Xantia Design Fault?

Keith J · Post by **Keith J** » 07 Jun 2008, 11:39

Upon reading another post about the height the clutch pedal should be above mats and carpet. I wondered if anyone had experienced the following with the accelerator? This happened to me at around 70mph on a dual carriageway. The car is a 1996 Xantia 1.9TD.

I have a separate rubber mat on the floor on the drivers side (one I placed there). This mat slipped down a little. The manufacturers carpet has a rubber matted area fixed to it, this creates a lip. On depressing the accelerator fully, (I was about to overtake someone), the lip on the manufacturers rubber matted area, caught the accelerator pedal and held it down. I continued to accelerate and it took a few seconds to realise what had happened. I at first assumed that the accelerator cable had "Whiskered" and stuck on at full throttle. I was approaching 90 MPH down a hill by the time I had bent down and physically pulled the accelerator pedal up with my hand. Not a pleasant experience.

Anyone had similar?

AndersDK · Post by **AndersDK** » 07 Jun 2008, 13:03

No - not a design flaw -

A common "event" you may experience in any car 8)
Its your own responsibility that nothing - including OEM mats & carpets - may disturb the functions on your car.

XantiaMan · Post by **XantiaMan** » 07 Jun 2008, 14:49

Drivers floor mats are usually supplied wih fittings to secure them in place to prevent such an occurance. Hardly Citroens fault though.

Keith J · Post by **Keith J** » 07 Jun 2008, 16:57

But this is the manufacturers carpeting fitted at the factory that caused this, not the additional rubber mat that I added. Hence my belief that it is a design flaw. The front of the accelerator pedal can be held down by the factory supplied and fitted matting. The carpeting and rubber mat are secure and cannot be moved without considerable effort. Had I not placed a further mat in the footwell in an attempt to keep it clean, this would have undoubtefly happened sooner.[/img]

Kowalski · Post by **Kowalski** » 07 Jun 2008, 19:03

It sounds like you carpet is out of place.

I have two Xantias and there is nothing for the accelerator pedal to catch on in either. The lip you speak of is about an inch below the bottom of the pedal when its pressed into the carpet.

It sounds title you need to get this sorted pretty sharply.

Keith J · Post by **Keith J** » 08 Jun 2008, 10:34

Thanks everyone. The carpet seems immovable, something is amiss. I will sort it asap.

Happy motoring.

Post by **aerodynamica** » 09 Jun 2008, 00:10

Might be a case of just glueing the offending part down to keep it out of the way. It's not something I have experienced on the Xantia ( tho on a non-turbo diesel it'd hardly be a heart stopping experience

)

It did happen on my forst CX, a 2.4 semi-auto where the cable had frayed and stuck on full throttle.

falling-out-with-my-car · Post by **falling-out-with-my-car** » 16 Jun 2008, 15:50

if you find yourself doing 90 with the throttle stuck to the floor don't bend down to release it you might crash just dip the clutch and turn the engine off, it will help to keep your eyes on the road.

Toby_HDi · Post by **Toby_HDi** » 16 Jun 2008, 18:06

falling-out-with-my-car wrote:if you find yourself doing 90 with the throttle stuck to the floor don't bend down to release it you might crash just dip the clutch and turn the engine off, it will help to keep your eyes on the road.

Thats the worst thing you can do, you would lose all servo assistance on the brakes and the power steering. Not to mention other functions

Best thing would be to keep your eyes on the road, and hook your foot under the pedal and pull it back up.

Post by **myglaren** » 16 Jun 2008, 19:21

My reaction would be to leave the clutch engaged and just turn off the ignition. Engine braking will reduce the speed and the brake servo and steering would continue to function.

Keith J · Post by **Keith J** » 17 Jun 2008, 03:56

I did initially try to hook my foot under the pedal, but my size 11's are a bit too big for the job, hence bending forward to use my hand. Not ideal but it worked.

I don't think turning off the ignition even merits consideration. lol

handyman · Post by **handyman** » 17 Jun 2008, 13:16

Seems strange that nobody has thought about dis-engaging the drive by depressing the clutch and then engaging NEUTRAL, enabling all the powered functions to be usable and allowing the driver to focus on stopping the car safely. What does it matter if the donkey is revving it's nuts off!

Handyman

rowanmoor · Post by **rowanmoor** » 18 Jun 2008, 13:45

Wasn't it a Xantia - brakes will still work at full strength without the engine running - at least until all presure is gone and the suspension is bottomed out which would be many emergency stops later.

Power steering would go though, but at motorway speeds that shouldn't make too much difference I would have thought. Far safer than bending down under the steering wheel while the car is doing 90mph.

Hooking it up with your foot would be my prefered solution if possible though.

Had a similar effect on my old BX 19TRS when the carb got stuck. Unfortunatly there was no hard shoulder or alternative safe stopping point for about a mile and a half where it happened due to the bad multiple junction layout. I was doing a lot more than 90 with even with the brakes holding it back some before I could pop the clutch and cut the engine to stop safely. Luckily there wasn't too much on the road at the time.

French Car Forum

Xantia Design Fault?

Xantia Design Fault?

turn the ignition off

Re: turn the ignition off