It is my sad duty to inform you that I have unfortunately had an accident today in rather weird circumstances. The good news is that neither I or my passenger were hurt. The car has unfortunately sustained quite some damage, front spoiler/bumper, n/s headlight broken, ns front wing nearly torn off, ns front corner of bonnet damaged - not sure about front passenger door. Rear bumper and under part damaged, and possible damage in boot area.
How did this all happen I hear you say:-
Parked up in disabled bay - came back to vehicle put in reverse, and next thing I know without hardly touching the throttle we have shot backwards at a high rate of knots in to a bank with a fence in front, at this point I should have turned the engine off, but stupidly I selected drive - thinking I would move forward to stop and check damage. You can guess what happens next - same thing in drive - we shot forward, and I tried desperately to miss a parked minibus - just caught the rear bumper of said vehicle. Eventually managed to stop and turn off engine. I am totally in shock here - have never experienced this in nearly 40 years of driving. I am naturally distraught, and upset. My passenger witnessed that I hardly touched anything when this happened - has anyone experienced anything like this happening. I am concerned as to whether there was a problem with the throttle control or gearbox or both.
Contacted jag assist - sent a truck out to recover the vehicle. I have tried to get in touch with my own insurer - but unable to(over 1 hour wait) no luck with their web site form either - do Jaguar assist inform my insurance or not? I won't be driving my beloved Jaguar for quite some while - may even be a write off.
Oh no!! So sorry to hear about this. Glad you are ok.
I think Volvo had a similar sounding problem a few years back but I have never heard of it happening to any Jaguar cars.
Hope you get to the bottom of it and everything is sorted out.
147daytona - thanks for the kind words, the car is a MY18 180D R sport - still under warranty. Hope there is a fault code.
Thanks all for the kind words - think the shock has worn off a bit now, but I am obviously still upset - really like my Jag.
Will report more when I know more.
Parked up in disabled bay - came back to vehicle put in reverse, and next thing I know without hardly touching the throttle we have shot backwards at a high rate of knots
So, to put the car into Reverse, one must first press the brake pedal to engage it. Then if one removes foot from pedal, the car should just start creeping backwards. So what you're saying is when you released your foot from the brake, the car shot backwards. It sounds like something is wrong in the throttle mechanism which is a fly-by-wire system, so no direct Bowden cable connection. Presumably when you were engaging Reverse, the engine was ticking-over normally ?
Parked up in disabled bay - came back to vehicle put in reverse, and next thing I know without hardly touching the throttle we have shot backwards at a high rate of knots
So, to put the car into Reverse, one must first press the brake pedal to engage it. Then if one removes foot from pedal, the car should just start creeping backwards. So what you're saying is when you released your foot from the brake, the car shot backwards. It sounds like something is wrong in the throttle mechanism which is a fly-by-wire system, so no direct Bowden cable connection. Presumably when you were engaging Reverse, the engine was ticking-over normally ?
As I am partially deaf I am unable to say with 100% certainty that the engine was ticking over when it starting shooting back, but afaik the car just shot backwards at a pace with little or no input of mine. I am hoping that the software diagnostics will show a problem with the throttle. Other than that I have no idea how this could happen, but it certainly frightened the s... out of both of us.
Glad everyone was ok. At least metal can be fixed easily.
I don't think you can select a gear from park in the auto if the engine is reving. So foot on brake to start. Foot on brake select reverse. Release brake and car will creep. You now have no feet touching pedals and car is moving.
It's been on the news quite a few times. When the car started to creep backwards, do you think you might of accidentally hit the accelerator instead of the brake?
I am so sorry to hear of your accident and glad you are both OK. From the damage you have described expect the worse as I have seen write offs on Ebay with what looks like lesser damage than you have explained. I am so sorry that your pride and joy has suffered this way.
Thank you all for your kind messages - still in a bit of shock here, but very glad that this did not happen somewhere a lot more busy. That does not bear thinking about.
Simpler - good point, maybe I could have hit the accelerator by mistake - but make the same mistake twice in a row??? Don't know what to think.
An update for you all.
After nearly six weeks, my car will be returning to me tomorrow. A full diagnostic scan was done and no apparent faults found - so it would seem that I alone caused this accident to happen. I will just have to accept it and move on, although I am still totally baffled as to how it happened. Here's hoping the repairs are good. I think I will go on a refresher driving course to help regain some more confidence in my driving. I will at least be very happy to have my pride and joy back. Just need to put this nightmare behind me now.
I most certainly will be checking very carefully, and there is no way I will sign anything unless I am happy with it. we will see tomorrow. Obviously concerned about paint finish etc, but I won't put the cart before the horse. Will report back tomorrow.
Oh poor you! Glad nobody was hurt. Years ago I parallel parked my Citroen Xantia Auto, left it for a while. When I returned there was plenty of space behind me but I just need a little more clearance in front to pull out. I selected reverse and instantly it flew backwards, there wasn't time for me have touched the accelerator. I stamped on the brakes and thankfully that was the end of the issue. No explanation or ideas from Citroen and it never happened again. Hope your story has a happy ending.
There is a possible explanation for this.... the reason your foot has to be on the brake when selecting gears is twofold, firstly to ensure the car can't move before you are ready for it to do so and secondly to operate the switch that allows you to select the gear. If the switch has come loose or moved for some reason, it may be possible to operate it without having your foot firmly enough on the brake to stop the car moving. Even without acceleration, if you select a gear in any car (auto or manual) without a clutch being engaged and with the engine running the car will leap forwards (or backwards). So always make sure your foot is firmly on the brake before selecting a gear.
Dendip, indianajons,
Thanks for your input guys - I am still very peturbed at what happened and still maintain it was certainly not of my doing , at least not completely my fault. The worrying thing for me is that on return of my vehicle I asked for all paperwork of what had been done/checked - I have only received a document from Greens Jaguar in Haverfordwest that a full diagnostic was done, and no fault found - no details.
I also understand that there is a black box type of device fitted to these cars that can tell how many revs on the throttle etc. I would very much like to know if this information was accessed, and if so what it showed, as otherwise I will never understand going forward what really happened, and in that sense won't get closure. Particularly as the whole car shuddered when I put it in too reverse - which seems to corroborate what india said above.
Think I will be asking for further information as above as I still have disquiet in my mind. The only good thing is I went for a drive yesterday when the car came back, and I immediately felt at home and quite normal driving the Jag.
Dendip - Just goes to show that these cars can go out of control - either driver error or otherwise, but as you said thank God nobody was injured. I cannot begin to imagine what could have happened if the circumstances had been different - I could have seriously injured or killed someone.
Lastly, at least the repairs seem to be spot on as far as I can see, and she looks as lovely as she ever did. Hopefully onwards and upwards as they say.
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