Hey guys, I just had a near death experience on the freeway while driving to work. I was cruising around 65 miles per hour and i went to change lanes. I accelerated just a little as i switched lanes and then the chaos insued. All of a sudden all I could hear is my engine revving up to WOT. I go to check the gas pedal and it is completely depressed. The car just started hauling all by itself. At this point I am on the freeway going 90 plus MPH with a lot of cars in front of me and with cars fast approaching from my rear. The only thing that I could do was slam on my break. This did not help too much as the car just jerked violently. I had the break completely depressed and my car was still accelerating. When I would let go of the break, the car would take off. I battle the accelerator with the break for a little bit and I am able to slow the car down considerably. At this time, I am on the shoulder trying to get my car to stop. I am finally able to get my car to a stop, but I can still feel it wanting to take off. I quickly move my car into neutral some how and stop the car on the shoulder. After a minute of waiting, everything seems back to normal and I drive to work.

After I goto work, I call my Lexus dealership and they say that they have never heard of anything like this. But after only 5 minutes of surfing on the internet, I am able to find documentation of this happening or potentially happening the IS250 AWD's. My dealership only tells me to bring the car in tomorrow. They do not even offer to come give me a new car and pick mine up. I was literally out of control on one of Houston's busiest Highways at its most dangerous intersection ( 59 and 610)and they do not even offer to pick my car up. I am still at work right now and honestly, Im so afraid to drive home tonite. I just wanted to let everyone know about this in case it ever happens to them. If this is an ongoing issue, we need to get it fixed. Does anyone have any advice on what I can or should do about this?

Thanks

 

Yeah, that makes sense. Continue to drive the car around.

 

Wow, first of all, glad you didn't have an accident. Probably should have shifted into neutral sooner, but oh well. I had a similar experience with my Accord, however it was not quite as dramatic. My gas pedal got stuck while I was accelerating, luckily I was able to slide my foot behind it and pull it back towards me. I took it into the dealer and they re-greased some parts of the pedal (all under warranty) and I haven't had the problem since.

How old is your car?

I haven't heard of another IS350 driver having this problem, but you never know.

 

I have had something similar happen to me in my GS but on a surface street. Scared the crap out of me...Turns out it was the floor mat that had somehow slipped up and layed itself over the gas pedal. Is it possible that the same thing happened to you? If that's not a possibility, I would tell them to come have it towed to the dealership, it should be covered under your service plan anyway.

 

Im glad you're fine. Lets us know what they find after you get it back from the dealership.

 

Glad you are OK...never heard of it before in all honesty. As someone mentioned, it could have been the gas pedal getting stuck with the carpet.

 

I will definately let you know what I find out from the dealership. I have the rubber all weather mats. I dug around and here is what I have found related to our cars and this potential hazard.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=192120

http://www.acura-legend.com/vbulleti...d.php?p=687052

http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/dir...w/.efc53ba/392

http://www.tundrasolutions.com/forum...links/links/17

I will continue looking this up while I am at work, but there does appear to be a trend of some sort.

Thanks for the kind words. Im going to the dealership tomorrow and will keep you all posted.

 

Hey check out my thread....I am still investigating this with my friend. Seems like this is really an issue and not some b.s.
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=244439

 

I agree with the earlier posters -- the fact that you observed the pedal stuck down makes me think this was likely interference from the floor mat. The IS is a throttle-by-wire car, the gas pedal simply rotates a pair of potentiometers that are read by the computer. If the spring isn't broken - and I assume it isn't since the car was fine after you pulled over, it sure sounds like a car of outside interference.

Do you have the factory OEM floor mats? Or something aftermarket?

 

i have had the same ussues before. the gas pedal gets stuck on my rubber floormats....it scares the hell outta me, but i just simply reach down and pull the rubber mat towards me to get it unstuck.

 

Wow, surprised to hear this. How do the rubber mats get stuck? There is a hole to lock it to the floor with the OEM mats.

Question: While driving, if one pushes the push-start button, will the car turn off?

 

There was a recall on the AWD 250's floor mats earlier this year. Too bad you didn't catch it earlier...

It's good to hear you're o.k.

 

Sorry to say that this seems to be operator error.

I don't think the dealership will find anything wrong with the car. My pedal gets stuck on my GS occasionally because I have aftermarket rubber mats.

This car has "drive-by-wire", so there is no cable to contend with.

I think that you could have stopped the engine by just pushing the "start" button while driving and coast to the shoulder, unless I am wrong.

 

Even with the accelerator floored, you should be able to slow and stop the car down with the brakes. There aren't many cars that can overpower the front brakes.

Since it seems like you tried the brakes and didn't slow down, you must have had
1. a physically stuck accelerator coupled with brake failure at the same time, or
2. you were pressing the accelerator pedal down instead of the brakes.

 

I always question a person posting things like this as their first post. If it is true, it is most likely a floor mat issue, which could happen in any car.