One Tesla owner got a big shock yesterday as his accelerator pedal snapped off while driving.

The story comes from user benjiejr on the Tesla Motor Club forum. He was showing off his Model S P85D to a friend and his nephew. After going through the car’s features it was time to show off the massive acceleration of the P85D’s twin electric motors and 503 horsepower.

“I turned around and was going to do another launch, but this time without Launch Mode – just stomp on the pedal – like I do most often. When I punched it, the accelerator pedal broke off.”



Having a pedal fail, whether it’s the accelerator or brake, is a huge shock and can deliver quite a scare behind the wheel. Fortunately, in a Tesla, when you release the accelerator (or in this case, when it snaps off) the car thinks you’re just coasting and goes into regenerative braking. On a quiet back road, like the one this driver was on, that means a safe roll to the shoulder. On a major highway, sudden braking could be much more dangerous.

A look at what’s left of the pedal assembly shows that it’s a hollow square arm. The arm looks to be plastic, which was confirmed by the owner of the car. The pedal appears to have snapped off where it hits the pedal stop under the dash. Normally pedal arms are made from steel or some other metal, but plastic pieces have become more common in recent years.

Fortunately for this Tesla owner, everything ended safely and the car was repaired the next day. But this was a serious event, and the owner reported it to the National Highway Transport Safety Administration. It reviews all complaints of vehicle safety and, if situations warrant it, has the authority to open investigations.

This is not the first time a Tesla pedal has been reported broken, though it is unclear whether it occurs when people really stomp on it while showing off, or during normal operation.

[Images: Tesla, Tesla Motors Club]

A version of this story first appeared on HybridCars.com