Ford F150 - Stuck Throttle / Accelerator

First I want to clarify that although I/we cannot verify ourselves what happened, I don’t believe someone would make this up for attention. This is a very serious matter and could involve someone loosing their life. I have worked on cars and trucks for over 10 years. In only 1 case, have I seen a throttle actually stick. It was on a cable link system on a 99’ Honda Accord. The Cruise control did not disengage when the brake was pushed and the vehicle crashed into a guard rail. Everyone was ok however when the car "autopsy" was performed we found the cruise control module was still engaged.

Can you all clarify were the power adjustable pedals in these vehicles? Also when in Reverse did you press the gas or allow the truck to back under idle power only? When you accelerated into traffic did you floor it or gradually push to get up to speed? Also gart0009 is 100% correct our trucks since 2004 are "fly" (accelerate) by wire. Terms which are a little misleading. The wire is actually not a cable at all but an electronic position sensor on the gas pedal that sends a signal to the ETB. Which has 3 redundant backup systems. That sensor in the accelerator tells the electronic throttle body the position of your foot pushing on the pedal. It then sends an electronic signal to the ETB (Electronic throttle body) to open or close ... This system has several failsafe mechanisms to prevent the very thing y’all are indicating happened.

See below for ETC diagram the failsafe module is rep at the top.
http://www.dianpen.com/images/e_c_p_ETC.GIF

The ETB and ECM sense relative vehicle speed and throttle position and if there is a fault disables your throttle ...into a LIMP HOME mode typically represented by a yellow wrench icon on dash board. (IE: vehicle RPM at 4000 with no Pedal input or w/ brake input = FAULT) Typically in limp home mode 2 cylinders shutdown. I had the ETB go out on 2 of my previous Ford vehicles 04’ F150 and a 06’ Mustang neither time did the vehicle rev out of control.

After reading this I took my 09' "new" (6k miles) F150 Screw Lariat 5.4L V8 with TCS and T/H mode to a local abandoned parking lot. I was disturbed by the article, an out of control full size pickup is not fun. I tested the acceleration on wet pavement and dry pavement (I took several water filled 5G buckets with me for the wet test) Both flooring (up to 65mph) and letting off, with and without TCS and T/H, Then I completed several idle, low, mid and high speed Reverse sessions. I had no out of control revving issues with the vehicle. I would take your vehicle to a mechanic that you trust or that a friend of yours trusts that knows the new F-150’s. Unfortunately sometimes “Blue Oval” certified means certified to tell you nothing, and get you out quickly. Not to say they are all like this though.

My recommendation is, if you truly feel the vehicle is unsafe write/call to the NTSB not to Ford. They house all complaints and may, dependent on the severity actually come and review your case. File an official complaint with the NTSB. Take that complaint file directly to the service manager and the owner of the dealership, you purchased the vehicle from. Donot bother with service writers or office staff.

Good luck

I just had my throttle stick at my 5yr old's bus stop and it took me two blocks to get the truck to return to an idle. The truck has 2800 miles on it. I called the dealership and they said to have the vehicle towed and that they need to keep it at least a week and would give me a rental vehicle. Meanwhile, they want to drive my vehicle around so that they can try to replicate this problem. Ok, I would rather them crash the truck than me, but seriously, it sounds like FORD has an issue with the 2009 F150. anybody wishing to find out more, email me at: scfirerescue@yahoo.com and I would like to also have more information from others so that if this becomes a lawsuite issue, I'm not standing alone.

What were you doing at the time it stuck can you describe for us?

Our truck is currently in the shop for a stuck throttle also. they say they can't find anything wrong. i was the one that my husband almost hit when he was backing and the throttle stuck. please tell me what others have done for this problem. i smell a lawsuit...hopefully not against me because i hit someone or something.

I had this happen twice... once in a parking lot. To everybody that this has happened to If you have rubber floor mats, lift them up and look to see if there is a carpet floor mat under that. Both times this happened to me the rubber mat slid forward and stuck the throttle. Take the carpet floor mats from under the rubber and toss 'em. This way your rubber mat will actually catch the hook on the floor so the mat can't slide forward and stick the throttle. How do I know this was the problem? In the parking lot I had to pull the floor mat back towards the seat to slow the truck down. Brakes did nothing. I have a feeling that this will fix the problem for at least 50% if not all of you.

I sure hope it is the floor mat. I've had that happen before. I've also accidentally hit the pedal and the gas together before. Thank, God, I have never had a stuck pedal.

My gas throttle stuck on me also for the first time last week. I have a 2009 F150 Screw 4.6L 3V with auto tranny with 8000 kilometers on it. I was driving in city traffic coming home from work. I wasn't towing anything behind me. During this highly unusual situation, the engine would only settle to an idle of 1500 rpm at each stop light, not 500-600 rpm as is usual. I had to really press on the brakes hard at each light to keep the truck stopped! I also tried shifting into neutral and the engine revved to 3500 rpm! I shut the engine off , but after restarting, same problem.
Cruise control was not activated, neither was the tow/haul mode. I don't have power adjustable pedals either.
It is nearly impossible for the rubber floor mat to have kept the accelerator pedal pushed down. There is a good 2 inches of clearance between the two and it is very difficult to move the factory rubber mat which has hundreds of rubber nibs on the underside to keep it in place on the carpet and prevent it from moving forward. I tried to move the rubber mat forward manually today and there is just no way it moved forward to cause the problem.
The carpet also could not cause the problem because it is anchored in place at several places to the floor.
Also, there is no way my foot was on both pedals. I've been driving for 32 years and this has never happened to me in any of my other 11 past vehicles.
Carbon buildup? This is a brand new truck, less than 5 months on the road.
The only unique thing that I can think of related to this problem is that I usually am a very laid back driver,however on the day in question, some other driver had cut me off and I was driving much more agressively than usual. I really punched down on the gas pedal
hard a few times just before the problem started showing.
The problem disappeared totally after that one day and hasnt occured since.
From reading the other occurences posted and my own experience, this is a very dangerous malfunction to watch out for in the 20099 F150s.

Hello new guy here. My brother and I both purchased a ford f150 each.He has the supercab with 4.6 3v .His throttle has stuck 4 times in the last week. It seems to happen when you lightly accelerate.I was with him once when it happened, it justs takes off. Engine rpms seems to go to about 4000rpms. He was really pushing brake pedal to stop.He had to shut off and restart engine once, he was in a school zone. He took it the dealer on Saturday nov 8. Dealer says transmission has to be reprogrammed. Truck has about 1800kms on it. This happened in city driving on all occasins when the throttle was struck. We live in Canada, his truck was built in Kansas.

hmm majority of the problems seem to be with the 4.6 Happened again with my 5.4 this week and guess what... it was the floor mat again as I still haven't removed the little carpet floor mat from under the rubber one. Maybe i'm the only one whose floor mats can catch the throttle (doubt it) but it really is starting to sound like the 4.6's are having throttle sticking issues.

Brought my truck to the dealer for the stuck throttle problem. Their solution was to install the latest transmission software revision. I talked to the transmission mechanic directly and he said one other F150 owner reported the same problem 3 weeks ago. He did the transmission reprogram on that truck and he hadn't heard back any complaints.