Uncontrolled/Unintended Acceleration on 2023 MME while using single pedal drive **SAFETY ISSUE**

[superdave80]

Or, read the manual where it stays it slows.

"When you release the accelerator pedal, your vehicle slowly decelerates allowing for a more comfortable ride."

But my car will 'slowly decelerate' just from friction and aerodynamic drag, so it doesn't really call out if there is regen or not.

I'll have to try N on a flat road one of these days and see if I can feel a difference.

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[RickMachE]

"When you release the accelerator pedal, your vehicle slowly decelerates allowing for a more comfortable ride."

But my car will 'slowly decelerate' just from friction and aerodynamic drag, so it doesn't really call out if there is regen or not.

I'll have to try N on a flat road one of these days and see if I can feel a difference.

Oh, you'll notice the difference. It's like it's freewheeling, which it is. It's like Batman dropped the chute.

 

[SonicBlue]

Yeah, unfortunately for the OP these things are pretty common and so far every single one was one of two things-

1. they accidentally hit the accelerator
2. They accidentally hit the resume button on cruise control

It’s not a coincidence that these same exact scenarios always happen when pulling into or out of a parking space.

This is exactly correct. I personally know this has happened to me a few times while twisting the wheel a bit cavalierly during a sharp turn into a driveway, parking spot, neighborhood entrance, etc. My hand accidentally triggers the resume button, and the car gives me an unpleasant lurch of acceleration. Fortunately, I’ve always arrested this with a quick tap of the brake. I suspect that in bad instances, people are panicking when this happens and mash the accelerator instead of the brake. I doubt we’ll ever know for sure, but people have been sporadically complaining about this for years and the regulators have done nothing about it because I don’t think there is anything to be done.

 

[gravityklz]

Keeps accelerating or keeps moving? Take your foot off the power pedal, and the car does not stop moving immediately. Regen gradually brings the car to a stop, but not immediately. When parking, the driver needs to be aware of the time that regen needs and plan accordingly.

I’ve had this car for a year and have driven 15,000 miles. I drove in Unbridled and 1 pedal almost exclusively.
I wrote and meant accelerate. I’m aware of deceleration from regen braking and it’s not instant.
I will say it again. From a stop, I press the accelerator to go about 5 mph to move 40 feet, I take my foot off the pedal to slow down and the car speeds up. I then quickly press the brake. In that time, it only accelerated to about 8 mph, but I feel it accelerating when I’m not pressing any pedals, which is enough for me.

It is not common and has only happened when trying to roll the car forward a little. It’s happened in my driveway (going up hill) twice as I inched to the garage door.

 

[superdave80]

Oh, you'll notice the difference. It's like it's freewheeling, which it is. It's like Batman dropped the chute.

Well, I just tried on my drive to lunch and... I can't tell the difference. Now I'm curious to hook my laptop up and see if there is actually any regen.

 

[RickMachE]

Well, I just tried on my drive to lunch and... I can't tell the difference. Now I'm curious to hook my laptop up and see if there is actually any regen.

When I'm going along and shift to N, it's very noticeable as compared to D in Engage or Unbridle. I never drive in Whisper.

 

[jay1122]

Almost always user error in cases like these. I know it is easier to blame the car. Fix it and sell it and move on.

 

[devmach-e]

Wow that’s terrible. There’s no good reason I can think of to use the friction brake when you take your foot off the pedal unless it detects an obstacle. Why would it do that instead of just using regen like Tesla does? It’s a waste of energy.

You have no control over when the friction brakes engage, whether you are are in 1PD or 2PD mode. When in 2PD mode, it is all based on brake pedal travel, speed of brake pedal travel, and the speed you are going. The car blends in the friction brakes as necessary if it thinks that regenerative braking cannot fulfill the braking request as determined by the above brake pedal inputs. Only way to for sure engage the friction brakes is to either slam on the brakes, or put the car in neutral and then hit the brakes. And in the former, regen will be used along with friction braking, and the latter is pure friction braking. I haven't dived into CarScanner to see if the ABS pump actually is activated when coming to a regular stop in 1PD. I know that in the Chevy Bolt, when regen wasn't enough at the end of a stop, they'd apply negative torque to the motor to get the car to finish stopping. Also known as running the motor in reverse to act as the brake.

 

[Just Lurking]

Wow that’s terrible. There’s no good reason I can think of to use the friction brake when you take your foot off the pedal unless it detects an obstacle. Why would it do that instead of just using regen like Tesla does? It’s a waste of energy.

One reason I can think of is at a high level of charge the car battery may not be able to accept full regen. I don't know for sure that the Mach-E actually does this, but it strikes me as a nice quality-of-life feature for the car to decelerate at a relatively consistent rate regardless of the battery SOC.

...people have been sporadically complaining about this for years and the regulators have done nothing about it because I don’t think there is anything to be done.

I agree with much of what you wrote but just to quibble slightly with the above snippet, I'm sure there is something that could be done. For example:

The car could be programmed to wait a few seconds before beginning to accelerate. It could pop up a message and / or a tone warning the user it's about to accelerate. It could accelerate much more gently, or at least much more gently within certain scenarios (i.e. below a certain speed).

One other thing - my car won't accelerate at all from a stop (or even below around 15mph) except under very limited situations. If other people's cars are behaving differently this could be a bug or an issue with a specific software level that some cars have and presumably this could be resolved with an OTA voluntarily and or even with a recall to ensure the software is applied by dealers in the event of OTA issues.

 

[Drewster67]

Laptop? Why do you need a laptop?

 

[Mach1E]

One reason I can think of is at a high level of charge the car battery may not be able to accept full regen. I don't know for sure that the Mach-E actually does this, but it strikes me as a nice quality-of-life feature for the car to decelerate at a relatively consistent rate regardless of the battery SOC.



I agree with much of what you wrote but just to quibble slightly with the above snippet, I'm sure there is something that could be done. For example:

The car could be programmed to wait a few seconds before beginning to accelerate. It could pop up a message and / or a tone warning the user it's about to accelerate. It could accelerate much more gently, or at least much more gently within certain scenarios (i.e. below a certain speed).

One other thing - my car won't accelerate at all from a stop (or even below around 15mph) except under very limited situations. If other people's cars are behaving differently this could be a bug or an issue with a specific software level that some cars have and presumably this could be resolved with an OTA voluntarily and or even with a recall to ensure the software is applied by dealers in the event of OTA issues.

I had suggested this a while back that Ford could probably fix the “accidental resume cruise in a parking lot” issue by making resume only work when your steering wheel is straight.

 

[MrLoganRoss]

This is posted periodically, here and on the F150 forum. I have had it happen but I believe each time it was the car accelerating to what it thought was the speed limit. Meaning I must have been in an auto cruise control mode . Especially in the f150, but also in the mache, it is easy to hit that button by mistake - I have done it ( and I have both cars and it has happened in both.

As I have said before Ford could easily solve the problem by making cruise control a long press or double tap to turn on

I am curious if anyone us absolutely certain his isn’t the issue for them.

 

[florida orlando]

Scary as a heart attack. Pretty much identical problem with a 2023 Mustang mach e premium for my friend but slightly different. He said that things were getting wonky (radio was going off and on?) and he decided to drive it into a parking lot to park to see what was what. As he pulled into a space it accelerated suddenly and hit a building. He knows that everyone will say it is his fault and that it would require a death or a paralysis to get someone to tear the car apart. He is just moving on to a different vehicle and chocking it up to lesson learned but someone may get hurt.

 

[Mach1E]

Scary as a heart attack. Pretty much identical problem with a 2023 Mustang mach e premium for my friend but slightly different. He said that things were getting wonky (radio was going off and on?) and he decided to drive it into a parking lot to park to see what was what. As he pulled into a space it accelerated suddenly and hit a building. He knows that everyone will say it is his fault and that it would require a death or a paralysis to get someone to tear the car apart. He is just moving on to a different vehicle and chocking it up to lesson learned but someone may get hurt.

Sorry to hear about your friend. But once again this happened in a parking lot (when people are turning the wheel sharply and objects are in front of them).

This isn’t a coincidence, it’s just another time someone accidentally hits the resume button.

I’ll say once again- Ford should reprogram this so the resume only works when the steering wheel is straight.

 

[Vgkfan]

Just wondering. When this acceleration happens, does the AEB activate and at least mitigate the damage if there is something in front of the vehicle?

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