Adaptive Cruise Control Runaway Driving Dangerous Issue

[djmichaelwenz]

Had my Adaptive Cruise Control runaway today and could have killed me and my family! Had to brake and put in neutral to stop the issue, was quite scary.... Was driving with Adaptive Cruise Control and out of the blue all the service lights came on the the gas pedal stopped working. The Cruise Control WOULD NOT CANCEL no matter what I did (neither the brake or the 3 ways you can do it on the steering wheel) I had to hit the brakes and go to neutral and pull off on a sandy causeway. Adaptive Cruise was working still as after I would break it was accelerating but the steering wheel controls stopped doing anything. I pulled off the highway and turned my 2020 Rebel OFF and then back on and now I have a check engine light. Aside from that it now seems to be driving normal. Just got the Truck and have been a bit of a nightmare. 6th trip to try and get my Ram Box fixed next week as soon as the dealer calls me back, they apparently have the part now (2nd time). I also noticed my paseenger brake light stayed on. But this today as we were coming home from the beach was scary. I was driving on some bumpy sand on the cause way just a few mins earlier. Only thing I could think of is the battery coming loose or a sensor getting wet or something. The only way to stop Cruise Control was to shut off the truck. The truck has 31k Miles 2020 Ram Rebel with the safety package.

 

[djmichaelwenz]

Today (less than 24 hours later) the service engine light went away.

 

[djmichaelwenz]

And to add more details about the RamBox, they replaced one part and then I still was having issues the same day it was repaired! Randomly popping open on the Drivers Side. Popped open after they put in the new harness lots more actually. Rigged it for weeks to stay shut.... Been 2 months now since this all started and I finally got thru to the parts department at the official Mopar repair place and the new part has come in last week after the strike. The explanation was " Its the part the first part went into" apparently. So like the harness went into another thing that is corroded. After getting the Rambox fixed the first time the light on the drivers side was staying on red for a while. I am going to call and call, I am so disappointed and frustrated and now this with the driving by itself!!!!

 

[Eighty]

Are you sure the “Set +” button wasn’t stuck in the depressed position on your steering wheel?

 

[vincentw56]

Are you sure the “Set +” button wasn’t stuck in the depressed position on your steering wheel?

Would have still disengaged on braking, turning off ACC, etc.

 

[Trippi]

had something similar happen once - gas pedal got pinned to the floor and couldn't break to stop. I will admit I panicked and I think through the thing into park and this was on the expressway. ended up needing tranny work after that episode.

 

[Eighty]

had something similar happen once - gas pedal got pinned to the floor and couldn't break to stop. I will admit I panicked and I think through the thing into park and this was on the expressway. ended up needing tranny work after that episode.

I had a 2007 Lexus IS250 that was recalled because of that. The floor mats could accidentally shift and pin the accelerator down. Several crashes were reported because of it. The simple fix was to replace the floor mat with a modified version that wouldn’t interfere with the accelerator pedal.
Based on the series of events listed above, this doesn’t sound like the issue here. I’m kinda scratching my head as to what could cause this. A stuck head or malfunctioning accelerator could cause the stopping problem, but it wouldn’t explain the fact that cruise control wouldn’t disengage. And the off brake light still being on.

 

[ben b]

Very scary episode. Good that you kept your wits and didn't panic. Your family and everybody on the road around you is lucky that you knew what to do and stayed calm. Thanks for letting all of us fellow RAM 1500 owners know.

What think about reporting to NHTSA database? They won't care if just your event. But they will care if they get enough of these incidents reported.

 

[vincentw56]

had something similar happen once - gas pedal got pinned to the floor and couldn't break to stop. I will admit I panicked and I think through the thing into park and this was on the expressway. ended up needing tranny work after that episode.

You can't throw these trucks into park. It will just blink and go back to drive.

I had a 2007 Lexus IS250 that was recalled because of that. The floor mats could accidentally shift and pin the accelerator down. Several crashes were reported because of it. The simple fix was to replace the floor mat with a modified version that wouldn’t interfere with the accelerator pedal.
Based on the series of events listed above, this doesn’t sound like the issue here. I’m kinda scratching my head as to what could cause this. A stuck head or malfunctioning accelerator could cause the stopping problem, but it wouldn’t explain the fact that cruise control wouldn’t disengage. And the off brake light still being on.

There was a recall early on for the floor mats on these trucks doing the samething. It was fixed in mid 2020.

 

[djmichaelwenz]

Are you sure the “Set +” button wasn’t stuck in the depressed position on your steering wheel?

Positive, I hit the brake, the cancel and the on off for both cruise control modes. I have a video of it briefly that shows me hitting it. It’s on the Facebook 5th gen groups in the comments. I hit cancel many times, went to almost a dead stop and the adaptive cruise control kept accelerating. I tested it on the sandy cause way as it was happening to see what’s up. Only way to stop was brake to neutral to park.

 

[djmichaelwenz]

Video of it happening

IMG_6927.MOV

drive.google.com

 

[djmichaelwenz]

Went into the dealership today and they fixed 4 issues they found.

 

[djmichaelwenz]

In addition to the harness they had to do some updates that address this and also reprogram the gas pedal or something like that.

 

[O'Town Ram]

Hopefully it is fixed. Must have been a few tense moments.