Sudden Acceleration

Several years ago there were reports all over the news about Toyota drivers who experienced sudden acceleration on their cars. I was concerned. We had just leased a RAV-4 for Briana and she drove it to and from school in Pennsylvania. Fortunately our car did not have one of the VIN numbers associated with the reported hazard. But I made sure to learn what to do in the event of sudden acceleration. And I had even practiced the maneuvers as the new reports suggested.

I was driving from Rockville Centre to Garden City on North Village Avenue on Monday when I decided to take Peninsula Blvd as a quicker route home. One can drive the speed limit of 55 on it. And as I pulled on to the ramp and put my foot on the accelerator I could feel the accelerator was “stuck”—as if the cruise control had kicked in—and when  I put my foot on the brake it had little to no effect—I was still accelerating. And I thought Holy crap this this is the thing they talked about on the news—except I was not driving the Toyota—I was driving my Mazda CX-9.


But I remembered what to do since I had practiced it in the event that I found myself experiencing the hazard. So I shifted  the car from drive into neutral—and I  heard all kinds of noises and thumping--but indeed the accelerator disengaged itself. But I was still moving forward with no place to pull over. And the news reports did not mention what to do after you put the car in neutral so I threw the car back into drive and hoped for the best. Thankfully everything resumed normalcy.  Everything was back to normal but for my nerves.

And I drove home albeit quite gingerly. Because I made a decision that pulling over in Hempstead where people are routinely robbed, shot and killed was more of a danger than the acceleration issue. If the car accelerated again I would know exactly what to do, but if the scary gang member came at me with a gun I would have been clueless how to proceed. Sometimes you must choose between a rock and a hard place. I chose the hard place. And when I arrived home I spoke with my husband and had him call Mazda—it is still a world where men who are assertive rank higher than women.

And because I am only human I thanked God that I wasn’t injured and that I had not injured anyone else. I thanked God that I had practiced shifting gears while driving as the safety reports on the news suggested.  I thanked God that I was in the car driving and not one of my children.  And after all that thanking God I said God damn it---I can’t believe what just happened.

Because while I am grateful, l feel anger too. I could have been killed. Sometimes it takes but a second to shift from Thank God to God damn—it takes but a second to shift from gratitude to anger—way less time than it would ever take to shift from drive into neutral.