Accelerator Pedal Sensor Problems of Subaru Outback

I experienced my gas pedal no longer working while driving, car was driving well, on a residential street going about 25 mph, then there was suddenly no gas/acceleration, had to coast to a stop. The check engine light came on, cruise control light was flashing. About 2 hours later the car was running normal again. The diagnosis code given was p2138 throttle/pedal position sensor/switch d/e voltage correlation. It is very scary and unsafe to suddenly not have power while driving, will be driving on the outside lane until the problem is fixed to I can get out of traffic safely.

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At highway speed the vehicle suddenly lost power. The check engine light came on solid with the cruise control light blinking. The car did not respond to any inputs from the accelerator pedal and began to decelerate. Upon stopping and shifting into neutral the car held itself around 2800rpm with no accelerator input from the driver. After reading the check engine light code, the car gave a p2138 indicating a problem with the pedal position sensor.

The same problem has happened several times over the past several months, randomly, while vehicle is in motion, both on highway and on auxiliary roads at lower speeds. On 01/20/2020, while driving ~65 mph on the highway, suddenly, the car lost power--although my foot was on the gas pedal, no acceleration was possible. The car "locked up," and began to decelerate, since no gas was available. The check engine light came on, with the flashing cruise light simultaneously on. Luckily, I was able to move the car across the highway and stop on the shoulder. The car was turned off, and I re-started and drove away. When this same type of event occurred another time, on 02/01/2020, the car was in motion on an auxiliary road, ~30 mph, in heavy traffic. The car again locked up, no gas was available--the car was only able to drift very slowly. I was able to make it to a stop light, which, luckily, was a red signal. At the stop, I shifted the gear into neutral. While in neutral, the engine revved to ~2500 rpm, even though no pressure was being applied to the accelerator pedal. I had to restart the car twice, but the problem didn't clear right away. After a few minutes, it did. In the several other instances when this very unsafe condition of loss of power/acceleration and revving in neutral has occurred, when the car resets, the check engine light also resets, so the code cannot be read in time. Following the most recent incident, I was able to read the error code: p2138 throttle/pedal position sensor/switch "d"/"e" voltage correlation. I have read many other reports to NHTSA and on Subaru online forums of this very same problem. I have read that it may have been corrected on subsequent year models, but not on the 2005 and 2006, and dealers don't fix. This is a very serious, dangerous, life-threatening condition. I am afraid to drive my car. Please investigate. Should be a recall.

I was driving down a street when my car engine was still running but I had no gas pedal response . So l coasted to side of road an shut it off an started it . Then after I did that I got gas pedal response . The check engine light was on after restarting vechile so I had a code scan check it,an a code p2138 showed . The code is for the throttle/pedal sensor. I'm just glad I was not doing 65 on a highway an a semi wasn't behind me or any other vehicle.

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Error code p2138, lots of people are talking about how Subaru is not fixing or calling out the defect in the accelerator pedal position sensor. Issues with connections of the plug, water/dirt causing corrosion to not allow it to work, and dealers not fixing the real issue. I was driving and slowing down as light was red but then it changed to green. I pushed gas and wouldn't allow me to accelerate and check engine light came on. 30 seconds later pretty much all of my indicator lights came on. Cruise light was even blinking. Videos I've been watching talk about fly by wire pedals and how it puts cars into limp mode. Which is what it was doing when I first try to accelerate. I cleared a lot of codes by doing the cruise button reset which for now turned most lights off but still have limp mode issues when first trying to accelerate after a complete stop.

I am having an issue with my car going limp after start. The engine does not register the gas pedal/throttle. Code reader said its the throttle position sensor. Brought to mid hudson Subaru in wappingers NY, they said gas pedal sensor. That did not fix vehicle. Subaru does not seem to recognize this as a safety issue. . . The problem is sporadic and there is no warning, just driving along and gas pedal no longer has any effect on propulsion of vehicle.

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While in motion, rapidly applying the brakes causes check engine light to come on, the cruise control indicator flashes and control of the accelerator pedal lost. The car essentially becomes limp and is not able to receive input from the accelerator pedal at this time. Turning the car off and letting it sit for 30 seconds and then turning the car back on re-provides control to the accelerator pedal. At this time the check engine light is still on. After a couple of days the check engine light goes off. My local authorized Subaru shop traced the issue to a faulty accelerator pedal sensor. The entire assembly was replaced and the car is operating nominally. Two two instances where this caused a serious concern was when I was left stranded in the middle of an intersection when a car in front of me slammed on it's brakes and chose to turn right instead of the intended direction of travel straight through the intersection. The second time was to avoid an animal running across the road in front of the car. In both instances the car was moving at roughly 25mph.

1) recurring phantom revving (in neutral and/or clutch depressed, both while completely stopped and while slowing down from any and all speeds) upwards of 4-5k rpm with difficulty getting the rpms back to normal. Happens sometimes daily, sometimes constantly, sometimes it goes a few days without happening. 2) complete loss of pedal control/response (a "limp" pedal) while going 60mph on a freeway, managed to coast to safety and let the car sit for 10+ minutes, when it restarted and the throttle worked again. Stored code p2138, cel on and cruise control disabled. Have only driven the car a few times since, out of fear of losing pedal control again. -- online research has led me to a number of possible solutions, most common being defective throttle position sensor connections (which frequently get exposed to the elements and corrode, apparently), bad accelerator pedal position sensor, and many people replaced the entire pedal assembly when the previous "fixes" did not solve the problem.

Error code p2138: some failure of pedal sensor assembly while in motion. Exact issue unknown. Acceleration goes limp and pedal becomes non-responsive. Has happened in both city and highway driving situations. Very dangerous in traffic.

On street, from park with engine idling, car in drive, accelerator pedal dead at first, then high rpm 3000+ with pedal released. No control of engine rpm. Cel and cc illuminated on instrument panel. Put transmission in neutral. Killed ignition switch. Engine shut down. Restarted engine and rpm was normal. Very frightening! found dtc p2138 acc pedal sensor failure. Called Subaru support, no such record of failure. Called dealer from which car was purchased, answer was bring car in and will try to repair. This is a serious failure and danger. Please see this failure on google. Many people are reporting the same issue. I am apprehensive to put this car on the road especially with other people in it. An investigation should be pursued in these drive by wire vehicles as this car is. Please take this seriously. . Thank you.

While driving on the highway, the car went limp and lost all accelerator function. Check engine light illuminated and cruise control light was flashing. Thankfully, was able to coast to the shoulder of the highway without incident. Diagnosed with code p2138 and failed pedal position sensor. Based on Subaru Outback forum searches and identifix database, this issue is very common for 2005 and 2006 model year Subarus. The pedal assembly was redesigned in 2007 but is not reverse compatible. This is a significant safety issue which Subaru of America refuses to recognize.

While driving or accelerating from a stopped position the accelerator loses control. Check engine light comes on and I then have to coast to a safe place on the road. I turn off ignition, remove and replace gas cap, restart the xar. Had the check engine code checked as p2138. Trottle/pedal position sensor switch. So far I have been lucky and not been hit while this occurs. This has been happening for 2 weeks now. Going to repair shop to hope for repair.

While driving in traffic on I-95 the accelerator stopped responding and I had no control over the speed of the vehicle. After I pulled off the next exit, I had to put the car into neutral in order to bring it to a stop. My check engine light came on as well as the cruise control light. Later, I checked for obd2 codes and came up with "p2138". After researching this issue, it appears that many Subaru owners are having the same problem which appears to be caused by the "pedal travel sensor" part # 36010ag021. That part was redesigned after the 2006 model year. This is a very dangerous problem and I am very fortunate that no one was hurt through this part failure.

While driving at highway and city street speeds the check engine light comes on/the cruise control flashes and gas pedal stops working. A code that has shown up is p2138 "throttle/pedal position sensor/switch voltage correlation". Very dangerous as I no longer can control the speed of the car. Has happened multiple times.

I was driving with my 10 month old in the car when it suddenly began to deccelerate. I pressed on the gas pedal and got no response. The check engine and cruise control lights began flashing at this time as well. Fortunately I was on a rural road (speed limit 40 mph) and was able to limp along to a pull off. I turned the engine off and let it sit for 5 minutes. When I turned the car back on I was able to drive again. The check engine light was on when I initially started the car but turned off when I began driving again. The same event occurred 4 days later when I was taking my 4 year old to preschool. I turned off a 25 mph street into his school when the check engine light came on and the gas pedal quit working. I should note that when the gas pedal "quits working" the car will not let me go above 15 mph. Once again, I was able to turn the car off and when I started it back up the gas pedal worked again. I took the vehicle to a local mechanic who replaced the accelerator pedal and sensor. Fortunately I was on rural roads when both of these events happened, but this would have been terrifying if I was on a busy road or freeway, especially with 2 small children in the car.

I was driving on the interstate and when I got onto the exit ramp, the vehicle gas pedal stopped working and the check engine light came on along with flashing cruise control light. I coasted into a dealership with hazard lights on at about 10mph. Diagnosis was a faulty accelerator pedal sensor. This could have been very dangerous if I was in heavy traffic or still on the interstate. Car only has 53,000 miles on it.

I was driving at approximately 55, miles per hour the eng went to ide speed, the check eng light came on. I drifted off the side of the road, the throttle was unresponsive. Read the code out and it was for throttle pedal position sensor. It has happened twice since, this could be dangerous if in major traffic such as on a freeway. It could cause a crash. This seems to be an issue with Subaru, I have researched it and many people report this in forums on the internet.

While traveling down a residential road, my 2006 Outback sedan lost acceleration control and went into limp mode in which it was only idling and had no control from accelerator. The check engine light illuminated and the cruise control light began blinking. I turned the engine off from drive, moved the shifter to park and restarted the vehicle after a minute or so. It started up fine but seems to be idling low, sputtering and hesitating a little. Especially when reversing slowly or pressing the accelerator very lightly from idle. A mechanic nearby said the problem code was reading "bad throttle position sensor. " I believe the error code was p2138. Upon researching the issue and as others have suggested, this is supposedly a common problem yet no real reason for the failure can be identified. Some have said that replacing the throttle body which includes the aforementioned sensor helped the situation. Other said that replacing the accelerator pedal assembly which includes the accelerator pedal position sensor has helped. In a few cases with both repairs, the problem reoccurred. I am bringing my vehicle to the dealer to read the history of failure codes and repair the problem. A note to fellow complaintants out there, please update your post if you had a repair done which solved the problem and how long it has been since an reoccurrence if any since the repairs were made, it really would help the rest of us out there who don't want to let the dealerships scratch their heads and charge us for unnecessary repairs.

Vehicle is a 2006 Subaru Outback sedan 'll bean edition. Upon traveling to work at 5:30am, going up hill at 40 mpg, the gas pedal stopped working but the engine was at high rpm. The check engine light came on steady with cruise control light flashing. Had to shut the car off, put on hazard lights as this was a dark road. Tried unsuccessfully twice to get the car to start. On the third try it started and pedal did work but the check engine light stayed on with the cruise light flashing. Drove slowly to work which was a mile away and the safest place to park the car. Upon getting it to my garage later that day they scanned the codes from the computer and it showed a p2138-throttle /pedal positioning sensor. Had to get the complete gas pedal with sensor from a authorized Subaru dealership and replace it. Was fortunate I was not in traffic or a major highway. This is a safety issue and needs to be addressed!.

Slowing at intersection to make a right turn when check-engine-light came on. Cruise control light started flashing (vehicle was not in cruise control at the time) accelerator pedal became unresponsive (could get no acceleration out of the car when pressing the pedal) and was barely able to get through intersection to turn. After a minute or so was able to get enough power to run at about 10mph tops with hazards on to get a location where I could pull over out of traffic. Car would not start immediately after (three cranks with no response) after a few minutes, though, it restarted and seemed to operate normally, no problems with speed. Diagnostic code was p2138 (throttle/pedal position sensor/switch "a"/"b" voltage correlation.

As I was driving on the freeway, suddenly the check engine light came on, I lost thrust even though the engine was still turning at 2000 rpm, and my car started to slow down. Luckily I was already in the right lane, so it was easy to pull off the road. I went to autozone to have them read the code. The code was p2138 which is the pedal position sensor.

Just after getting off I-43 near sheboygan on frontage road my car lost all power and no acceleration on gas pedal. Check engine light came on and cruise control light was blinking. I had to shift to neutral and pull over to a shoulder. Turned the car off for couple of minutes while I check under the hood. Started the car just fine but check engine light was still on and cruise was blinking. Subaru mechanic read error code p2138 throttle/pedal position sensor/switch ¿d�/�e� voltage rationality. They said it was caused by bad contacts on tps sensor by the gas pedal. He reset the code and it has not appeared again for almost a week. I am afraid of it going off again while my wife and kids are driving it on the highway. Does someone need to die before Subaru takes action on this.

While driving down the highway I lost the ability to accelerate forward, meaning my gas pedal stopped working and I began to coast. At the moment I lost the ability to accelerate, my check engine light appeared and my cruise control became disabled. Luckily, I was able to safely pull to the side of the road. After turning on and off the engine several times, I was then able to accelerate again. I then went to o'reilly's to have a diagnostics performed, which resulted in code p2138 (throttle pedal position sensor d-e voltage rationality). This problem continues to occur without warning.

Engine lost power and had to pull to side of road. Retrieved error code p2138 (accelerator pedal position sensor) from (dlc) data link connector in car.

I was driving at night at 55 mph in my 2006 Subaru Outback. The check engine light came on and the cruise control light started to blink. The accelerator pedal became unresponsive and it appeared that the car's engine went into idle mode. I was losing speed and decided to move my car to the shoulder of the road. I shut off my engine and waited a minute or two and tried to restart the car without success. A few minutes later I was able to restart the car and the accelerator pedal seemed to function normally, although the two warning lights were still illuminated. The next day I started the car a couple of times, the accelerator pedal functioned normally and both warning lights were no longer lit. The car operated normally for about one week. This indentical problem reoccurred again one week after the first incident. I drove my 2006 Outback to my independent Subaru mechanic who read the error code as p2138. He has seen several of his client's cars with this problem recently and recommended that I take my car to a Subaru dealer for inspection and repair. A few days later I had my Outback serviced at my local Subaru dealer. They diagnosed the problem as a faulty accelerator pedal sensor (integral to the pedal assembly) and confirmed the p2138 error code. The pedal sensor was replaced and (two days later) the car appears to be functioning normally again. The repair bill was about $320 for the parts and labor. I do believe this is a potential safety issue. Although both times the accelerator pedal became unresponsive I was on a road with very few cars and had no difficulty getting safely to the side of the road. The situation could have been more dangerous if I was trying to change lanes at high speed with lots of traffic around me.

The contact owns a 2006 Subaru Outback. The contact was traveling 55 mph when the vehicle decelerated despite the accelerator pedal being depressed. The contact mentioned that the check engine and cruise control warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer twice. Also, the vehicle was taken to a private mechanic who confirmed that the accelerator pedal and sensor needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 45,052 and the current mileage was 45,078.

While driving our 2007 Subaru Outback sw on a 6 lane divided highway at 65 mph, the car suddenly decelerated and lost all gas pedal response. My wife was able to move the car to the side of the road although she almost caused an accident due to surrounding traffic. The car started flashing the cruise control, traction control, and check engine dash lights. After allowing the car to sit for a few minutes, my wife was able to start the car again and get home. I checked the error codes and got a p02138. I did some research and found numerous other people experiencing the same issue on the Subaru blogs. All of the other reports pointed to the same source(s) the gas pedal position sensor or throttle position sensor. Most reported Subaru service departments claiming no knowledge of the issue ever happening before. Both my wife and I have had the same thing happen several times since in both local and highway traffic. I have cleaned the terminals on both sensors and this seems to help, but the problem always returns. I read where several other drivers had the gas pedal assembly changed and the issue seemed to be resolved. This seems to be a severe safety issue. Having a car suddenly become dead on the road in the middle of traffic is dangerous to anyone around.

Following a few weeks of a ruff idle at stop lights, the throttle position sensor failed on my 2005 Subaru Outback 2. 5i. After getting off of the highway and sitting at a stop light, the gas pedal would not work. The vehicle was running, however there was no reaction at all from pushing the pedal all the way to the ground and the check engine light was on. After turning the car off and restarting it normal function returned, however I was informed that failure could occur again at any time including while driving. My mechanic read the code as the throttle position sensor and replaced the accelerator pedal position sensor.