I had an interesting experience yesterday evening. I was starting off from a red light on the main avenue in town - a four lane road with the right lanes used more for turning by most people. A big pickup truck was alongside me, and as we started off he floored it, apparently planning to get in front of me, and then cut over. I have no idea if it was because I was driving a Leaf or because he was just an idiot, but since I'm not one to refuse even an idiotic challenge, I floored the Leaf and easily stayed ahead to 33 or so MPH, when I took my foot off the throttle.
The car kept accelerating at full power (a rare time I wasn't in Eco mode, not that it mattered much) because the accelerator pedal was stuck on the floor.
I didn't actually panic, because unlike 98% of the driving public I understand what 'drive by wire' means. I pressed the brake, killing the acceleration, but whenever I released it, the car still lurched back into full acceleration. After several tries I was able to get the pedal to return upwards, and, amazingly, the police didn't happen to be around to witness my ill-fated drag-race. I reached roughly 43MPH in a 30MPH urban area.
When I parked the car I immediately looked at the floor mat. It isn't the OEM mat, but the Weather Tech universal winter mat; I had left them all on for Summer because they seem much more robust than the flimsy OEM mats. Unfortunately, when I installed them I decided not to remove the section below the accelerator pedal, because there was just so darned much room in under there. Right...
Learn from my example, folks: if you use an aftermarket mat, leave that pedal with NO floor mat under it!
