I have a 2006 Sonata EX with 57K miles. Origianal owner. Today I got out work and started the vehicle and it ran rough for a short while then cleared up. I took it out on the highway and opened it up. Upon opening it up and accelerator to the floor for 5 seconds, I took my foot off the accelerator to find the RPMS did not slow nor did the car slow. VERY SCARY. I then had to throw the car in Neutral as the RPMs were still at 6000. Finally it backed off to normal and I pulled over while in neutral. ???

One of two problems I think. I have an extra mat in for the winter snow and did this interfeer withe accelerator???


It was very cold last night and temp warmed up above freezing today. Did the accelerator lingage stick as I was pressing it all the way to the floor ???

Not sure but this is sort of like the Toyota problems they had last year.

Can someone help me. It is fine now and can not duplicate this. What is going on? I had this car for 4 years and never experienced this problem.
Thank you Randy

 

My guess is it was one of the 2 reasons you mentioned or you accidentally activated the cruise control.

First, you should NEVER put a winter mat on top of the regular mat.

Second, why are you putting the "accelerator to the floor for 5 seconds" on the highway? Full throttle acceleration is not needed to get up to highway speed.

Toyota and investigators found that most of the Toyota issues were caused by driver error. My guess is it's the same here.

 

You are correct, should not have stepped on it so hard. But the only reason I did is because when I started it the engine was not running smooth, VERY rough. Thought to clear the cobs out. Anyway , I got rid of the floor mat, we will see. Hopefully my error and not defect. We will see if it happens again. Thanks for responding.

 

The mat could have caused the problem. The 2006 Sonata does not have an accelerator linkage as it is a drive-by-wire system. There is a sensor on the accelerator pedal assembly that sends a signal to a motor on the throttle to tell it how much to open. Some people have had problems with these components although I don't think it is widespread and usually would be accompanied by the Check Engine Light (CEL) coming on. If you did not get the CEL it may be just the mat.

 

I have that same problem with my Audi A8L, a $74K car and the original floor matts have a tendency to unclip itself because of bad design to stay in position, it creeps up under the footpedal and when you step on it, it hangs up on the foot pedel and presses down on the bottom an the car continues to accellerate. It is scary with 330 horses under there it's so much power that in the worse situation I would not be able to do anything about what ever happens. So before each time I drive it I make sure the matt is clipped into position. It creeps up each time I slouch into my seat so I gotta watch it. I think it was your floor matts, one to many!