captronfla

My 2013 Q5 S-line is giving me an issue. My foot hits the brake pedal as I depress the accelerator. Now, that being said I do have large feet (14) and I must remove my shoes to drive. It's not the different height of the two pedals but the closeness of the two. Can the brake pedal be adjusted(bent) to the left to allow more space around the accelerator? I would appreciate it if anybody else had/has the same issue.
Thanks,
Ron
AKA - BIG FOOT

abcabc

I had the same complaint early on and eventually got used to it. I haven't had the problem of hitting both pedals in a while. My previous Audi was manual so the brake pedal was smaller. It just took some getting used to.

Bob Petruska

As ABCABC stated manual trans cars have smaller brake pedals, in Europe they sell manual trans Q5's so there is a chance that the manual trans brake pedal will fit your car and worth looking into. Plus there may be after market brake pedal pads of smaller size out there. I understand where you are coming from and if I had the same issue and no replacement avaiable I would just cut some off of each side of the pad for piece of mind.

Well I just phycially looked at the Q5 brake pedal and I see that the pedal pad is shifted all the way to the left of the arm so there isn't any material to cut off on the right. I also looked up the manual trans brake pedal parts diagram and it's just a 2-3 inch wide pad centered on the same arm which won't help and most likely gets even closer to the accelerator pedal. It might be worth a call to Audi of America and tell them of your problem and that it is a "very big safety issue" for you. Who knows maybe be Audi will have a custom brake pedal made for you, worth a try!

dsackman

Move your seat further back so that the angle of your right leg is more straight. You will possibly find that the different angle will reduce the problem - that is allow your right foot to be further to the right in the foot well.

Worth a try...


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HotRodW

I didn't realize this was a problem for some people. For those old enough to remember, pedal placement caused Audi some serious issues in the 80's -- nearly drove them out of the US market in fact (with some help from 60 Minutes). Of course, that was before electronic safety interlocks. Still, it got really UGLY for Audi!

dsackman

Toyota had a similar problem a few years back with their "runaway" cars. Turned out a few people tried to screw them out of money. I believe the Audi issues in the 80's were similar. Just a small number of the population had that so-called "problem".


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captronfla

Thanks to all who responded. I am waiting for a reply from Audi. In the meantime, you can call me the barefoot driver?

MP4.2+6.0

I don't think the CHP officer killed with his family in the runaway Camry in SoCal either lacked the training to deal with it, nor did it "to try to screw them for the money." Huh? For his estate, after they died at like 100MPH in the fiery crash, with the preceding recorded cell call record?? That specific incident really says there is a potential real issue here, not some scheming rascal out to screw innocent Toyota. Last I heard, legit. questions continue years later as to whether they may have a deep electronic gremlin yet to be fleshed out. They perhaps have a training issue too w/ drivers of how to kill the motor with keyless start--takes several persistent seconds apparently, and people panicking may not have the presence of mind to work it through in an emergency. Another expensive issue potentially, if it gets fleshed out more.

Having owned the C3 Audi 5000 from when I bought it new (on Audi's old Euro delivery program) with the supposed unintended acceleration issue, it probably largely was driver error, but it's hard to say that. "Blaming the customer" is not exactly the best marketing, as Audi painfully found out when it dug in its heels. And having owned a (rare) stick 5000, mine was pretty immune to any real safety issue here; push clutch in and drive disengaged no matter what. But indeed one day in my driveway it revv'ed on regular start up to 3000 RPM with clutch in, and just stayed there until I shut it down after diagnosing it for 30 min plus while still holding those high RPM to confirm no stuck throttle, air leak or other obvious issue, and then I was out of the car and away from the pedals for like 29.5 of the minutes. Turned out it was the idle stabilizer used in that era of (CIS-E) fuel injection that had carboned up; found it only by pulling it. Same device was used to kick up cold idle and to even out idle when A/C compressor or other loads cut in. Oops, Audi (and its supplier Bosch) never mentioned that one... And yes, the 5000 had a laughable pedal to steering to seat offset--things were offset seat to steering by a good 2" when you looked at it, and pedals were pushed way to the right in general; my knee used to hit the center console a lot.

dsackman

[QUOTE=MP4.2+6.0;24472293]I don't think the CHP officer killed with his family in the runaway Camry in SoCal either lacked the training to deal with it, nor did it "to try to screw them for the money." Huh? ...

SNIP

QUOTE]


CHP officer - surely they have advanced driving training? If not, I am scared
How difficult is it to push the gear lever into neutral in an car with an automatic gearbox? Interesting that he had the sense to make a phone call (find cell phone, call number all with one hand while trying to control a "runaway" car), but did not have the basic sense to just push the gear lever into neutral.
I know what fish smells like..., and this is one had been lying in the sun for a few days.

It is too easy for anyone to get into a car and start driving it. There is no need for anyone to have any mechanical knowledge, even basic, on how things work in a motor vehicle. That in my mind is a huge shortcoming and possibly contributes to many driver error induced accidents and deaths. Even the basic act of reading the user manual is overlooked in the excitement of owning a new car. The operator (driver) then operates a piece of machinery that can be, and often is, quite lethal when operated by an untrained person.
Even in enthusiasts boards such as this one, the lack of basic understanding of vehicle functions sometimes become apparent and is quite scary.



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Q5 Bob

I owned a Lexus during this UA period and did A LOT of reading and research. In the end it proved to be pretty much a bogus issue. No one is sure though what happened in the case of the CHP officer and his family.

C&D magazine did a test during this period with a Camry. At full throttle the brakes overrode the power and in side by side testing the Camry stopped in just a few feet longer than a Taurus did under normal testing conditions.

Their take was the brakes will stop the car even when it's under full power and putting it in neutral should be the first step. It was a messy situation and I'm sure that Toyota/Lexus is glad to have it behind them.