Hiboost

iTrader: (9)

There are at least 4 total that I know of now that have had their gas pedal snap off and yes it is indeed an intended design. Personally I would rather have a sturdy pedal since unless all the pedals are break away there is no telling how the firewall is going to hit your ankles in a major crash.

Not sure why you would call this a ridiculous topic... I'm sure if you pulled out into traffic and YOUR gas pedal snapped causing you to suddenly slow down to a crawl in a 50+ mph zone that MOST of the time everyone would see you and slow down... BUT there is always that chance that someone isn't paying attention and nails you at full speed as you are scrambling for the hazard lights. It's definitely a tradeoff for safety in my book.

Previous topics with pictures:

https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/ev...broke-2-a.html

https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/ev...-too-hard.html

https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/au...als-evo-x.html

I remember seeing others here and at other sites but these are the most comprehensive.

The best solution to maintain the break away feature is to simply install some sort of rubber stopper so that the pedal can't flex past it's intended travel and weaken the break away section of the plastic over time. I braced my new pedal with an aluminum bracket as an added measure because I wasn't convinced at the time that the stopper would be enough.

Good luck out there.

yooyooyoo

iTrader: (3)

just because something is designed to be break away does not mean that it should break under normal usage. I've never heard of another car with such a problem.

You guys with this problem should report it immediately to the DOT NHTSA here:

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/portal/site...6df1020008a0c/

migs647

iTrader: (19)

you know, it makes me wonder if the NHTSA even cares or not .

Rex915

iTrader: (57)

+1

kobi2002

iTrader: (1)

I don't see how you guys don't see the danger in a pedal that breaks. I remember my integra that was turbo'd bogged out in an intersection and i almost got t-boned. This is the third case. and whether or not the are flooring the car, this should be the last thing on your mind. All I can say is better do somthing before somthing bad happens.

gizmotoy

Yea, I don't get it either. Some people either can't fathom all of the possibilities, or refuse to acknowledge them.

I remember one time awhile back I let my Dad wash my car. After taking a look under the hood and noting how dirty it was, he proceeded to spray it down. Shortly after, I took it out and turned on to a road with a 55mph limit, where the car promptly refused to accelerate past 20-25mph as a car quickly approached. I was fortunate in that the guy was paying attention and slammed on his brakes. The skidmarks were there for weeks. I got some choice obscenities and hand gestures at the next light

That's just one possible situation. Intersections with 2-way stops would be bad. Or how'd you like to be in heavy traffic on a nice multi-lane highway when it fails? Getting stranded in a center lane is sure to be quite safe for you The possibilities for danger are endless.

sonicrx

do you have a picture? i would like to see where it broke

xi

I see the point about having it break-away but from an engineering point of view, it makes no sense that it broke in this manner.

But the strength required to break an ankle it's a much higher force than you'll exert by pushing down on the pedals during hard acceleration and it should never fatigue away and break under normal usage. If a pedal did indeed break, a quick examination under an electron microscope can tell if it was due to yield or fatigue.

tipoytm

Were you at part throttle or WOT when it broke? Sorry, might be a dumb question, but didn't see that anywhere on the thread and just wanted to be sure.

06MR6

iTrader: (4)

Okay, so it is PLAUSIBLE that a breakaway pedal could snap under the foot of someone who doesn't realize the car goes just as fast with the gas pedal gently touching the end of it's range of movement and likes to hammer the whole weight of their leg into the gas pedal, and even add some extra muscle to the load?!?!?!?

Whoa whoa whoa...

Now fathom this, if you pull out in front of somebody thinking your turbo will correct for your poor judgement, you're an idiot.

If you pull out in front of someone with PLENTY of SPACE then they'll have PLENTY of time to see you and move or brake.


(I AM a hypocrite, believe it or not, I pull out like a jackass too sometimes, but at least if my car malfunctions and I get hit, I'll admit to being an idiot instead of blaming an automaker)

06MR6

iTrader: (4)

To qoute one of the other broke pedal threads (WITH pics):


So it would seem that with a little quick thinking that you could very easily clear yourself outta the middle LAME... I mean, lane.

hhhmmmm. I guess I must not be very analytical though huh?

steinvb12

iTrader: (4)

1 - The only way to get the pedal to break is to mash it to the floor.

2 - If you are mashing the pedal to the floor and trying to pull out in traffic, you are NOT DRIVING SAFE to begin with! Who tries to launch with traffic arround??? It's your own fault if you get into an accident then.

I'm not trying to say that the pedal might break prematurely in some instances. It very well might. But I also I don't think anyone in here though has the crash statistics and force it takes to break the pedal, etc....

Final thought - if you are mashing the pedal, there shouldn't be any cars around at all, otherwise you are already making conditions unsafe for yourself and have no one to blame but yourself if something should happen.

tipoytm

This is what I was trying to find out... if he hammered the gas pedal to the floor or it just "magically" broke on part throttle.

gizmotoy

Congratulations. You may have been able to successfully escape one such situation, assuming you didn't get rear ended or rear end someone else while you were trying to figure out WTF just happened to your pedal. Hopefully the person behind you was paying attention.

The danger involved in a gas pedal breaking is not even debatable, IMO. It clearly has the potential to be dangerous. Whether or not the pedal broke due to abuse, and if its design should allow such an occurrence to even be a possibility, is an entirely different matter.

tipoytm

^ I agree, there is no question about how unsafe it would be when the gas pedal breaks and you are in the middle of traffic... BUT, it is also common sense that anything in your car can break if a sudden & massive amount of force is applied to it.