lol yea the chevette cable sticks every now and then and have had to shut it off and coast over, pop the hood pull the butterfly shut and away i go. never panicked just kinda annoying when it happens haha

The toyota NASA problem with the gas pedal was because an aero space company in the USA makes the gas pedal for Prius and Tundra and a few BMW models too.

The inside guy I know at Toyota says after checking the problemed cars they only saw gas pedals that had excessive dirt and gravel jamming the gas pedal assembly making them stick . . . no real carpet problems with the factory carpet or factory mats either.

Geo taking off could be a vacuum leak and since they use a MAP sensor to regulate the fuel being injected any air leak causing a reduction in vacuum would result in more gas injected and the car accelerating.

Could either be IACV (or actually the ISCV, I think) or a vacuum leak...I'll check into it someday...it's not a chronic problem, and I think it's easily controlled. Now...if this were a 1970 GTO with a 455...

That would be worse...I can accept that the floor mat issue would be an afterthought, not a major concern for the engineers who are designing the important stuff, but they should definitely be thoroughly concerned about very normal stuff like dirt getting into the gas pedal assembly. That would be a serious design flaw.

yea no crap put a cover over the assembly dur durr durr

or have a small cable and the box up out of dirt and debris way

No these cars were REALLY DIRTY like the pedal has to move and they had it caked with junk jamming it. I remember the old gas pedals I think on a VW Beetle was on a hinge on the floor and it would rust and get stiff and hold the the linkage down.

Yep, that's likely to happen. Cars are driven by many types of people who walk in many different conditions wearing many kinds of boots. Loggers, landfill workers, hikers, construction workers, mud wrestling girls, landscapers, etc...think boots with big tread blocks, chock full of mud and debris. You clean as much out as possible before getting in the car but there's always going to be more than an office worker in sneakers.

Gas pedals need to be designed so that they will not get stuck down unless a brick is on them, and brake pedals need to be designed so they will be able to be pushed down unless there is a brick under them.

exactly! its not that uncommon to see a prius along the interstate on a construction site

I dind't get the hubub about it. Of course it's not good, but I've driven a few cars with this happening, and also shut them off. I heard the 911 call, where a Police officer was driving a Lexus (I think) with the throttle stuck at 120mph, and didn't know to shut off the car. It seems like that should be in Cop driving 101. He came to the end of the road, and killed himself, and a couple passengers.
I'm sorry if I offend anyone, but it's Darwinism. When someone takes control of a 2,000 lb missile, they should know how to control it. This is probably why we don't have flying cars. Automobiles are fallible.
Just a couple of months ago, I was trying to pass emissions in my heavily modified car that wouldn't idle under 1,100rpm, so I put an extra spring on the throttle return. It worked great, but I found out the hard way that when expanded, the spring got caught. I was passing someone on the freeway, while heating up the Cat, and when I let off the throttle, it stayed at 80mph. I simultanioously put in the clutch, and turned off the car, and coasted to the side.
People here should have to do driver's license tests like they do in Europe. Here, they are a joke. Driver's Ed should be manditory, and hard to pass.

Suddenly that easy to reach ignition kill switch seems like a great idea for just this situation.

Can anyone think of any reason why keeping the engine in gear and turning off the ignition would be a problem. It would probably keep the engine turning over and charging the battery and providing vacuum for the brakes as well as power steering if belt driven from the engine and also provide engine braking.