# Car starts but won’t rev or accelerate

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-starts-but-won-t-rev-or-accelerate/114415>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Tags:** chevrolet, sonic\
**Created:** [March 25, 2018, 7:51pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-starts-but-won-t-rev-or-accelerate/114415 "2018-03-25T19:51:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![JJ\_Saul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JJ\_Saul](https://community.cartalk.com/u/JJ_Saul)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2018, 7:51pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-starts-but-won-t-rev-or-accelerate/114415/1 "2018-03-25T19:51:30Z")

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I have a 2012 Chevy Sonic that starts fine and idles however, it will not do anything when the accelerator is pushed down( no rev). Any solutions?

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**Author:** ![Tester](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/tester/32/15976_2.png) [@Tester](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Tester)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2018, 8:50pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-starts-but-won-t-rev-or-accelerate/114415/2 "2018-03-25T20:50:18Z")

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Your vehicle has a drive-by-wire accelerator system.

Instead of having a throttle cable from the gas pedal to the throttle body, your vehicle has an accelerator pedal position sensor.

![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/original/2X/a/a24731574149b567cae107be6c315d4bb316e194.jpeg)

This sensor sends a signal to the computer which then operates the electronic throttle body.

![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/original/2X/e/ef17d94265a421c90424f59f7e04673ce35e5e5d.jpg)

So the problem is with either the accelerator pedal position sensor, the computer, or the electronic throttle body.

Tester