Truck accelerated from stop and rear ended car in front.

[swngdncr]

I think regardless of the cause, we're all aware that what Carla posted legitimately happened and it's an emotional situation for which none of us should be assigning blame (not to suggest anyone has).

I'm surprised the forward collision system didn't recognize that there was an object (vehicle) in the driving path and apply the brakes. Was that possibly disabled? Or maybe because both that vehicle and your Lightning were stopped (and in close proximity), it was somehow not working as intended?

I'm a OPD user myself and have never had any instances where my Lightning has accelerated unexpectedly other than if I had the cruise control enabled where it was reading the speed signs and jumping to a higher speed because of a zone change or phantom read (yeah, that 70km/h zone didn't just become 120, but thanks!), so I'm curious to find out what the cause was here (if you ever find out).

Thank-you.

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[SpaceEVDriver]

Pre-collision assist does not activate until speeds are above 3 mph. It doesn’t automatically apply the brakes unless it detects an imminent collision. The OP’s situation was likely such that there was no data indicating an imminent collision in time to stop the collision.

The vehicle can fail to recognize potential obstacles if there are any obstructions on the windshield in the area of the rear view mirror, where the camera is located. This can be dirt, cracks, etc.

It can also fail to recognize obstacles if those obstacles are too close. This is true for the radar, the camera, and the sonar.

It’s likely that whatever caused the acceleration didn’t bring the speed up beyond 3 mph at all and certainly not for very long. A 3 mph speed over 1 second moves the vehicle about 4.5 feet. In 2 seconds, it’s almost 9 feet.

 

[TaxmanHog]

As I've read this and previous incident's of unintended acceleration, I started the practice of switching cruise control / Blue Cruise [OFF] once I've exited a limited access highway, once I'm on local surface streets or country roads, I want full control of my truck.

 

[Zprime29]

As I've read this and previous incident's of unintended acceleration, I started the practice of switching cruise control / Blue Cruise [OFF] once I've exited a limited access highway, once I'm on local surface streets or country roads, I want full control of my truck.

It's worth noting that if cruise is off, pushing the big cruise control button engages it. If you have it engaged and stop it from being active (touching the brake or the cancel button), it remains on and pushing the big cruise button switches it off. When in the cancel state, only hitting the cancel/resume button or the set button (both are a lot further from the wheel) will re-engage cruise.

I haven't yet had cruise engage on my and make the truck move. I have accidentally hit the button while turning the wheel but I was reversing and I got a pop up telling my cruise was unavailable.

 

[swngdncr]

It's worth noting that if cruise is off, pushing the big cruise control button engages it. If you have it engaged and stop it from being active (touching the brake or the cancel button), it remains on and pushing the big cruise button switches it off. When in the cancel state, only hitting the cancel/resume button or the set button (both are a lot further from the wheel) will re-engage cruise.

I haven't yet had cruise engage on my and make the truck move. I have accidentally hit the button while turning the wheel but I was reversing and I got a pop up telling my cruise was unavailable.

I’m now confused about how these buttons work. The BC 1.4 update says that there is now “one button activation”. It says that now you only have to press the “adaptive cruise control button”, without having to also press the “lane Assist button”. I’ve never pressed both the adaptive CC button and the lane assist button. I’ve only pressed the adaptive CC button, which I assume is the large button on the left. I didn’t realize that that little protruding button in the middle was a resume button for a long time. I always would push the big button to start ACC, then, if I stopped it by tapping the break, like when I was coming up to stopped traffic and it wouldn’t slow fast enough for my comfort, I’d have to tap it at least twice to start it again. I assume that what I was doing was turning it off and back on instead of telling it to resume?

 

[Heliian]

forward collision system

why accident avoidance or auto braking didnt stop it, i dunno.

It's not enabled at that point. As posted above, speed and other factors limit the system, see owners manual for more details

OPD never applies the brakes,

While slowing down using 1pd will engage mostly regen, the brakes are applied by the truck using one or 2 pedal and regen is created using one or 2 pedal.

 

[tls]

I hit a trailer at a stoplight a couple years ago. I was baffled how - I was so confused that the truck seemed to do the opposite of my control inputs and didn't slow at all as I slammed on the brakes - I thought I must have fallen asleep at the wheel (I was driving home after a very long day and was definitely not 100% as alert as normal). Saw the light turn green, truck with the trailer pulled away from the light, then slowed suddenly as (I later learned) the driver in front of him turned left without signaling. I slammed on the brakes, but the Lightning just kept blasting forward. Maybe even sped up. Maybe sped up a lot. I felt dumb and guilty and very, very confused.

My foot had slipped off the corner of the brake onto the accelerator pedal. Dammit. I didn't even realize until it happened again a couple of days later. My shoes were muddy and I was a little askew in the footwell for comfort on the long drive and... Ugh. That time I was more alert and got my foot back on the brake before anything bad happened. I've been super careful about my foot placement on the pedals ever since.

It's hard to look backwards after a crash and be sure what control inputs we actually made. I was totally wrong. Ford might be a little to blame for bad ergonomics down there in the footwell but, really, I was following too close, not fully alert, and failed to recognize the cause of the problem until days after it would have helped. What control input made your truck lurch forward, whether it was your foot, elbow, the floor mat - I hate to say you may never know.

The Lightning accelerates so fast from low speed or a stop that it calls for the level of vigilance and precision required to drive a manual transmission in stop and go traffic in a hilly city while pulling a trailer - but you're at risk of flying forward faster than you can react instead of rolling backwards into someone you can't see. I try to keep that mindset in slow or stopped traffic now.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

I’m now confused about how these buttons work. The BC 1.4 update says that there is now “one button activation”. It says that now you only have to press the “adaptive cruise control button”, without having to also press the “lane Assist button”. I’ve never pressed both the adaptive CC button and the lane assist button. I’ve only pressed the adaptive CC button, which I assume is the large button on the left. I didn’t realize that that little protruding button in the middle was a resume button for a long time. I always would push the big button to start ACC, then, if I stopped it by tapping the break, like when I was coming up to stopped traffic and it wouldn’t slow fast enough for my comfort, I’d have to tap it at least twice to start it again. I assume that what I was doing was turning it off and back on instead of telling it to resume?

The BC 1.4 notes are useless.

Almost nobody disables lane keep assist. Most just leave it on so it comes on whenever cruise control is on.

The big button is on/off toggle. The brake pauses cruise control. The re-engage buttons re-engage if the on/off toggle is still active.

You can re-engage cruise by tapping that re-engage center button, but you can also re-engage it by tapping the + or - buttons. It’s relatively easy to do. Because of that, I always disengage cruise control once I’ve left the highway.

 

[Effonefiddy Lightning]

I also posted this to the Reddit group, but will cross post here as I can use any and all information that others can share. I was stopped in traffic on a 4 lane road. I'm using one pedal mode, so my foot is not on the break. All of a sudden, the truck takes off, rapidly. I slam on the brakes, but not in time to keep from rear ending the tacoma in front of me. My husband says he has had the truck take off like this when he accidentally hits the resume button on the steering wheel with his arm. I don't recall this ever happening to me. Anyone ever experience anything like this? Will they be able to download any data from the truck that will explain what happened? Shouldn't the truck have recognized there was an obstacle and either not moved or stopped on its own? Again, appreciate any information or advice that would be helpful. BTW, it just updated to bluecruise 1.4 2 days ago.

When I'm following a car on the highway, going slower than the set speed, and a motorcycle splits lanes past me it wants to keep up with it. Did a motorcycle split lanes past you while you were sitting there?

 

[Robert1380]

My two cents. Maybe driver had foot 'resting' on accelerator with just enough weight that the truck thinks you are pressing it, and hit that cruise button...i believe that would be a recipe for what happened. why accident avoidance or auto braking didnt stop it, i dunno.

I have never had anything like this happen, but i do rest my foot on pedal at lights and a few times have realized i was VERY SLOWLY creeping forward...was so subtle i could hardly feel it.

Yeah this happened to me several times which forced me to really pay attention to where I rest my foot

 

[davehu]

As I've read this and previous incident's of unintended acceleration, I started the practice of switching cruise control / Blue Cruise [OFF] once I've exited a limited access highway, once I'm on local surface streets or country roads, I want full control of my truck.

I have always done this for the same reason I'll never use Blue Cruise..... I've been in the computer industry long enough to know that #$%#$% happens. I want to be in control

 

[strmwzrd]

I also posted this to the Reddit group, but will cross post here as I can use any and all information that others can share. I was stopped in traffic on a 4 lane road. I'm using one pedal mode, so my foot is not on the break. All of a sudden, the truck takes off, rapidly. I slam on the brakes, but not in time to keep from rear ending the tacoma in front of me. My husband says he has had the truck take off like this when he accidentally hits the resume button on the steering wheel with his arm. I don't recall this ever happening to me. Anyone ever experience anything like this? Will they be able to download any data from the truck that will explain what happened? Shouldn't the truck have recognized there was an obstacle and either not moved or stopped on its own? Again, appreciate any information or advice that would be helpful. BTW, it just updated to bluecruise 1.4 2 days ago.

I posted the same issue over a year ago. I backed into a parking spot. When I returned and started the truck I was instantly 25 ft or so out in the lot before I could hit the brakes. I don't even recall if I touched the pedal AND at that time I never used one pedal driving. All I remember is starting the car and frantically going for the brake pedal. It has never happened again. Thank God nobody was walking in front of my truck. This has never happened since. You will see tons of folks explaining what you did "wrong" BUT, @Ford Motor Company please take notice, I think there's a glitch in the software...
@swngdncr I am glad everyone is fine.

 

[tls]

In my case, there was definitely no glitch in the software; there was a glitch in the wetware, one I didn't understand until quite a while later.

There have been hundreds of these threads about almost every concievable vehicle, and news reports and controversies going all the way back to the Audi 5000 in the 1980s. When there's a stringent investigation the outcome is almost always that the human driver provided the wrong control input - which does not let rhe manufacturers off the hook for their choices about control design and layout and, now, software that can all too easily lead the driver into doing the wrong thing and not even realizing it.

On the Audi all these years ago, driver confusion about pedal state was worsened by pedals that were too narrow and badly placed, and outcomes may have been made even worse because of a glitchy idle regulator that could turn the "creep" of the automatic transmission with the brake not depressed into...more. On our trucks, there is so much acceleration available from low speed that even momentary driver confusion can have much more dramatic consequences than with most other vehicles on the market today or in the past.

It can be the manufacturer's fault even if the driver does the wrong thing, but the long tortured history of the sudden-acceleation topic does teach that it is seldom the case that the driver did nothing at all (but often the case that they did not or do not understand what they did, which is the ergonomics problem and often *is* the manufacturer's responsibility).

 

[flyct]

Yeah this happened to me several times which forced me to really pay attention to where I rest my foot

Same here, I rolled into new BMW at a stop light. I rested my foot on the Go Pedal. We were in heavy traffic in the left lane at a stop light.

After the Light changed we slowly pulled to the right lane and pulled off a side street.

Fortunately here was no visible damage on either car. We took pictures of each other's Driver Licenses and I thanked him for being understanding.

I found myself doing the same with my Lightning. It only takes a little pressure.

IT WAS MY FAULT. Now when using one pedal I rest my foot on the floor or hold the brake pedal when stopped behind someone.

 

[swngdncr]

The BC 1.4 notes are useless.

Almost nobody disables lane keep assist. Most just leave it on so it comes on whenever cruise control is on.

The big button is on/off toggle. The brake pauses cruise control. The re-engage buttons re-engage if the on/off toggle is still active.

You can re-engage cruise by tapping that re-engage center button, but you can also re-engage it by tapping the + or - buttons. It’s relatively easy to do. Because of that, I always disengage cruise control once I’ve left the highway.

Thanks for the clear explanation.

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