Gas Pedal Flex Solution

Crf450r420 · December 23, 2014

Got to look at mine also and the main bracket is all soft flexible plastic. Not even rigid hard plastic that can hold it's own shape. WTF, GM? I'll look at it more again tomorrow when I have more time. It certainly flexed a bit before the pedal moved, but it might not be as much as you guys with the stationary pedals.

I did take a second to play with the pedal adjustment and the screw for the brake does go the entire time with the gas pedal, but it has a dead spot where it stops going in just before the gas pedal bottoms out making them even more staggered. Not sure since I was quick about it but it looked like the adjustment screw on the brake is mounted in the wrong place to keep the movement going. By the time it gets to the last part it is just pulling up and not longer pulling the pedal forward.

Silverado-Hareek · December 23, 2014

I don't have adjustable pedals and I've always felt the gas pedal is too far back from the brake pedal which makes finding a comfortable seat distance a little difficult. I wish they were more lined up. I'm not sure if it's possible to bring the gas pedal forward some maybe? I certainly don't want to mess with the brake as I really enjoy being able to stop the vehicle!

beetle · December 23, 2014

After noticing the gas pedal has a lot of travel before it actually starts to work, I looked at it closely. I noticed it's a very bad design. There is a plastic bracket that is bolted to the floor pan/firewall and it has two studs. The metal gas pedal assembly bolts to this plastic bracket. The Bottom right area has no anchoring, and has a gap between it and the floor pan. so when you step on the gas pedal, this whole bracket flexes like crazy. I did come up with a solution. I cut a 1/2" long piece off the end of a free paint stick from home depot. Wedged it between the floor pan and the plastic bracket on the bottom right area. super glued it in place. guess what... NO MORE FLEX. Unreal how I have to do this to a $46k new 2014 truck. Never owned a vehicle with such a poor gas pedal design. Pic below.

Have you noticed any difference in throttle response?

Silverado Steve · December 23, 2014

Have you noticed any difference in throttle response?

See post 6

Crf450r420 · December 23, 2014

Since the gas pedal had no linkage to keep lined up and it's mounted like it's bolted to a pillow. I'm sure you can move it and improve the quality of the mounting.

DeePa · December 23, 2014

my bracket moves before the pedal moves. I'll try to make it sturdier asap. Sometimes I feel like I have to mash the pedal it to get the truck to move. How many miles do you have and do you think the pastic is starting to weaken from repeated use? Mine has 12,500 on it since June 1

Mike

fondupot · December 23, 2014

Gonna investigate my pedal when I get home. I have the adjustable ones. Dunno what kind of play they have.

FL335i · December 23, 2014

Hareek- That would not shim BEHIND the plastic bracket. The plastic bracket goes downward into the floor pan. you need something behind it so when you mash the pedal down it's already on solid ground. Try maybe a 1/8" or 3/16" Thick piece of aluminum stock.

My truck has a bit over 12k miles. I still think a BMW 7 series pedal would be awesome in our truck. Monster floor mounted pedal. But i'll live with my fix. If the free paint stick gets wore out, I'm using a piece of aluminum stock.

Edited December 23, 2014 by FL335i

Rubyralph · December 24, 2014

Wow post #1 is correct.

I own a 2014 Silverado LT 4x4 double cab V-6 with a build date of June 2014 and overall I'm happy with the truck but...

I checked my truck yesterday and found this is a real problem, the accelerator pedal bracket flex on my truck looks to be ~3/4" to 1" before the electronic linkage engages. The pedal tip-in engagement has to flex the mounting bracket before the electronic acceleration switch engages.

I can't believe the GM Engineering and Design Team's would approve of such a flimsy mounting bracket for this important part of basic motor vehicle operation.

I would love to have GM explain why this is "as designed" and "normal" to have this amount of accelerator bracket flex.

I also realize this flex issue is NOT the entire acceleration lag issue that so many have complained about but this would be a chance for GM to step-up to the plate and correct a basic design flaw on our trucks.

I can't believe over time and usage this bracket will fail as currently designed.

Sure I could shim and install additional hardware to correct this safety issue, but really GM, please fix our trucks.

I would also request that someone please post a video showing the amount of flex maybe with a scale showing tip-in travel before the actual switch engagement.

I think once every 2014/2015 Silverado & Sierra owner can see the actual flex problem they will understand why we have such erratic accelerator pedal reaction from idle.

Sorry for the ranting!!!

Have a safe and happy holiday!

Edited December 25, 2014 by Rubyralph

POS VETT · December 25, 2014

I don't have adjustable pedals and I've always felt the gas pedal is too far back from the brake pedal which makes finding a comfortable seat distance a little difficult. I wish they were more lined up. I'm not sure if it's possible to bring the gas pedal forward some maybe? I certainly don't want to mess with the brake as I really enjoy being able to stop the vehicle!

I put two 1/2-inch shims (read: oversized lock nuts) between the pedal assembly and the bracket. That's about as thick as I'm comfortable with reusing the two stock bolts. The pedal assembly will flex a bit more, a wider, more elaborately-shaped shim matching the pedal assembly footprint is needed to eliminate the additional flex. However, the flex occurs only at and near the end of pedal travel.

The 1/2-inch shims can only do so much, the difference in pedal heights is about 3 inches originally. They're purposefully built as such to prevent stepping on the gas pedal when trying to slow down; this scenario surprisingly happens often enough. Mass-produced vehicles nowadays all have this kind of feature built-in for safety.

kdj14 · December 25, 2014

This thread seems to be about nit-picking, IMO. I have drove dozens of these trucks in my line of business and EVERY SINGLE ONE has had good throttle response. Maybe there are some out there with an issue but in my experience they must be far and few in between.

FL335i · December 26, 2014

^kdj14- Nit picking? Really? $46k new truck and the pedal is a POS. I could go buy a 1983 Corolla and the gas pedal is more rigid. I don't play brand wars, but one pet peeve of mine with GM over the years has been the attention to detail, or lack there of. It's a gas pedal. Should mounted firmly. That's called engineering and proper building. Not fly by night junk.

Kx250f · December 26, 2014

Thanks for posting! I checked mine and was shocked how much it moved before the throttle actually moved!! It did help throttle response since all the play was gone! Crazy how flimsy it is!!!

310racing · December 26, 2014

Just did mine, again, wow the amount of flex, all home now with super glue and 3 washers.

Yet to drive, but feel it can only be better.

SLOW3R · December 31, 2014

I have been having throttle response and other issues since I got my truck in late October. I stumbled across this post, and checked mine. I cannot believe GM approved this design and let this off the assembly line, the flex is insane. The actual pedal moves about a 1/2" before it even registers the gas is being pressed. I'm not nit picking as someone said earlier in this post. I wish I knew how to get a video uploaded. This is unacceptable in my book.

Has anyone had the dealer look at theirs? I'm sure its just another "that's normal" issue.