Wheels video: What to do if your throttle sticks

Jim Kenzie shows you in a video what to do if your car should race out of control.

In this video, Toronto Star Wheels writer Jim Kenzie explains what to do if you experience unintended acceleration as the result of a stuck or jammed accelerator pedal.

Sudden acceleration in a Toyota Matrix would hardly alarm a drag racer-- the car just isn't that fast.

But it could be a scary thing for you if the gas pedal of your car ever got stuck at full throttle, whether you own a small Toyota or any other vehicle.

The engine screams, and the car surges forward. Even a low-powered car can feel like it's going pretty fast when it's in, for example, a shopping centre parking lot.

That’s what 73-year-old Sheila Manley says happened to her in Burlington last October. She collided with a pile of firewood, causing $4,000 worth of damage to her new 2010 Matrix.

The firewood was largely undamaged.

If the throttle of your car ever did get stuck wide open? Don’t panic.

That may be the hardest thing to remember. But your main objective should be not to have a crash.

There are two ways to avoid a crash, any crash: Steer out of the way, or brake.

You can change course by steering much faster than you can brake. So steering should be your first option. Ideally you want to do both, because if you must hit something, hitting it at a lower speed is always a better idea.

Do NOT shut off the engine. That will kill the power assist to both the brakes and the steering, making it much more difficult to execute corrective action.

If the car is has an automatic transmission, slam it into neutral. If it's a manual, depress the clutch and, again, select neutral.

This will prevent the car from accelerating any faster, and make it easier for the brakes to stop the car.

Yes, the engine will race even faster with the transmission in neutral. But most modern cars have revolution limiters, and the engine won't blow up.

If you have an older car, or a newer car that does not have a rev limiter, blowing up the engine is still preferable to running into a school bus.

Check your rear-view mirrors to get an idea of the surrounding traffic. If you have the time and the presence of mind as you apply the brakes, flick on the four-way flashers, look for a place where you can safely pull over, and stop the car.

Then switch off the engine, flick on the four-ways if you haven't already, and take a deep breath. Depending on where you have stopped, you may want to get out of the vehicle to find a safer place to wait for help.

Then call your roadside assistance supplier of choice.

This can all be very frightening, so it is good idea to simulate this scenario in an empty parking lot. With the car running at a slow speed, practice slipping the transmission lever into neutral, making sure you don't accidentally slam it into reverse, which can be expensive.

A gram of prevention is worth a kilogram of cure.

Jim Kenzie test drives new cars and writes reviews for the Wheels section of the Star. See a video of his lesson at thestar.com.

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