As most of you know, I had a weird incident last week with sudden acceleration in my 1998 I30 that nearly wrecked the both of us.

In case you don 't, here's what happened:

I was backing my 1998 I30 into a parking space. My foot was resting on the brake, when suddenly the car took off like someone had floored the accelerator pedal.

I had to stand on the brake pedal to keep the car from going any further, and slam the transmission into Park.

The engine was still racing when I turned off the ignition.

What's weird is that my foot was nowhere near the gas pedal.

I have since had three sets of mechanics check out my car -- one of them with the Infiniti dealership -- and none could find anything wrong with my car. I have also tried to duplicate the event, but without success.

Now, here's the problem. What if it happens again, and I am not so lucky? Some have said to me that it was just a fluke. Maybe, but I have absolutely no assurances that it would not happen again.

So, what would you do? If it were your I30, would you keep driving it, or would you get another car?

 

I would rather get another Infiniti, than to be scared every time i sit in my car.

So I recommend getting rid of it.

 

So the next owner will have no idea of this history and probably kill himself? How guilty a conscience can you live with?

Honestly, it sounds like you just hit the wrong pedal. Maybe it was the carpet, maybe your foot slipped, maybe you were wearing new shoes...maybe there was a piece of dirt stuck on the throttle cable...but it doesn't sound like it'll happen again.

It'll be hard to sell the car if you tell people about its history and you'll be a bad person if you don't. Personally, I'd keep it. I'd have confidence in my car and just be prepared. You can always just flick the engine off if it all goes wrong.

 

I"m not saying sell it. Just get rid of it, if it really did happen the way you described.

 

Well unlike humans who do stupid things for no reason. Cars are machines and only do whats "instructed" of them. There has to be a reason why your car acted in such a way. Maybe the technicians just couldn't see it yet, but me personally, I'd probably get rid of it, if I felt that it would put my life and other people's life in danger.

 

I'd say it's time to clean and lube every part of the accelerator pedal to throttle body linkage assembly (i.e. everything mechanical that has to do with accelaration). The only other possibility is that it would be electrical in nature, so if you've noticed any problems at all in that arena, it's time to address those.

When you took it in for an inspection, did they pull the fault codes from the ECU? I would think that if there was a fault associated with the occurence, it would show up as long as the three trip clearing process hadn't removed it.

Max

 

NO! Just the opposite! I would only consider trading/selling it to a reputable dealer whose responsibility it is to make sure that the car has no problems before it is sold. I could never, in good conscience, sell it to someone off the street and pretend that nothing happened.

Now, my first stop was to go back to the dealership who sold me this car. They know about the problem and after spending half a day with it, were unable to reproduce the event. In their minds, and in the minds of everyone else who checked it out, there is no problem with this car.

I've driven it awhile since the incident and it drives OK (no strange sounds), except that the brake pads are making noise and now need to be changed.

As to the other respondent who said it was something I did, I can assure you that there was no human error involved. Nor was the carpet the culprit. We tried all combinations of carpet placement, and there's no way we could get even a slight rise in the throttle.

There's an alternate way (to installing a kill switch) of controlling the car if it happens again, and that is to practice putting it into neutral and turning off the key.

I agree that there has to be a reason why this happened.

Other than the pedal linkage itself, the cruise control is the only other device that has direct access to the throttle. However, it cannot be the cruise control because (a) it was turned off, (b) the brake disengages it, (c) it does not operate at slow speeds, and (d) there is just not enough vacuum assist to slam the TB wide open...especially given that the engine was idling.

According to Occam's Razor, the simplest explanation is usually the correct one, but darned if I can find a simple explanation here that has not been ruled out.

There's always the gremlin theory. Maybe my car is/was possessed, a la Christine?

 

I just finished reading this lengthy article written by an enginner about intermittant cruise control failure and sudden acceleration, and I have to agree with some writers here that the CC has to be the culprit.

Click here for the article.

 

How much do you want for your car? PM Me. I'm in Savannah

 

Its funny, my dad told me the same thing when he borrowed my car. He was parking into a spot in reverse when the car wouldn't stop, hit the car behind him. I have since gotten rid of it. I had an '01 though

 

From what I've been told, later I30's use the same cruise control system...which gives further weight to the theory that the cruise control is the culprit.

 

... Cruise control cannot take control of acceleration till after 30 MPHs... not only that once you tap the break it automatically shuts off, Rather A) you have ghosts that want you dead, or B) maybe some how... some way your ECU is going bad.. but that still wouldn't make sense because the acceleration is not controlled by the CPU, it's controlled mechanically (unless cruise control is active) by your foot...

 

ditch it man thats scary ****

 

Read the article! Automobile Cruise Control Faults and Sudden Acceleration

 

I did not mention this at the time I wrote my original post, but I wonder if this has any bearing on what happened to me (re: the sudden acceleration).

There was something out of the ordinary that happened the day before. I let my girlfriend drive the car that day and she had a problem starting the car -- that is, she had the problem of not being able to sense when the engine had started. Consequently, she kept the ignition switch in the START position while she revved the engine. She did that twice. The third time she started the engine, she let go of the ignition switch immediately, but she still revved the engine while in PARK.

Afterwards, the car drove very strangely. Cannot put my finger on what was different about it, but it just felt sluggish.

Any thoughts here?

 

EGR Valve?

check out this thread
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=387809

I used to have a similiar problem, when I would switch from park to drive, the car would jump like I was flooring it, if I didn't have my foot pressing hard on the brake the car would start flying.

this only happened occasionally and the first trip to the dealer the computer said there was nothing wrong with the car since it only happend somtimes.

also when switching into neutral or park the engine would rev upto 4k+ rpm's until I turned the engine off.

 

forgot to mention that I have an '01, I don't know how similiar a 98 is to an 01, but hope the info helps anyway

 

Definitely sounds like the idle air control valve is faulty.

 

I've decided to hold onto my I30 and drive it with the cruise disconnected until I can get my hands on a decent, 5th generation Max or I30 for under $10K.

I've actually grown to like the car...even though it tried to kill me.

I have been spending some of my leisure time test-driving cars, and to date, I have not found a better-riding set of wheels than my I30, and that list includes a 2001 Acura 3.2CL Type S, a 2000 Honda Accord EX coupe, a 2000 Lesus ES 300, and even a brand-new, 2005 Mitsubishi Galant.

The car I liked as well as my I30, and the only non-Nissan car that I would consider is a 2000-2001 Toyota Solara V6. Solaras made in 2002 and beyond are equipped with an electronic throttle.

REALLY DUMB IDEA!!!!

Didn't they learn anything from the Audi A6 debacle???

 

same thing happened to me in a 1999 Chrysler 300M.
the carpet was holding the pedal
i was scared as hell as it wasn't my car

 

Anyone know how much it would be to replace the cruise control system, either in part or in total?

 

Or the fact that Infiniti ****ed up royally when they designed the gas pedals and anyone that isnt used to the car will EASILY tap the gas when on the brake, and vice versa.

 

get rid of it

 

Maybe in manual transmission I30's, but there is absolutely no way to mistake the gas pedal for the brake in an automatic 1998 because the gas pedal is much lower and further to the right than the brake, and also is partially obscured by the center console.

BTW, I relocated my gas pedal.

 

Uhm... how did you relocate it? I mean did you just get the bent arm for the gas pedal? Or literally had it welded somewhere else?...
And you're right they're no where near each other unless you're way over weight and you have bear feet...

 

I had the arm bent upwards and leftwards. Reaching the gas pedal is now much easier, as is switching between it and the brake. See photos below:

Pedals before



Pedals after

 

I'd trade her in for one that can properly start a motor vehicle.

 

Since she does a better job of getting me started than the car, I think I'll keep her.