Are 612s known to have sudden acceleration issues? This happened to me while backing a 612 out of a garage very slowly. Suddenly, the revs went to red line and it took off in reverse. All I could do was hold on tight and stand on the brakes until crashing into a closed gate which brought it to a halt. Damage was minimal, superficial paint but could have been much worse had the gate not been closed or someone had been standing behind the car. A colleague suggests that the clutch fluid had congealed over prolonged storage and/or a throwout bearing issue. Any others have similar issues? BHW
Holy cow. I have 4 kids. That scares me. Plus a drop off behind my driveway. I would have done one of those Ferris Buelers, Ferrari garage exits. Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
Never heard of anything like that. You won't like this, but most sudden acceleration issues are caused by confusing the gas and brake pedals.
Never had this happen to me in mine! Couldn’t you just switch it off before you hit the gate? Or maybe put it in neutral with the paddles? Glad nobody was hurt!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Unfortunately, sounds like a case of hitting the brake and gas pedals simultaneously. Not something you wanted to hear, I am sure. On the 575, Ferrari actually spaced the brake pedal wider (further from the gas pedal) part way through production because owners were complaining about getting both pedals unintentionally. Hitting both paddles to get neutral would have been one cure, but the harder you stomped on the brake pedal, likely the harder you were stomping on the accelerator. If you were twisted to look behind you, easy to get both pedals.
I have had cars start and the foot is slightly on the throttle while pushing the brake. This causes really high rev starts. I have never had one go to open throttle without influence. What happened after you restarted the car? Electronic throttles have a lot of fail safe. Not to say it could not happen, I have just never heard of ANY Ferrari do that. i is however very concerning. Keep us posted on what you discover, even if it turns out to be two petals and one foot. That is something that can happen to anyone and we all need to be very careful with that.
In just about all cases of unintended acceleration, regardless of make of vehicle, it is either something like the floor mat jammed the accelerator, or it was driver error. I've put 28,000 miles on my 612 with no such problem.
No, unfortunately, I was standing on the brake all the way down the drive as the skid marks on the asphalt indicated. Our tech guy's, 15 years with Ferrari dealer service, theory was that since the car had been sitting for a prolonged period of time that the clutch fluid had congealed and then when it warmed up, pegged the engine to redline. If it's not a common event, that's one thing. A one time event perhaps but then tow truck driver, paint and body guy (and his assistant) all subsequently reported there was something wrong with the clutch. BHW
On restarting the car, to get it out of the gate, it started to lurch forward very quickly again. I was of course ready for it and clicked it into neutral with the paddle shifters. After that it was pushed into position. BHW
So it did not have high RPM when you started it, but lurched forward when you put it in gear? Did it idle normal after neutral was selected? Very interesting stuff. I love a mystery.
On backing the car out of the garage, out from under a lift, I blipped the throttle to get it rolling and then let gravity do the rest as I was being very careful and was literally idling and rolling back. As the car was rolling, about 75% out of the garage, suddenly the revs went to red line and I was merely a passenger. The car took off and all I could do was hold on and stand on the brakes. The skid marks on the drive went all the way from the garage door to the gate which retained the car and it came to rest. Had the gate not been closed, it would have ended up in the artist's studio across the street (or worse been t-boned by a passing car or truck on the street). I have a fondness for 612s but will never drive one again because they can't be trusted. My Ferrari service colleague thinks that it's a clutch issue related to the throw out bearing and congealed clutch fluid. BHW
The F1 is basically a robotic manual transmission - no torque convertor. How a clutch engagement problem would lead to revving to the red line, on a car that is basically stopped? What lead to that instant injection of fuel and ignition? Assuming there wasn't human error, for the engine to rev to the red line...shouldn't this issue be throttle related? Software glitch, pedal potentiometer, throttle bodies?
Again, I'm sorry to say it, but in virtually all unintended acceleration incidents, the story is the same as what you describe, especially including "I was standing on the brakes!" They were pushing on the gas. There may be some sort of clutch issue which caused it to lurch forward, but the only way the engine goes to redline is if you reacted by mistakenly stepping on the gas. Or, in the 612, the gas and the brake, which is a bit too easy to do.
We've all done it... thought we were on the brake but hit the gas instead. The mind then panics and can't resolve the true issue at hand and the fact that it is our confusion and mistake. Since we usually catch the issue before something of this magnitude (like hitting a gate) occurs, it takes about 10 seconds to slowly rationalize and admit to ourselves the fact that it was our mistake the whole time. When something bigger like this happens, we have much bigger impediments (pride and humiliation) to contend with and "dig in our heels" (no pun intended). I should write a book on psychology. This is a true insight! Anyone know a good publisher?! ;-)
What makes the OP scenario even less likely to be a vehicle glich is that the 612 is essentially run as two merged 6 cylinders, each with 100% independent controls and ecu's and throttle plates. They share very limited information with each other (over two wires on a private CAN network) and this information does not impact throttle levels. I would also need to refer to the schematics to see if the electronic throttle is even using the same contacts to signal to each ECU the desired throttle level. They may be using separate contacts. Or just redundant. As a former fuel systems engineer at Ford I can tell you that the likelihood of this NOT being driver error is basically zero. Even closer to zero due to the split banks, ECUs and controls. If six cylinders tried to go WOT (wide open throttle) and the other six were basically at idle, the car would run like a turd and never accomplish a fast rev or get to redline. I hate to be the one to kick this dead horse but it's driver's error. Stinks but 99.9999999999999999% likely.
No, the skid marks resulted from either the car burning out or you holding both the brake and the gas, in which case the skid marks would be from the front tires. You might take a look at the front tires and see how they look.
OK, it's a defect in your 612. I'll take it off your hands for a very deep discount, after all the car is a death trap.
I think it is an awful event that you went through and no one here is trying to make a joke of it. We are simply responding in a rational fashion. Having been party to the accident (and likely 100% responsible for the embarrassment), you are not able to be objective about it. Does anyone remember the Audi unintended acceleration cases of the late 80's?! Huge headlines, all over the news, all driver fault (pedal closeness had a role of course). These older 80's Bosch Jetronic mechanical fuel injection systems. The controls were primitive compared to now. Though the claims of unintended acceleration were disproven (even then), it is basically impossible to havfe it occur now, with all the sophistication of the systems and redundancies of ensuring that intentions and outcomes are in alignment.
Never been in a panic situation like that so I'm hindsight 20-20, but evertime I hear someone drove off a cliff or the throttle was stuck I just go back to - was Neutral broke too? Neutral, Neutral, Neutral. Say it with me folks, it may save you life someday.
