Brake pedal depresses low(close to floor) while braking and can result in driver’s foot touching both the gas pedal and brake pedal simultaneously. Dangerous result is that the engine accelerates while in gear at the same time as brake pedal is trying to stop the car. Temporary solution, once car was not moving, was to put transmission into park. Then carefully putting foot on brake pedal, using toe of foot to assure no contact with gas pedal, and putting car in gear and driving away. This occurs unpredictably. Ford Service said there have been no other similar complaints and they can not reproduce problem. Therefor they can do no serviceable work on brake system without observing problem first hand. I’m dealing with it by being extremely aware during braking; but it is a constant fear and I hope someone else has suggestions.
Looks like plenty of room between the pedals to me, so the only way your foot can press the gas at the same time is if it’s not properly positioned, I’m going to say operator/driver error.
On a 19 year old car and you are the first one to have this problem, also makes me think it’s your foot position.
Make an effort to push on the center of the brake pedal.
Take it to a shop and have the brake system inspected. Pedal should not go down that low.
As far as pressing both brake&accelerator pedals at the same time, I agree with the above: driver error.
If there’s no wet spots on the back-sides of the tires, most likely the brake master cylinder is leaking internally.
Tester
You didn’t mention if the brake fluid is disappearing indicating a serious problem or if the car’s “always been like this”. Either way, with a 20 year old car you should assume the worst because it’s no fun cruising up to a red light and doing a “tap dance” on the floorboards while grabbing your emergency brake.
While older cars weren’t built up to current standards the fact is that rubber seals degrade over time so I’d seriously consider a rebuild/refresh of the entire system which is much cheaper than an accident.
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Thanks. I’m making extra effort to avoid foot in wrong position. This will have to do until/if
the problem happens again.
If your brake pedal is going to the floor it will not fix itself no matter where your foot is . You really should have an independent brake shop check this now.
+1
Maybe it’s just me, but asking online if it’s a serious problem if one’s brake pedal is going all the way to the floor is reminiscent of the person who asked on Facebook if arterial bleeding was a real problem. By the time that anyone responded, he had bled to death.
OP: PLEASE drive your car–slowly and carefully–to a qualified independent mechanic’s shop before you wind up in a situation that you will regret for the rest of your life.