Great news if you are the owner of a 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT or Trackhawk: there’s a solid chance that your Jeep is under a recall because the floor mats can “inadvertently trap the accelerator pedal”. What does that mean? Well, do you remember the whole fiasco with Toyotas that had “unintended acceleration” issues back in 2009? That was part of the problem that set Toyota back a few billion dollars, left a black eye on the brand for a bit, and left people like me cracking “Moving Forward…unintentionally” jokes. It’s one thing when a Corolla or Prius gets it’s accelerator pedal stuck. Now picture a rolling tank of an SUV with a Hellcat powertrain deciding that you’re going to get ALL of the acceleration at once, and that you’re gonna sit there and like it until you finish soaking the driver’s seat as you try to get the mat from out under the pedal.
Growing up as a budding gearhead, I was warned about the many ways the automobile could kill you. There was the moving parts underhood that could turn my hands into several shades of minced meat. There was the possibility of the car falling off of the jackstands, crushing my ribcage. There was the demonstration of how too much brake pressure on a non-ABS equipped car could be worse than not enough pressure. And there was the steam bath treatment from a radiator, just because wrenching on cars is so much fun on it’s own. Many, many things can harm you as a wrench. But as a driver? Well, there’s lack of skill, but that’s learned and a human issue. There’s the dangers associated with certain elements of the car itself, like the tires (*cough*EXPLORER*cough*) but the floor mats?! How did slabs of carpet become so damn problematic? Please, somebody answer that one for me. I’ve had stock floor mats, cheap parts-store rubber mats, and even Weathertech systems in my cars, and not once have I had one ball up so badly that the throttle got locked into place, in either new or old vehicles.
Oh…one more thing: FCA advises owners of the affected vehicles to remove the driver’s side floor mat until you get the recall fixed.
A recall to remove a floor mat is a bit over the top, are people really dumb enough to have someone else do that for them?
BMT…There is a basic rule in SCCA Solo…remove floor mats or anything that could impede accelerating, braking or steering properly. I’ve personally seen plastic water bottles ” migrate” from the back seat under the front seats to cause problems. I crush them and stuff in the door pocket. We mandate that even the trunks be emptied.
The kill switch (on/off) start button ln our 577 hp AMG Mercedes will not shut down the motor while driving. I have often wondered how to stop it in the event of a stuck throttle(drive by wire)
I doubt the brakes would do it.
Go to neutral and count on rev limiter to catch the motor ???
who cares about the motor when you and others lives are on the line
When that Toyota thing was happening ,and people died.A radio station I listen to had a long talk about what to do if your car goes WOT ( drive by wire bullshit) And I was amazed at how many idiots we share the road with. ” what does neutral do”Are you frigg’n kidding me. And the other yaho’s that said “if ya put it in neutral you will blow the engine” And stay alive jagoff.I am really sorry that people lost their lives over this. However maybe its just god culling the heard .I cant believe that in this day and age ,with all the computer crap in vehicles .That a little old simple floor mat will cause a recall on an $80,000.00 car. But I’m sure if you don’t take it back.And let a trained tech ,that has been taught how to throw out your mats. Do it for you .And you have an issue ,and get in a wreck. The law team from Jeep will argue ( the owner may not have known how to remove the floor mats correctly ,so it your fault .Not jeep’s) .Stuff like this brings back the winning lawsuit about hot coffee from Mcy D’s ,in your lap will burn you .Wow who knew .
Two readers above think that the recall is to remove the mat because the owner is too dumb to do it. Some people might be too dum to read the whole article, at the end, there’s this:
“FCA advises owners of the affected vehicles to remove the driver’s side floor mat until you get the recall fixed.”
The recall is to replace the mat with one that does not cause a problem.
And if you saw the burns the old lady got from the McD coffee, you would give her the law suit win
This ignores a hard reality. Even a Trackhawk Jeep lacks the horsepower to over power its brakes. No matter how you measure it, there’s not actually more motive force than de-motive force available. If you clamped one foot on the brake and one on the gas, would a Trackhawk move? Even if it did, it would be slowly. Or, how many feet does one take to accelerate to 75 mph, vs how many feet to decel from 75 mph to 0? Even if the numbers are similar, it means that there is an element of bogusity to this whole fear.
The bottom line is that the runaway Toyotas did not actually exist. Corroborating evidence exists on LiveLeak and YouTube where you can find new videos of people crashing into the 7-11 or the dog grooming shop every single day. There has never existed a Prius or a Camry that possessed enough power to accelerate rapidly, uphill (both ways, barefoot, in the snow) whilst having the brakes applied.
Go out on the hiway with what ever you drive… put it to the floor…now with the other foot, apply the brakes, while still holding the accelerator to the floor. Report back on how long it takes to stop.
Have you never seen a tractor trailer coming down a grade that was unable to stop, and burned the brakes up?
You’re completly ignoring the fact that this doesn’t occur on initial take off, as you start the car, then put it in gear. This happens while driving.