scottf200 said:
Aside: There was an accelerator "stuck" thread on GM-Volt a while back. Turns out after various investigations that the person bought OEM mats and they had slide forward and caught the pedal!! There are pins/holes mechanisms in floor and mats to keep them in place. Not sure if they didn't realize how to install mats or they bought some cheap brand without the manufacturer locking holes.
The thread I was referring to is at http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?47465-An-Open-Letter-to-GM-Please-Fix-this" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;!
Ok I did a dumb thing today on the freeway, I am used to switching to ICE when I get up on the freeway and switching back to Electric when getting off. So I am getting up onto the freeway in "Sport" mode and so used to switching to ICE that I don't look down at the mode button. (Bad mistake) I don't know why but this time my hand was too low and instead of pressing the Drive mode button four times in succession to switch to ICE, I inadvertently press the Power button four times. By the way the ICE actually came on at that point. The front LCD screen goes nuts and the air conditioning goes off and heat at the highest temperature starts pouring out of the vents. The car starts to lurch forward, like my foot is on the gas peddle slammed to the floor. I put my foot on the brake but when I lift it off the car rushes forward again. Again, my foot IS NOT on the gas peddle! The ICE was revving at it highest point but I finally was able to get the car to the side of the road by slamming my foot on the brake and keep it there till I came to a stop. Then while keeping my foot on the brake, press the Start button again several times until the car finally resets and officially turns off.
I was really lucky that the freeway was light at this time and there was no other car close to me or I definitely would have smashed into it. My car is a MY2013. If the car is moving, you should just get a message saying that you can not do this while the car is moving or at least in an emergency, have the car actually turn off.
Folks attributed this to turning off the car, but it sounds more like the car's computer crashed. Turning off the car wouldn't make the heat come on, nor a lurching forward car.
These cars are completely run by computer so its not unimaginable that a crashing computer could cause all sorts of bad effects. But it is dangerous and the cars needs to be designed to be fail safe. I experienced some flakiness when I rented a Volt. Nothing serious but disconcerting nonetheless especially to a software developer.