I have a bit of a problem with a new work van I have been given, and I am hoping someone can help me out.
Recently I was forced to trade in my 2006 Chevy express for a 2008 Chevy Uplander for work. I noticed that when I drove one of these Uplander’s a year or so ago that my right leg and foot became fatigued very quickly after driving the vehicle. The throttle seems to be very, very touchy, or sensitive, its almost like I get 80% of the power with only 20% of the throttle. If I put my foot comfortably on the petal in a relaxed state I find that the van will go 90+ MPH (Im sure it will keep going until it hits the governor, but Im not willing to test it). In order to keep even a constant high way speed I can only put very minimal pressure on the gas pedal. I have driven various other vehicles, and rarely use the cruise control on long trips, so its very strange that I can’t manage but 10-15 minutes without the cruise control on this vehicle.
I am limited in what I can do to fix the problem since its not my vehicle. I would love to cut about 3 inches off the pedal arm and move it back farther, or attach a spring to it so it would have more resistance, but Im not sure my boss would go for that. I have noticed that the van does not have a throttle cable anywhere I can find, so I assume it uses some sort of drive by wire gig to control the throttle. Does anyone know if there are any adjustments that can be made to the throttle of this van to “detune” it, or any other suggestions that might help me out?
Thanks for your time and answers.
This should be covered under warranty. The throttle action should be linear. Check with the dealer. Safety could be used as a buzzword.
You may hear the claim, “They all do that.” Drive another one to see if, “They all do that.”
All I can sat is contact the Dealer maybe a TSB (Technical Service Bulliten)
It’s probably “drive by wire” which means it’s an electronic throttle and has no direct linkage from the gas pedal to the motor. I had a Chevy truck with the same problem. I just couldn’t feel the gas pedal (that apparently had a very light spring). I ended up putting a block of foam rubber under the pedal just to give it some resistance.
I wish it was that simple. I have driven many of the vans (my shop has about 8), and they all seem to have the same bad throttle feel. I don’t think that there is a failure of the van, I think it was just engineered poorly.
Good idea, il give that a shot. Thanks everyone!