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2013 srx gas pedal question

45K views 221 replies 39 participants last post by  TheCaptain 
#1 ·
I have 2013 srx luxury fwd with 1100 miles on it -- Today I had something happen that really concerned me. I was stopped at a light and went to turn right --but upon depressing the gas pedal there was no movement at all. I had to punch the pedal very hard before it barely moved. I took it straight to the dealer and they said that I probably had somehow simultaneously hit the gas and brake and this would cause it to not move forward. This was a safety mechanism in place as a result of the toyota accelerator sticking and that if it happened again to use my other foot to lift up on the gas pedal or to turn off the traction control. Does this sound right?
 
#99 ·
Tina, our SRX was manufactured 6/28/2013. We purchased it two weeks after you, 11/14/2013. When our "lack of acceleration" event happened, we had just test driven it, and were driving it home after we bought it. A car ran a stop light in front of my wife driving the SRX. The light turned green and the car that ran the light was still in the intersection, but my wife did not see it. She started accelerating, and just when the car was right in front of her, she saw it and slammed on the brakes. From start to stop, maybe 1 second. SRX moved only about 3 feet. After car cleared, she said the SRX accelerator would not respond. The engine was running, but would not go. This lasted for about 3-5 seconds. (I was behind her in my car so that is about what I saw).

I went to a parking lot a couple days later to try to reproduce this. From a dead stop, I accelerated for 1 second and slammed on the brakes, then try to accelerate. It worked fine. I have not been able to reproduce this problem. Although we have a Performance trim SRX and do not have the automatic braking feature, we do have Forward Collision Alert. I am wondering if Forward Collision Alert deactivates the throttle during the alert. I wish an SRX engineer would chime in on this.

So far, after 520 additional miles, the acceleration problem has not happened again and I can't reproduce it.
 
#100 ·
Thanks for the info. I do recall your original post describing what had happened. Looks like we have a month difference in our build dates. Do you recall how long (time or mile wise) from the dealership where that incident occurred? Was it 5 miles from the dealership or more? I really think it has something to do with the brake somehow and maybe early in one's journey (within 10 miles or less of driving). I had only gone 1.5 miles from starting my car when it happened.

Thanks for the update.

~Tina~
 
#101 ·
I can assure you, forward collision alert does not affect the throttle at all.

(I am not an SRX Engineer, i've just thoroughly tested the SRX's systems)
 
#103 ·
Kelly and MJF,

When you both experienced the loss of acceleration, how long had you been driving the car before it happened? Was it shortly after starting it for the day or after a long period of sitting and within a 5-10 miles it happened? I am starting to think it happens within the first few minutes of driving after the car has sat for a bit. If that is the case, i am not sure how helpful that type of information is with trying to troubleshoot this issue but I know that it makes me feel a little more comfortable driving when after the first 10 minutes or so this issue hasn't happened. It might be a false sense of comfort as I still drive with the expectation that whenever I stop and then start to go that I will lose acceleration and I won't take off with a lot of traffic. Also, I have a bad habit of starting the car and then going right away and not letting it warm up for a minute before driving off. I have been more conscious of this and sitting for a minute in the morning and after it has sat for a bit before I take off. Not sure if that has helped or not. We all have different driving habits which could be way this is intermittent and not happening all the time.

~Tina~
 
#104 ·
I, too, am having the SAME issues described here with my 2013 SRX that I bought in June.

Unfortunately my dealership has provided me with a service bulletin that has the nerve to tell me that the engine does this BY DESIGN! There is a 0.5 sec or 0.7 sec delay in acceleration ability under certain conditions for is engine. Unfortunately that appears to be an average calculation as I was able to count to the end of "two-one-thousand" before the pedal and engine kicked back in just as a car almost hit me head on turning left in an intersection last month. I am very disappointed and clearly would have never entertained a vehicle purchase that was dangerous to drive me or my kids in on a daily basis as my long commute home on he freeway lends itself to replication of this scenario. It really needs attention by GM to remedy what I would call a defect that could cause fatalities if not addressed. I am not currently happy with the brand and miss my GMC Acadia, for which, I felt much safer driving.
 
#105 · (Edited)
MIJennifer,

I completely understand your concern along with others on this forum regarding the loss of acceleration. I posted the service bulletin your dealership referenced on post number 69 of this thread and uploaded a copy of the bulletin. The service manager at my dealership does not believe this bulletin describes the situation as the hesitation in acceleration described in the bulletin isn't nearly as long as what we are experiencing. I experienced a full 4 - 5 second complete loss of acceleration when I had my incident. So far I have been lucky and have only had one incident.

I have a few questions for you. Have you reported this to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration yet? If not, I would like to encourage you to file a safety complaint. The more complaints they receive the sooner an investigation or recall can be issued. Below is the information on how to file a complaint.

How to file a claim:

Via Web
Begin online form (https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/VehicleComplaint/index.xhtml )

Via Mail
Request PDF form by email (https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/portable/index.cfm )

Via Phone
File a Complaint for Child Seats, Tires, Equipment, Vehicles
Monday-Friday (8 am to 8 pm ET)
(888) 327-4236 TTY: (800) 424-9153



When this has happened to you, was it early on in your drive? Was it within 5 - 10 miles of you starting the car and taking off? Do you remember if you let the car warm up when your started it or did you just start it and put it in gear and then drove off?

I am asking these questions because I think the loss of acceleration seems to occur early on in ones drive just after starting the car within 5 or so miles and possibly without letting the car warm up for a few seconds before taking off.

When I start my car the gauges typically go through a sweeping pattern to the right and then to the left twice and I think if we don't sit and wait for that process to complete before we put it in gear to back up or move forward we will experience the issue some time within the first 5 miles of the drive. I believe I didn't let that gauge sweep process complete before I put it in reverse and backed up when my incident happened. I have not proven this as of yet, it is just my assumption as I am trying to gather data from everyone that has experienced this issue and I have asked some of these questions but have not received many responses yet but that is my first stab at it.

Even if this theory is right, I still have no clue what is not functioning to cause the loss of acceleration. But if we know how it happens we can change our habits so that it won't reoccur. Since i have had this notion, I have been very vigilant on letting the car complete the gauge sweep motion before putting the car in gear and it hasn't happened again for me. I am going to try to recreate the issue but I am waiting on the data recorder to be installed in my car before I tried it and I haven't heard back from my dealer yet to have that installed.

How many times has this happened to you?

~Tina~
 
#106 ·
Tina,
I have had the loss of acceleration occur when I let the car warm up and when I did not let it warm up. My daily commute is less than 15 miles so for me it has always occurred in a short distance drive. I can truly say the problem is intermittent and so far I have not found a pattern as to when it will occur. It occurred again last thurs. as I was turning right out of a parking lot.
 
#107 ·
Thanks for the feedback MJF!!

When you had the incident last Thursday, did you come to a complete stop before turning right or was it a rolling stop and how long had the car been running? 5 minutes or less? When my incident happened, I was turning right as well and I believe I did a rolling "stop" at the sign. There were a few cars in front of me that had fully stopped at the stop sign and I had fully stopped behind them but as I approached the stop sign I didn't come to a complete stop and I proceeded to turn right and in the midst of that turn is when I lost acceleration.

I know I am asking a lot of questions but I am just trying to connect the dots to see if there is some sort of pattern. And the Cadillac service departments are unable to figure it out if they can't recreate it, so that put more of the work in our court in order to try and put the pieces together. An intermittent problem will be next to impossible to fix unless we can get someone that has this happening more frequently set up with a data recorder in their vehicle where we can capture the exact incident when it happens.

Have you talked to your dealership about having them put a data recorder in your car? Form the way my service manager explained it, it will sit in your cup holder and plug in to your car and when the incident happens all you do is push a button on the recorder and it saves the data about the car and what was running or not running at that exact moment.

~Tina~
 
#108 ·
This may have happened to me once as well. Making a left at a 4-way. Came to a complete stop. When it was my turn to go, basically car didn't go when I took my foot off the brake and pushed down on the gas. This was a few weeks back, so I don't recall what I did to clear it for sure, but I think it was take my foot off the gas entirely and try again.

But only happened once (so far) in five months and 8,500 miles of driving. I'm not terribly concerned or complaining, just thought I'd share my experience on the thread since it might be related.
 
#109 ·
My last car was an Infiniti G37 and I would have loss of acceleration turning as well, so I don't think it is just Cadillac.

Has anyone noticed if during their turn, if they felt the tires slip? Could this be a traction control issue? Has anyone noticed this while driving on snow/ice?
 
#110 ·
My last car was an Infiniti G37 and I would have loss of acceleration turning as well, so I don't think it is just Cadillac.

Has anyone noticed if during their turn, if they felt the tires slip? Could this be a traction control issue? Has anyone noticed this while driving on snow/ice?
There was no instability or traction control issue with the tires when my incident ocurred.

~Tina~
 
#111 ·
Here's a question for anyone having this 'gas pedal issue'.

What is your steering wheel angle when you press the gas? (Use centre as 0*) 45*? 90*?
 
#113 ·
Well, it may or may not be the cause of your problem, but I know Stabilitrack monitors steering wheel position, each wheel speed, and vehicle yaw sensors.

Through my own 'experimentation', Stabilitrack does not like the vehicle making sudden or abrupt starts with the wheel turned more then (apx) 50*. It will also give no indication of Stabilitrack coming on, it just totally doesn't let the throttle activate (no matter how much you stab the pedal). I've practiced a lot because I noticed going from my '10 to my '13 that the Stabilitrack is way more intrusive on my '13 then the '10. It's a weird control measure, but it comes in handy in winter, rather than punching it and sliding straight into whatever is in front of you, it just doesn't release any throttle until the wheel is unwound some, or it will lightly (barely) add throttle.

Test out the situation (in an empty parking lot). I've done it numerous times in both model years i've owned.
Come to a complete stop, turn the wheel 90* right or left, and floor the gas pedal. Nothing happens. Until you unwind the wheel or back off the throttle.

Now this may or may not be your issue, but I do know Stabilitrack intervenes more than I would like it to, for my driving style anyway. (can't have any fun in winter)

PS: The SRX doesn't like aggressive, repeat starts and stops, or a sharp start after a stop, it confuses the yaw sensor, which in turn activates Stabilitrack, which limits throttle to the engine.
 
#114 ·
This is why I brought up the question about Stabilitrack due to winter driving in my ATS. My ATS will kill the throttle when the tires start slipping. It made me think of my wife's SRX incident where she had to slam on the brakes to avoid a car, and when she tried to go again the throttle was not active for a few seconds. My wife was going straight when her SRX throttle would not respond so steering angle would be zero in her case. I would think that if the tires slipped on sand or water, stabillitrack could kick in too.
 
#116 ·
Thank you for responding and with the directions for next steps.

Unfortunately I have the opposite scenario repeat itself. It has happened 4 times to me and once to my husband between October and December of this year. Mine is always at the end of an hour drive on the freeway home from work daily at high rates of speed and other than the duration of time experienced in the loss of acceleration, it does somewhat mirror the rest of the description provided in the bulletin. Everything works fine until that last 10 minutes of my drive when there are full stops involved (we have a lot of round-abouts in our area that prevent the need to come to a full stop until the last 10 minutes of the drive at particular intersections). Car is completely warmed up and there was no severe weather conditions attributing to the situations.
 
#117 ·
Thanks for the update and it is interesting that you are having this issue at the end of your commute home verse that beginning of your commute.

I agree that the technical bulletin that mine and your service manager provided describes the issue that is very close to what we are experiencing (other than the length of time we have the loss of acceleration) but the bulletin is stating .05-.07 of a second loss in acceleration is "normal" and built in to the car. We are experiencing up to 100x greater loss of acceleration so that can't be considered "normal" behavior for the car. That type of loss of acceleration will get someone killed, which is why my service manager is not chalking my issue up in the same category as that bulletin since the timing is WAY off and your service manager shouldn't either.

I would like to put all those service managers that are saying this is normal behavior in my car and turn on a busy road and stop the car in the middle of the turn and just sit there for 4 - 5 seconds before moving and see how they like the feeling of being a sitting duck while a car is barreling down on you and see if they think it is "normal" behavior for a car to do that.


~Tina~
 
#119 ·
Hello,

Are any of you experiencing this issue from Canada or all you all from the US? We are located in Canada and have experienced this issue twice thus far. We are beyond frustrated as the service advisor is telling us this is normal and that GM instructs them not to fix this issue. The thing is, the criteria in the bulletin has not been met in our case, as with a lot of you. In the two incidents we have experienced, there was absolutely no aggressive braking or aggressive acceleration. The gas pedal was completely incapacitated for approx. 3-5 seconds each time. During the first occurrence I was accelerating slowly moving forward from a stop sign in a school zone mere meters from my daughters school. Another was when I was turning left on a green light and this was very scary as I was turning into oncoming traffic. Both times I had my daughter in the car and was taking her to school. This is extremely unsettling and it makes me not even want to drive the SRX anymore. We have had our car for almost a year now and this has only happened recently. Our car is currently at the dealership and we are going to go to speak to them today when we pick it up to see what else can be done. Simply telling us this is "normal" and sending us on our way is totally unacceptable when this is clearly a safety issue.
 
#120 ·
Canada,

I completely understand the feeling of helplessness when this happens and turning left with oncoming traffic is my worst fear of this happening to me. So far I have only had the one experience of this issue. When this happened was it early into your commute/drive within a few miles of starting up and taking off?

I hope someone can find a fix for this as it definitely takes the joy out of driving/owning a Cadillac.

~Tina~
 
#121 ·
Hi Tina,

My daughter's school is approximately a 15 minute drive across town and both times we had just about reached our destination. It sure does take the joy out of it. I love our car but am not willing to continue to drive it if a fix can't be made. It's not worth the risk.
 
#123 ·
Hello canada,

I apologize for the vehicle concern you are also experiencing. I would like the opportunity to further discuss your situation. Can you please confirm your location? We are only set up to assist customers based in the United States, but if you are located elsewhere, I would like to get you in contact with our GM counterparts in your home market for further assistance.

Sincerely,

Laura M.
Cadillac Customer Care
 
#122 ·
I wonder if it would be the cam position sensor that's creating this issue? If it's out or has a glitch, the engine would drop back to idle until it can read the sensor again.
 
#124 ·
I also have a 2013 Cadillac SRX Luxury SUV, and have had the exact same problem! After stopping. I go to accelerate to go straight or turn and I lose power for a few seconds, before the power kicks back in! Scary! I have taken it to the shop 3 times now. They continue to say...they have no memo's from the manufacturer, no code comes up on the vehicle, and no recall notice is available. They act like I am imagining the problem. Irritating! I should start proceedings through the lemon law! I agree, this is a huge issue, and if someone get's in an accident, they are going to get sued!
 
#125 ·
Nikkirenee, every time I hear of another incident of this it fires me up. So far I have not experienced this issue again since the first time but I always expect it to happen every time I come to a stop. I do not turn into traffic like I would normally if I was driving a vehicle I had confidence that it won't leave me stranded in the middle of oncoming traffic for up to 5 seconds.

Have you reported this to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration yet? If not, I would like to encourage you to file a safety complaint. The more complaints they receive the sooner an investigation or recall can be issued. Below is the information on how to file a complaint. We are getting more and more complaints so I would think they would have to open up an investigation soon and force GM to deal with this issue and hopefully it will be before someone loses their life or gets injured. So far the majority of the complaints that are listed on the NHTSA website for the 2013 are this specific issue and the more we report the better.

How to file a claim:

Via Web
Begin online form (https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/VehicleComplaint/index.xhtml)

Via Mail
Request PDF form by email (https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/portable/index.cfmhttps://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/portable/index.cfm )

Via Phone
File a Complaint for Child Seats, Tires, Equipment, Vehicles
Monday-Friday (8 am to 8 pm ET)

~Tina~
 
#127 ·
so the luster is off the purchase of our 2013 Cadillac srx. after an exhaustive search for almost a year for the perfect car-ish crossover to replace my girlfriends jeep, we settled on a sexy white srx. being a long time Cadillac fan, and having a father that worships the brand, it seemed like a perfect choice. it was a low miler used vehicle that was imported to Canada and sold be Don Wheaton Chev olds. Having felt lucky it was the correct color and trim level, we snapped it up immediately. unfortunately that was only a week ago, and yesterday while driving and coming to a stop, and trying to pull out into traffic turning left, i experienced an "episode". hit the throttle, it kind of lurched and stopped. i thought it had stalled. i had time to say "what the %$#@" looked down at the tach to confirm it was still running, looked down at the gearshift to see if i bumped it out of gear, and then it sputtered and came to life and moved forward. it felt like something i should have experienced with me carburetted 69, not a 2013. I'm educated enough to know that there is something wrong with a control system, and when i consulted the www. to see if the Cadillac was a drive by wire throttle, i found this thread. surprise, surprise, we are not the only ones that have experienced this before. the internet is amazing for identifying chronic problems with everything.

I guess the question i have is has anyone operated a data logger and logged the event when it happened? Since we operate in a world of PLC's and logic devices, i'm not so sure that we aren't experiencing a issue with the hard code in the software that operated the srx. Hence no one can find fault in the hardware, and the ECM can detect no fault, it may be operating exactly how it is being told to operate, the scary operation is just a result of that. To top it all off, no dealership is going to have access to the logic string to be able to go through it bit by bit to see what line of code causes it to nullify the throttle input until some other logic is verified, so it can again apply it. I started my life as a mechanic, so i know how hard it is going to be for someone to trouble shoot a intermittent problem like this, and am currently working with large projects that have a lot of involvement with complex PLC control, and have pulled my hair out with equipment that has had improper operation, particularly with braking circuits, only to find out the it was a line of code telling it to do something, and you just didn't know that line was in there. With all the advances with anti-collision, anti-skid, anti-spin, anti-driver control everything (anti-fun), it will take a petty in depth effort to remove the drive-ability problem. Hope the dealerships are ready for it up here. Going back to them this week......b
 
#129 ·
For all 2010+ SRX's, you can tap the T/C button to turn of Traction Control, or hold the button for 5 seconds to kill Traction Control and Stabilitrack.
In 2013+ SRX's, both T/C and Stabilitrack must be active in order to use Cruise Control. (At least with the Adaptive Cruise Control option)
 
#132 ·
It seems to be very isolated. It happened to my wife driving home from the dealer, and has not happened since. In my wife's case, she had just slammed on the brakes to avoid a car that ran a red light, then when she went to accelerate, there was about a 3 second delay. She has almost 2000 miles on the SRX now and has not been able to duplicate that problem (if it was a problem in our case).
 
#133 · (Edited)
So far from what I have seen it has only happensto 2013 models and is intermittent and doesn't throw a code when it happens. I was suppose to get a data recorder installed in my vehicle from my Cadillac service center but I haven't heard back from them. I am not far from my first service and I will talk to them about it then and have it installed when I get that service done.

~Tina~
 
#131 ·
TheCaptain said:
For all 2010+ SRX's, you can tap the T/C button to turn of Traction Control, or hold the button for 5 seconds to kill Traction Control and Stabilitrack. In 2013+ SRX's, both T/C and Stabilitrack must be active in order to use Cruise Control. (At least with the Adaptive Cruise Control option)
I did not know that about the '13/ACC. Thanks for the info, Captain.
 
#134 ·
I was having this same problem early in miles now at 10,000 miles and pass my first service some months back, i have not had this problem reoccur it has mysteriously went away, keeping my finger crossed, also i did not mention this problem at my first service, and i too have a 2013 srx.
 
#136 ·
I am experiencing a similar problem with my 2011 srx luxury I purchased with 47k miles..luv everything about it except the ticking and the intermittent power lag when trying to accelerate after slowing down. Usually happens between 20-35 mph..doesnt seem to matter if breaking or lifting foot off the gas. Im going to check the TC setting the Captain mentioned. I really hope this takes care of it...
 
#137 ·
The lack of response to the accelerator happened to me again yesterday. I was following another vehicle into a left turn and that vehicle stopped because a vehicle to our right apparently felt the red light for his turn was optional.

I stopped, but did not need to brake abruptly because we were not going that fast. When I lifted my foot from the brake to the accelerator, it felt like nothing responded to depression of the accelerator. If someone even hints I had my foot on the wrong pedal, I will become very irritated. The time that elapsed without a reponse was probably about 1/2 second and I did notice the tachometer sat at 500RPM as a normal idle speed.

I have seen the bulletin issued by Cadillac which covered several GM models stating this is normal to let the transmission complete any gear changes...In my opinion as a result of driving internal combustion motivated vehicles for more than 60 years...that is hogwash!!!!

If the engineers who designed the controls for the GM automatic transmission had to build in a 1/2 to 3/4 second no-response to driver input, they should be fired and made to go to work for a competitor.:thepan:
 
#138 ·
It definitely sounds like you experienced what is described in the Tech bulliten that I posted in post number 69 on this thread. I have not experienced that short of a delay in acceleration response as of yet and I believe that it is clearly proven that this is not an issue of using two feet while driving so there is no worry about being accused of that.

~Tina~
 
#140 ·
I have a 2013 SRX with 10000 miles. I am experiencing the same issue that is being described in post after post here. I took it in a few weeks ago. They called a week later to let me know it was ready. When I went in to pick it up, they told me nothing was wrong with it. I refused to take it, telling them that I wouldn't put my life in danger, so I wouldn't take it until the issue was resolved. They've had it for another week now. They called today to tell me that they still haven't found anything and that GM has had no one else report this type of issue. Has anyone who's posting these issues had anyone report it to GM? (Surely the service techs are doing so??) As a result, all they're doing is putting some sort of recorder box in my vehicle for me to hit a button if it happens again. Let me just hope that I'm alive to push the button if the issue causes a collision! This is the first Cadillac I've ever owned . . . needless to say, it will definitely be the last!
 
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