Hate to say it, but this is an area well investigated by NHTSB. It's called sudden acceleration. All cars have it to some extent. Has to do with the amount of space bywn brake and gas pedal. People swear they are hitting the brake or the brakes won't stop the car. Finding is that people get confused and are stepping on the gas. All cars have brakes that will stop the car even with fully depressed accelerator. This is the reason for the brake interlock switch which started in the 80's after a series of accidents with audi. They also moved the pedals further apart. I had a chevy where it was easy to press both pedals at once, had to be sure to lift my foot and hit the brakes when that happened.

 

Didn't know audi had issues in the past. Learned something.

 

60 Minutes did a hit job on Audi back in the 80s where they rigged a car to experience runaway acceleration. The NHTSA determined that most cases of runaway acceleration are caused by miss application of the pedals.

 

I must be living under a rock.

 

Toyota had their issue of the gas pedal getting stuck from their floor mats too. NHTSA even has an acronym for this, SUA (sudden unintended acceleration).

 

I worked at an Audi/Porsche/VW dealership in the 80s. The pedals definitely were easily confused on Audi's (but not VWs). My size 10's overlapped the brake and gas pedals, plus they were offset to the left, so the brake pedal was just awkward.
I thought the hit piece Iwas rigged and some early Fake News, but I could see that pedal placement contributed to the reported events.
Toyota had a recall in the early 70s about feet getting tangled in the port-installed parcel trays, with the same unintended acceleration outcome.

 

I'm pretty sure that Audi changed the pedal position to help prevent this pedal mis-application. 60 Minutes did keep to their usual low journalistic standards and drilled a hole in the transmission and pumped in high pressure air to cause the runaway acceleration (don't ask me how this worked).

 

They did. The Audi Dealers' Council was pressuring them to do Something.

 

I remember the Audi 5000 fiasco well. There was a hysteria about sudden acceleration. Killed Audi's reputation in North America.

In the end it was proven to be pedal confusion.

https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog...ation-debacle/

 

Did Mercedes ever investigate this situation? I just had the same thing happen in my 2024 300 glc. I was exiting a carwash just coasting when the car accelerated and the brakes did not respond at all. I had to run into a parked truck, flipped and totaled the car. Miraculously I was not injured baldy. Suffered a cut and a few bruises from the airbag, The truck then took out another car.
I have reported this to MB and they said they will investigate.
Very scary experience and I am suffering some form of PTSD when I get in a car now!
This happened on July 10, 2025yon
Anyone else experience similar situations?

 

I am interested in documenting together! Just had scary experience where I totaled my car due to acceleration and brakes not responding on July 10, 2025!

 

I am so sorry for your encounter, time to get NHTSA to investigate and MB Corporate to pull Blackbox data.

 

While there is an Event Data Recorder (EDR) — often referred to as a “black box” — that can record limited vehicle and crash data, it is triggered by a crash. It records:

• Vehicle speed
• Brake application
• Throttle (accelerator) position
• Steering input
• Seatbelt usage
• Airbag deployment

Not sure it will record during normal driving and if it does it will get over written when you keep driving.

Years ago there were a cases

• Some involved sticking accelerator pedals (mechanical defect).
  • Some involved floor mats trapping the accelerator.

but not found with modern vehicles. The common cause is driver pedal misapplication, not realized by the driver because of the shock of the unexpected movement.

 

I guess I watch Mayday too much, hmmm I mean, Blackbox and there is one other thing that supposed to record flight... um I mean driving data like planes although maybe not as detailed. I wonder if the ECU will log all parameters as well and see if something is out of whack other than the DTCs of course. I mean, MB is able to tell who has a tune from historical data even if you flashed it back to stock, so I wouldn't be surprised everything is logged.

 

My 2017 GLE 350 accelerated as I was coming slowing down to stop and turn right. It accelerated out of control the brakes did not respond. I side swiped a fence crossed ran over someone's landscaping. I was unable to brake or turn the car off. It one came to a stop when it hit a concrete light post. The airbags did not deploy
My car is a total loss; my passenger suffered injuries and was taken to the emergency room.
I have notified Mercedes Benz and NHTSA.

 

I had my GLE 350 suddenly accelerate long story short I side swiped a fence, ran over landscaping. The SUV would not stop my passenger suffered injuries and was taken to the hospital. Car came to a stop only when it hit a concrete pole. It is a total loss. It was a horrifying experience .

 

The vast majority of unexpected acceleration incidents were due to problems in the cabin, such as floor mats or operator error. The most common problem was pedal geometry. Very few were caused by equipment failure, such as certain cruise-control failures in the 1980s and early 1990s, where faulty vacuum servos or electrical shorts could hold the throttle open. There are no more recent examples.

 

OMG. That would have been frightening.
Any thoughts on the cause?

 

That's the unfortunate truth. I managed a VW-Porsche-Audi store in the early eighties, and even before their unintended acceleration woes, I didn't like the pedal placement. (Actually I didn't like Audi at the time - over engineered.)(Still don't - seats.)

 

I noticed that issue from time to time.

My analysis is that it is the mild hybrid electrical motor that when you slow or turn, and you slightly press the accelerator, the electrical motor assist engages and tends to keep the velocity, or slightly continue to accelerate, but when you press the brakes, it immediately disengages the electrical motor assistance.

I don't feel it is a main engine acceleration..

That's my $0.02 cents..