was sudden revs and not while I was in motion. And yes the brakes were more than adequate in keeping my car in place. The only question would be if someone was on a hill, and was used to the built in (not rolling back) and didn't have their foot on the brake. I 'll check out the fuel pump sensor with my real mechanic.