OMG...my car tried to kill me!

I was on my way to the mall today when it happened. I turned onto a road by my house and was accelerating to get to the speed limit (40 mph). Once I had reached 40 mph, the car just kept speeding up faster and faster without my foot on the gas. I tried braking, but it didn't really do much!

So I quickly pulled into an empty daycare parking lot and was able to get the car into neutral and the engine kept revving! I was able to get it into park and turn the car off after that, but it was terrifying! For a split second, I thought I was going to crash into the building!

I called my parents and they came to get me. My dad decided that he wanted to test it out, so he turned the car on, and it started revving like crazy. He was able to get it to stop, though, by pressing the gas pedal then letting go quickly. I guess pushing the gas pedal wasn't really something I was thinking of when the car was speeding up! lol!

I'm just glad everything turned out ok, though.

OMG! Scary!! Glad you're okay

That is scary! Is it a Toyota?

It's a Honda Civic. The first think I thought was "But this isn't a Toyota!" lol.

I guess what happened is the throttle got stuck open? I know nothing about cars, but my parents seem to think that's what happened.

Really glad to hear you are alright. I was wondering if it was a Toyota too. I just had a dream 2 hours ago that I was in a car that couldn't break and that was scary enough!

It's really good that you knew what to do by shifting gears and were able to get into a parking lot. I hope you get the problem fixed permanently. I'd be too scared to drive that car ever again!

I would have been so scared, u handled it well though Glad to hear everything turned out great. I would have to admit the first thing I thought while reading your story was....YEP its a Toyota lol.....never thought it might be a open throttle?.....lol

Gosh that is scary Glad to hear your alright.

That could be Bush's fault! LOL

I'm glad you are ok! Get someone to look at it.

wow!! Really scarry!! Wonder if it is fly by wire? I love cars with accelerator cables!! lol

Sheesh, glad everything ended up okay.

gosh! i'm glad youre ok and it sounds like you handled it a lot more calmly than i would have!

How scary. Glad you are ok

WOW! Glad to know your ok. Very good thinking, most don't handle that situation as well as you did.

omg that's crazy! I'm so glad to hear you're ok!

WOW! Thank goodness for all those faulty Toyotas! I would not have known what to do if it wasnt for all the bad Toyotas in the news!

I'm glad you're ok!

That really is scarey, glad you were able to deal with it so brilliantly. How old is the car? If it is getting on it will probably be the accelerator cable. I had an old Fiat and that had a cable clutch, I pushed it in and it didn't come back up. That was weird.

I've heard of Honda's doing this, so it is a known problem but not as widely known as the Toyota/Lexus problem- here is a discussion where a few model years had this happen-

http://sfdiscussions.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=sua&action=display&thread=387&page =1

OMG I would have been so freaked out. Glad that you were ok

Sorry I haven't been back to this thread sooner. Thanks for the support, everyone! But I can guarantee you all that I was far from calm! lol! I was terrified!

I haven't driven my car since, but my dad drove it to his work to check it out, and the check engine light came on when he was stopped at a stop light and it started running really rough. He had to put it in neutral to keep it from stalling out. Other than that, it's been driving fine. He took it in to get it looked at, and their tests didn't show anything wrong with the car.

For those wondering, it's a 2002 Honda Civic.

Originally Posted by Jinx /img/forum/go_quote.gif I've heard of Honda's doing this, so it is a known problem but not as widely known as the Toyota/Lexus problem- here is a discussion where a few model years had this happen-

http://sfdiscussions.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=sua&action=display&thread=387&page =1
Thanks so much for the link! Scary stuff!

Originally Posted by sooperficial /img/forum/go_quote.gif WOW! Thank goodness for all those faulty Toyotas! I would not have known what to do if it wasnt for all the bad Toyotas in the news!
I'm glad you're ok!

I wouldn't have known either! I'm so lucky it happened when/where it did!