Gas Pedal Problem

[catsgalore]

I hope my post will help others. We left on our RV trip on March 21st in our 1999 Fleetwood Southwind Storm. We left from Arkansas and we were headed to California. We reached Santa Rosa, New Mexico and took the 54 Southwest to the 70 into Las Cruces, New Mexico. The road has a few large climbs with long downhill grades. We were just about to go downhill when our gas pedal got stuck on the firewall in the floored position. My husband tried to slow down the RV but it was a lot for the brakes as we were towing our vehicle in the back as well. We were going downhill so fast and luckily no one was in front of us. We got off at the very next exit and the RV was still racing we pulled into a dirt area and the RV finally stopped. The brakes were no longer working. After we calmed down we called our Roadside Assistance who after a few hours told us they could not get anyone to help us. We stayed in a parking lot for the night but neither of us had any sleep. The next day I called Roadside Assistance again and this time they sent a mechanic who tried to move the gas pedal over with a crow bar and added brake fluid for us. He told us our brake pads crystalized which is to bad for us because they were fairly new. The mechanic took cash only and also charged 75 dollars an hour with a two hour minimum. We proceeded to Tucson and had the brakes pads replaced. The RV ran fine all the way to California and back to Arkansas. I called Fleetwood and asked why the pedal was so close to the firewall and they told me to call Chevy which told me to call Fleetwood. I finally gave up. I'm posting this so that maybe we can help others to prevent a freak event like this one.

[wa8yxm]

Executive wrote:
On another note......when the accelerator gets stuck like that, sometimes it's best to simply turn the key OFF rather than fight the brakes and the engine.

The problem is most folks will turn the key not to OFF but to LOCK, now you have no steering... Some (Few) folks do have the prsence of mind to hit OFF without LOCK.. and of course if the tranny is interlocked that will help.. And some vehicles have a safety you need to press to hit LOCK.. (But I press it without thinking when I'm driving such a ride) .

[Gjac]

I can throw mine in neutral at 70 mph but after reading all these posts I think your husband did the right thing. I would rather replace brakes than risking a blown engine by throwing it in neutral, or turning of the engine and not being able to steer or apply brakes.

[Executive45]

catsgalore wrote:
We have been driving this motor home since 2003 and never imagined anything like this happening. This particular Fleetwood model has the motor sitting inside between the driver and passenger seats. I don't know to much about the mechanics of this RV but just looking at the gas pedal I can see it is way to close to the fiberglass firewall next to it. The mechanic that came the next day used a crow bar to clear a space in between and he also took a corner of the pedal off so this never happens again. It was a very frightening situation but I thank God there were no other cars on the road at all that day and also that my husband did not panic and calmly did what he could to get the vehicle stopped. We have a braking system on the tow vehicle and I think that helped as well.

Thanks for that update....many good thoughts and posts about this subject. It's good to know whether your vehicle will allow the tranny to go into neutral, ( I don't know if my Allison will, but now I'm determined to find out) I know I can kill the engine...regardless, I'd rather crash at a slow speed than I would at a high speed....or as in your case, prefer no crash at all. You should give your hubby some extra hugs and kisses. Glad he had the presence of mind to keep calm in the face of danger.....Dennis

[catsgalore]

We have been driving this motor home since 2003 and never imagined anything like this happening. This particular Fleetwood model has the motor sitting inside between the driver and passenger seats. I don't know to much about the mechanics of this RV but just looking at the gas pedal I can see it is way to close to the fiberglass firewall next to it. The mechanic that came the next day used a crow bar to clear a space in between and he also took a corner of the pedal off so this never happens again. It was a very frightening situation but I thank God there were no other cars on the road at all that day and also that my husband did not panic and calmly did what he could to get the vehicle stopped. We have a braking system on the tow vehicle and I think that helped as well.

[Wrong_Lane]

Thanks Scott:

That might be the situation I was referring to.

You make a good point, with todays computer controls engines and transmissions there are likely some vehicles that don't allow a shift to neutral over a certain forward speed.

Certainly a situation that gives one a dismal feeling just hearing about it.

[Bigdog]

If you were climbing a hill and had the pedal mashed to the floor, you probably pushed it hard enuff to cause it to hang up somewhere and that's why the mechanic had to use a crowbar to free it. I'll bet you drove the rest of the way with a feather touch on the pedal and that's why it didn't happen again.

[ScottG]

Wrong Lane wrote:
I have often wondered why the driver in a stuck accelerator situation doesn't just throw it in neutral and brake to a controlled stop. If the engine blows up then so be it. That would be preferable to injuries or death!

There was one well publicized stuck accelerator case, that resulted in fatalities, where the driver of a medium sized car was on the phone with a 911 operator and apparently no one thought about putting the car in neutral.

I am glad to hear the OP is safe and sound.

If your thinking of the rented Lexus that crashed killing a police officer and his family, it would not allow itself to be put into neutral at speed and he didn't realize you had to hold the "Start" button down to kill the eng.

[Wrong_Lane]

I have often wondered why the driver in a stuck accelerator situation doesn't just throw it in neutral and brake to a controlled stop. If the engine blows up then so be it. That would be preferable to injuries or death!

There was one well publicized stuck accelerator case, that resulted in fatalities, where the driver of a medium sized car was on the phone with a 911 operator and apparently no one thought about putting the car in neutral.

I am glad to hear the OP is safe and sound.

[JumboJet]

I was replacing the serpentine belt on my MH. I had to move the MH 3' and cranked the engine w/o the serpentine belt. The brakes had almost no stopping power on level ground. I could not imagine trying to stop going down hill with no brake booster active.

[rgatijnet1]

Gjac wrote:
This was a dangerous situation which I never thought about before your post. I worried about losing my brakes on a downhill and what I would do. I have turned the key off on my tow car and it was hard to steer and the brakes at first worked but after several pumps they became very hard to stop. I can't imagine trying to steer a MH with the eng off down a windy road. I wonder if the power steering pump would work somewhat if the eng was still in gear rather than neutral? Glad you OK.

The older vehicles, like in the 50's and some 60's, the automatic transmissions had two pumps. With those vehicles, you could actually push start the vehicle because the rear pump would turn the engine over if the wheels were turning.
With the new automatics, no engine power means no transmission action to turn the engine over. You will have no power steering and no engine braking with the engine turned off.

[cheezkween]

In the case of a stuck accelerator, the correct thing to do is to immediately PUT THE VEHICLE IN NEUTRAL.

The engine will continue to rev hideously but don't let the noise panic you; IGNORE THE NOISE- you will be able to come to a controlled stop in a safe place.

Do NOT turn off the key; repeat- DO NOT turn off the key as you will lose power assist to brakes and steering.

Put the transmission in neutral.

If the accelerator sticks, put the transmission in neutral. Repeat this to yourself over and over until you internalize it

[Gjac]

This was a dangerous situation which I never thought about before your post. I worried about losing my brakes on a downhill and what I would do. I have turned the key off on my tow car and it was hard to steer and the brakes at first worked but after several pumps they became very hard to stop. I can't imagine trying to steer a MH with the eng off down a windy road. I wonder if the power steering pump would work somewhat if the eng was still in gear rather than neutral? Glad you OK.

[Cloud_Dancer]

IMO factory steering wheel locks are dangerous. AND, they don't even deter car thieves. I don't have them in ANY of my vehicles.

[rgatijnet1]

Executive wrote:
Have you determined WHY the pedal stuck? Did it get jammed or wedged somehow? I'm trying to picture why and how the pedal might get stuck.

On another note......when the accelerator gets stuck like that, sometimes it's best to simply turn the key OFF rather than fight the brakes and the engine. The power brakes won't work as well but they will work. Better than picking up too much speed and if the brakes finally heat up and fail, you're screwed....glad to hear you came out of this incident ok...must be terrifying.....Dennis

I guess it depends on the vehicle. On mine, the brakes switch to electric power once the engine stops. You will lose power steering, which means it is going to take a lot of effort to turn the vehicle to exit the road and to park it.
This same situation can happen if the rheostat for the gas pedal jams or fails. The connection between the gas pedal and the engine is an electrical connection on the newer RV's and electrical connections can fail, or get out of adjustment.
Being prepared for a stuck throttle situation is as important as knowing what to do with a tire blow-out.