Quick Steps On How To Handle A Stuck Accelerator Pedal

Cars are getting safer all the time. With antilock brakes, automatic parking, backup cameras, airbags, radar collision detection, you’d almost think nothing could go wrong while you’re driving.

But what if something fails like your car won’t stop accelerating? There’s a traffic light ahead. Or a stopped car. Or you need to slow down for a turn.Your gas pedal is stuck ,your brake pedal is useless and the car races on the highway at a speed of 120mph .What Would You Do ?

A)use the emergency brake

B)jam the car into neutral

C)Turn off the engine

I have two words for you — don’t panic and stay calm

A stuck accelerator is an electrical or mechanical failure that could occur in any vehicle.
When you find yourself in such situation, first check to make sure it isn’t just a stuck accelerator pedal, where the pedal went down but became mechanically jammed and wouldn’t come back up.

In that case, wedge your right foot under the pedal to pull it back up and hit the brake with your left foot to slow back down.Pumping the brake can interfere with the vehicle’s power brake vacuum assist.

Even if the accelerator isn’t stuck, put the car in NEUTRAL and apply firm, continuous pressure to the brake pedal to slow the car down.If the car has a manual transmission, remember to depress the clutch to shift gears.

If for some reason shifting into NEUTRAL doesn’t work, turn the engine off. (This will not cause loss of steering or braking control, but the power assist to these systems will be lost.)

(In a Toyota with an engine button, this may require holding the button down for three seconds before it will respond.)

If you use a key ignition , don’t pull the key out when you turn off the engine so that the steering wheel doesn’t lock.

Smart throttle solutions
Some new vehicles come with “smart throttle” technology, which reduces the possibility of unintended accelerations caused by mechanical failures.

These computer-based systems recognize when both the brake and accelerator are being depressed and tell the engine to give precedence to braking and ignore the accelerator.

It’s scary to think about being involved in something like this, but it’s worth it to take the time now to commit these steps to memory.

Feel free to add other ways that has worked for you or a particular car model