Oct. 20, 2016
I was driving my 2009 Nissan Quest with my 15 yr old son in the passenger front seat. I pulled out of a store plaza and proceeded to press the gas pedal to continue forward , however I noticed the minivan was accelerating forward without my assistance out of no where , quickly getting out of my control . Naturally I rushed to press the brakes and it seemed to be stuck. No amount of pressure on my part could allow the brakes to work. I was in a panic mode and looking ahead to see cars in front of me and wondering which I would I hit if I don't stop this vehicle soon. I don't know what I did , but I was able to park the car in the middle of the road and come to a complete stop. I believe I turned the key ignition down to allow me to park the car .
I attempted to start the car in park mode and it was still accelerating on its own in full throttle. A very load thunder like noise could be heard. If I moved it from that stable position it would have taken off. I took out the key and left the vehicle in the middle of the road. Three minutes went by and many cars passed by, not one wanting to help a woman and child on the side of the road with a vehicle in the middle of the road. But one man did. He started my car and it was still revving. I was personally scared and reluctant to move it to neutral when asked by him so we could move it out of the lane of up and coming cars. He was brave enough to put it on neutral and I pushed it to safety. He didn't know what to think, but said it was probably electrical. My first thought was that my brakes weren't working, but the initial trouble was the sudden acceleration. My Nissan Quest was NOT having any issues with the brakes prior and I was driving very slow.
I have to imagine if I was driving at normal speed I wouldn't have faired so lucky. What if I was on the highway? I believe I was only able to come to a safe stop because I only just turned left and wasn't speeding. The roads were dry, but soon after the incident it rained. How would I have faired if the roads were slippery and all this was happening?
I called a tow truck, All American Towing Inc. and the driver arrived 1 hour later. I told him what happened and he took my keys and started the Vehicle. He hitched the van unto his flatbed truck and proceeded to drive me to my home 3 miles away. During this trip, he explained he had been a mechanic for 10 yrs and a tow truck driver for 15 yrs. He said after starting the van he was sure that my van was having throttle issues. I never even heard of the word before. Then he said that it can happen to almost any car at any time without notice. When we arrived at my destination he looked under the hood and said it looked like it was an electrical issue causing the throttle to accelerate suddenly.
All this information was new to me. I never heard of it before. If it wasn't for the helpful tow truck guy, I would have never reported a sudden acceleration issue. I didn't even know that was the official term. I researched "accelerating gas pedal brakes not working" on google which lead me to a wiki page about "Sudden Unintended Acceleration".
Because I was sure this type of thing was under reported , I wanted to report the incident to your website. I personally don't feel safe driving my 2009 Nissan Quest anymore , even if I fix the electrical issues . As I researched ,
because my car had this Sudden Acceleration issue , it can happen again. What am I to do? The minivan "seems" to be running fine when I started it, but I will not take the risk of driving it to find out if it will happen again. The car dealers and makers don't want to take responsibility for it and the lack of evidence being that it now works fine makes it hard to prove. Throughout the ordeal, the van was in full throttle, I wish I video taped it, but I didn't realize the controversy involved with sudden acceleration.
This is clearly a defect in this Nissan Quest and I shouldn't have to carry such a burden . I am so blessed to have been spared injury or death to myself and to others because the situation occurred at the right moment when I was driving .
Unfortunately , what I read online were many stories of highway Sudden Accelerations where the driver had completely lost control and lost his life and killed others along the way. I am deeply saddened that in this day and age things like this could happen .
Betsy B.
Louisville, KY
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
Oct. 20, 2016 I was driving my 2009 Nissan Quest with my 15 yr old son in the passenger front seat. I pulled out of a store plaza and proceeded to press the gas pedal to continue forward , however I noticed the minivan was accelerating forward without my assistance out of no where , quickly getting out of my control . Naturally I rushed to press the brakes and it seemed to be stuck. No amount of pressure on my part could allow the brakes to work. I was in a panic mode and looking ahead to see cars in front of me and wondering which I would I hit if I don't stop this vehicle soon. I don't know what I did , but I was able to park the car in the middle of the road and come to a complete stop. I believe I turned the key ignition down to allow me to park the car . I attempted to start the car in park mode and it was still accelerating on its own in full throttle. A very load thunder like noise could be heard. If I moved it from that stable position it would have taken off. I took out the key and left the vehicle in the middle of the road. Three minutes went by and many cars passed by, not one wanting to help a woman and child on the side of the road with a vehicle in the middle of the road. But one man did. He started my car and it was still revving. I was personally scared and reluctant to move it to neutral when asked by him so we could move it out of the lane of up and coming cars. He was brave enough to put it on neutral and I pushed it to safety. He didn't know what to think, but said it was probably electrical. My first thought was that my brakes weren't working, but the initial trouble was the sudden acceleration. My Nissan Quest was NOT having any issues with the brakes prior and I was driving very slow. I have to imagine if I was driving at normal speed I wouldn't have faired so lucky. What if I was on the highway? I believe I was only able to come to a safe stop because I only just turned left and wasn't speeding. The roads were dry, but soon after the incident it rained. How would I have faired if the roads were slippery and all this was happening? I called a tow truck, All American Towing Inc. and the driver arrived 1 hour later. I told him what happened and he took my keys and started the Vehicle. He hitched the van unto his flatbed truck and proceeded to drive me to my home 3 miles away. During this trip, he explained he had been a mechanic for 10 yrs and a tow truck driver for 15 yrs. He said after starting the van he was sure that my van was having throttle issues. I never even heard of the word before. Then he said that it can happen to almost any car at any time without notice. When we arrived at my destination he looked under the hood and said it looked like it was an electrical issue causing the throttle to accelerate suddenly. All this information was new to me. I never heard of it before. If it wasn't for the helpful tow truck guy, I would have never reported a sudden acceleration issue. I didn't even know that was the official term. I researched "accelerating gas pedal brakes not working" on google which lead me to a wiki page about "Sudden Unintended Acceleration".
Because I was sure this type of thing was under reported , I wanted to report the incident to your website. I personally don't feel safe driving my 2009 Nissan Quest anymore , even if I fix the electrical issues . As I researched , because my car had this Sudden Acceleration issue , it can happen again. What am I to do? The minivan "seems" to be running fine when I started it, but I will not take the risk of driving it to find out if it will happen again. The car dealers and makers don't want to take responsibility for it and the lack of evidence being that it now works fine makes it hard to prove. Throughout the ordeal, the van was in full throttle, I wish I video taped it, but I didn't realize the controversy involved with sudden acceleration.
This is clearly a defect in this Nissan Quest and I shouldn't have to carry such a burden . I am so blessed to have been spared injury or death to myself and to others because the situation occurred at the right moment when I was driving . Unfortunately , what I read online were many stories of highway Sudden Accelerations where the driver had completely lost control and lost his life and killed others along the way. I am deeply saddened that in this day and age things like this could happen . Betsy B. Louisville, KY
- Betsy B., Louisville, KY, US