2000 Alero lunged forward when parking

[jnnel101]

My neighbor had a 2000 Oldsmobile Alero with 120,000 miles on it. It had an automatic transmission. One day last week she started it up and the gas fumes were overwhelming. She didn’t think much about it and went about her daily driving. The next day when she was out and about, she went to go park, took her foot off of the gas to hit the brake. Before she could hit the brake the car lunged forward into a pole and put a huge dent in her grill, probably 10 inch deep. She was not on an incline. She is trying to get her insurance company to understand that she did nothing to cause this. I don’t exactly know what words to use in my search engine to pull up the correct info. Nor do I know exactly what I am looking for. Carburetor ??? Acceleration??? Gas pedal??? Transmission??? Injection system??? Accelerator spring lock up???Can anyone help us understand what exactly happened or what can she say to her insurance company to defend herself? What can I do to help her? Any ideas are welcome. Thank You, Jane

[Tech II]

This is almost going to be impossible to defend.......she has to prove that there is a defect in the car that caused this....about the only thing she can do, if the car is driveable, is drive the vehicle under the same conditions(safely), and see if you can recreate problem( no poles in the vicinity)......did the air bag deploy? The SDM will record data at the time of deployment....whether it is useful or not remains to be seen...

As she took her foot off the gas pedal, did the vehicle accelerate, or maintain the same speed?

Did she ever find the fuel leak?

[jnnel101]

Re: 2000 Alero lunged forward when parking
This is almost going to be impossible to defend.....(After much research, I concur.) she has to prove that there is a defect in the car that caused this..(I have found absolutely nothing)..about the only thing she can do, if the car is driveable, (Car is not drivable. . too late It was totaled) drive the vehicle under the same conditions(safely), and see if you can recreate problem( no poles in the vicinity)......did the air bag deploy? (The airbag did not deploy, but the man who sold her the car told her that there was not one in there) The SDM will record data at the time of deployment....whether it is useful or not remains to be seen...(Did not know to do this. Too late now, car gone)

As she took her foot off the gas pedal, did the vehicle accelerate, or maintain the same speed? (Before she was able to hit the brake the car sped forward)

Did she ever find the fuel leak? (No, she was clueless that smelling that much gas was a warning, so she just ignored it and kept going. BIG MISTAKE)





Thank You for giving me piece of mind. I’m going to give up, now!

[Stealthee]

Nothing she says will change the way the insurance company is going to handle it, so you r searches and efforts are essentially moot.

My guess is she accidentally hit the gas instead of the brake and the gas fumes she smelled had nothing to do with what happened.

[jnnel101]

So sad. I'm sure that is what they will say. No doubt. Thank You. She refuses to believe that she did anything wrong. And this is the second time in a year. So, You are more than likely right. Oh well, I tried to help. Such is life. Thank You.