2002 honda accord se- unintended acceleration

I drove my car in rush hour traffic for 1 hr., turned into parking
lot, drove up hill around corners of 2 1/2 levels with foot on gas
enough to keep 10 miles hr. speed. Turned into empty parking slot
with tiny amount of gas- removed foot from gas ready to step on brake
(facing cement wall)........my car accelerated forward bouncing 3 ft.
back off cement wall- airbag in my face-(accelerated very fast)-...car
full of fumes from airbag, arm burnt & bleeding-


$10,000 cnd. to repair damage to front end- I reported to my insurance
company that this accident was not driver error- cruise control was
off- there was a mechanical problem with car. I refused to drive it
until it was completely checked out by Honda- so Honda agreed to pick
it up from body shop. Mechanic drove it around for 2 days then called
and said he had replaced the throttle cable as it was sticking but
that would not cause any acceleration of this type- --unless car was
cold.

At the time of accident the car was 1 yrs. old- I question why
throttle cable would need replacing- and that there is something still
mechanically wrong. (do not feel comfortable driving it-the value of
my car is reduced due to accident-my 15 yrs. safe driving reduced to 8
and insurace cost increased)

How and what can I do to pursue this accident? I am absolutely
positive I did not step on the gas petal facing a cement wall - my
foot was off the gas and ready to brake- acceleration at this speed
impossible.

Any info please??
thank you

Karen.

 

Sounds nearly identical to my incident 2½ years ago with a ~ 53,000 mile 1996
Accord 2.2iSE Aerodeck (manufactured in the USA). I too hit a substantial
concrete block at the end of the parking slot, airbags deployed etc., and my
passenger was hospitalised with compressed chest, lacerations and bruising. I
received minor burns from airbag friction and a big knock to my confidence and
until then, totally accident free record after 40+ years of driving.
Repair costs were ~£5,000 in 2001, and I was without the car for 6 weeks.

Pretty sure I reported the incident here, but got no response, so assumed that
<I> was the idiot!
..

 

I believe that dateline had done a story about this a while back.
Almost every time it seems to be driver error. Not that I don't
believe that it may happen, however if you are in a panic mode as the
car accelerates, then you don't really have time to notice where your
foot is, you just automatically go for the brakes. I believe that
there is a know issue with the 98-02 accords and the pedal sticking in
cold weather....my mother's does the same thing at startup but doesn't
do it after that for the entire day.

 

====================

Karen,
They replaced your throttle cable so they could get paid by Honda Head
Office, and to give you the impression they didn't have their thumb in
their ear the whole time they were looking at your car.

'Nick' described the sticking throttle, where engine gunk glues the
throttle shut, so you have to kick it first time you drive it or it
won't accelerate. No relation to your problem.

That's all I know, except it seems that every second week sombody drives
their car thru the window of a 7-Eleven, or grocery store here in
Edmonton. It's on the evening news, and they always say "The sun was in
my eyes, or I must have forgotten my meds, or my foot just slipped onto
the gas"

They never manage to kill anybody, thank God.

'Curly'

===================

 

A woman around here managed to kill a lampost.... "uhh my shoestrap got
caught in the pedal".

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??