VERY WORRYING ALERT

[Les burrows]

This morning I got a visit from my neighbour 3 doors away, he also has an MG5 SR like mine got it after seeing mine being delivered and looking at it on a Monday at the end of March 2021 next day went the dealers and collected a new red one on the Friday of same week.

So his car has now done 3000miles or just a little over, and yesterday he had been shopping and was parked up in a street in the town, on returning to his car got in it started the car went into ready mode so took his foot of the brake pedal and the car shot off at full belt with tyres smoking ran into the rear of a car parked a few yards in front, pushed that car into the one in front of that,and then bounced off into a building on the other side of the road.
Now I have been reading this and other forums about EV for a long time now but don’t recall anything like this happening before he said the whole thing was over and done with in less than 10 seconds and the car could well be a write off.
So my question is. Has anyone else ever experienced this happening in a MG5 or and other EV for that matter.? The car going off on its own at full power.
Les.

 

[Les burrows]

Thinking about this now I do remember see a picture of a white MG5 around 16 months ago going under a pickup truck I think but can remember where or why.
Les

 

[Gomev]

It sounds very much like he had his foot hard on the throttle instead of the brake when selecting drive. Not saying he did but it sounds very much like it, and I'm not trying to say he is fibbing but maybe his recall isn't perfect after the shock, which would be understandable. Yes you can select drive without foot on brake when at a standstill.
If this were the case then of course if he thought he was trying to brake hard to stop it he would actually be accelerating.

 

[Jomarkh]

Wow Les, is everyone ok?
It sounds like a lot of damage too.
is there anyway that he pressed the accelerator instead of the brake as it started to move?
Hopefully MG will be able to get some data from the car to find out what triggered it.

 

[Les burrows]

Wow Les, is everyone ok?
It sounds like a lot of damage too.
is there anyway that he pressed the accelerator instead of the brake as it started to move?
Hopefully MG will be able to get some data from the car to find out what triggered it.

It sounds very much like he had his foot hard on the throttle instead of the brake when selecting drive. Not saying he did but it sounds very much like it, and I'm not trying to say he is fibbing but maybe his recall isn't perfect after the shock, which would be understandable. Yes you can select drive without foot on brake when at a standstill.
If this were the case then of course if he thought he was trying to brake hard to stop it he would actually be accelerating.

Well gentlemen it’s possible I agree but he’s been driving the car for 18 months so we’ll acquainted with it and the starting process Gomev, are you sure you can put the car in drive without having your foot on the brake and then move off sorry but I thought you couldn’t do that in any EV to be honest, Jomarkh, the car he said went of at full power front tyres where smoking and he’s coming out of a parking spot between cars I certainly hope MG can find out what has happen be it be a vehicle issue or driver error I hope they can find out I have not seen the car or any photos as yet but he’s said someone there took some pictures I will try and find out if I can. It is very a very strange thing to happen.
Les

 

[akendall1966]

surely traction control wouldn't have smoked the tyres even if he mistakenly floored the accelerator

 

[5teep]

The only similar thing I've seen/heard is a Kia Soul and it was the guy with his foot on the accelerator, that car was only a couple of days old.

 

[Lguk]

Most likely sudden acceleration syndrome. Foot mistakenly on the wrong pedal, press harder trying to brake but you're on the throttle. As said, you can switch to drive without your foot on the brake when stationary, if you're on the accelerator instead of the brake it will shoot forward, I feel that you shouldn't be able to switch unless you're on the brake, but I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation of why somewhere.

SAS has been linked to many accidents, often, usually with experienced drivers. I've witnessed it twice and both times the drivers were extremely confused "the car just didn't stop and I was braking hard".

 

[jpvdheijn]

Well, from my previous Tesla experience for about 4 years these stories have always been present. I never believe these things it is always driver error.
If you want to believe these stories go to a carpark and try to do what the people that tell you said happened. If so you should directly escalate to MG but most times this is a persons perception in a situation that things escalate which the mind has no time for to grasp.

A very impactful experience I can imagine, I hope all is well with the person in question.

 

[Gomev]

Perhaps worrying thing is that if you floor the throttle when in neutral there is no engine screaming at you to let you know you are on the wrong pedal. I've not knowingly done this but how would I know ? in fact I might try it when I use the car later (flooring it in neutral that is).

 

[Rocinante]

There's wiki page (see below) on Sudden unintended acceleration.
The most famous example being the Audi 5000, in the 80's where it was being reported that that car was accelerating on it's own, with lawsuits being taken out against Audi, and decimating their sales. It turned out the the brake pedal was closer to the accelerator than Americans were used to, and drivers were stamping on the accelerator instead of the brake.

Sudden unintended acceleration - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Not to say that there can't be a fault with the MG, (read the Toyota example in the wiki article. The Tesla example still appears unresolved although Tesla claim driver error) but UVA is at least as likely an explanation.

 

[Kithmo]

One thing I find strange about the 5 and the ZS is that pressing the brake pedal does not kill power to the accelerator, so in effect you can press both pedals at once and the car will go forward (in D), maybe this is what he did ?
My old Prius killed all power to the accelerator when you pressed the brake.

 

[JimD]

Just tried this.

-In Park, you can't select D without having your foot on the brake.

-If you stop using the footbrake but don't engage Park (just put it in Neutral) you CAN engage drive without pressing the footbrake. Seems a bit dodgy to me, but on the other hand why would would not put it in Park if you were stopping for any significant amount of time, and if you were just stopping briefly, why put it in Neutral?

 

[Kithmo]

Just tried this.

-In Park, you can't select D without having your foot on the brake.

-If you stop using the footbrake but don't engage Park (just put it in Neutral) you CAN engage drive without pressing the footbrake. Seems a bit dodgy to me, but on the other hand why would would not put it in Park if you were stopping for any significant amount of time, and if you were just stopping briefly, why put it in Neutral?

I guess that's another possible scenario the OP's neighbour could have gotten into.
Whilst maneuvering out of a parking space, he could have put it in R to move back a bit then flicked it into N instead of D by not turning the selector enough, press the accelerator, nothing happens, then with the accelerator still pressed instead of the brake, turn the selector again to D and whoosh.

 

[Rocinante]

Having reread the Original Post, the description is of no feet on the pedals when the car accelerated. The description states that the car took off when he removed his foot from the brake pedal. You would have thought this more difficult to confuse with pressing the wrong pedal, but certainly not impossible ?

 

[Spinynorman]

Just tried this.

-In Park, you can't select D without having your foot on the brake.

-If you stop using the footbrake but don't engage Park (just put it in Neutral) you CAN engage drive without pressing the footbrake. Seems a bit dodgy to me, but on the other hand why would would not put it in Park if you were stopping for any significant amount of time, and if you were just stopping briefly, why put it in Neutral?

I find the accelerator pedal uncomfortably close to the brake pedal and have once hit both when intending to brake! A small adjustment in driving position has stopped that from happening now.

 

[Headgas1]

Perhaps worrying thing is that if you floor the throttle when in neutral there is no engine screaming at you to let you know you are on the wrong pedal. I've not knowingly done this but how would I know ? in fact I might try it when I use the car later (flooring it in neutral that is).

Talking about no engine noise I keep forgetting to turn the car off then when I get out and try to lock the car I get that beep which confuses me for a second then it’s oh s..t I’ve forgot to turn it off

 

[Vince31]

Talking about no engine noise I keep forgetting to turn the car off then when I get out and try to lock the car I get that beep which confuses me for a second then it’s oh s..t I’ve forgot to turn it off

When you get to your destination don't use the parking brake, just get used to switching the car off instead, this automatically puts on the parking brake too.

 

[Headgas1]

When you get to your destination don't use the parking brake, just get used to switching the car off instead, this automatically puts on the parking brake too.

It’s not all the time I might of phrased it wrong just it’s the fact of no engine noise I get distracted then forget to turn it off occasionally that’s all .

 

[JimD]

I find the accelerator pedal uncomfortably close to the brake pedal and have once hit both when intending to brake! A small adjustment in driving position has stopped that from happening now.

Yes, and also the accelerator is too close to the footrest for me - once when I was using the parking brake auto assist thing in traffic I accidentally touched the accelerator with my foot while putting it on the footrest and the car lunged forwards. I haven't got spectacularly big feet either.