Had a very scary moment on my STS today

[spyder-dude]

I have a 2013 Spyder STS with electronic shift. I have just almost 5200 miles on it.

I was on my way back to my house after a 270 mile ride today. Was on a small but fun twisty road and was shifting down on a sharp corner into 1st gear and it didn't go into 1st gear but instead the throttle opened all the way open and stuck. I almost went flying off the road which would have been like a 100 foot drop off but I stomped on the brake and shut off the key and got it pulled over to the side of the road before going off the road completely. It about scared the crap out of me. I shut it off and turned it back on and where the gears normally displays it showed E and the service engine light came on. I shut it off for about 2 minutes and took the key out. When I turned it back on everything was fine.

Anyone ever experience this?

I am scared as hell to ride this thing afraid this might happen again.

I just had the 5000 mile service done today at a different dealer than I normally go to and the tech that worked on it is very experienced with spyders for about 5 years.

 

[Orange monster]

Wow scary stuff!! Did the throttle go WOT by its self or did you open the throttle and it stuck? If the bike accelerated to WOT by itself then that sounds like a computer glitch and would be scary as hell. If the throttle stuck at WOT then that could be mechanical or electrical. Think I would be back at the dealer when they open in the morning. Good luck and hope its fixed quickly!

 

[Bob Denman]

:shocked: I can understand something like the gear position sensor not "sensoring" anymore... I'm just not aware of anything that would open the throttle up at the same time...
Take it back to your dealer, and please let us know what they find; good luck! :thumbup:

 

[Dan_Ashley]

Please let us all know what you find out.

 

[flamingobabe]

that sounds scary.. glad you are OK... never had that happen on my ST...keep us updated...good luck

 

[Benggolf]

First, am glad to hear that you came out of the incident unhurt. Very good cool reaction under such stressful situation. Would certainly like to know what exactly caused your Spyder to go WOT. I happen to be seriously looking into buying a 2013 STS soon so stuff like this is quite discouraging. :shocked:

 

[NancysToy]

Glad you survived! Moments like that are exactly what the kill switch is there for. I recommend owners get used to shutting off the Spyder every time by using the kil switch first, that way it becomes second nature. You should also do some parking lot practice and kill it in turns and when accelerating/decelerating just to learn how it reacts when you do so under power. I hope the dealer can figure out what went wrong. It is not a common problem. Yours is only the first or second I have heard about.

 

[Chupaca]

Too much technology..??

glad you were able to keep a cool head and handled the situation as well as you did. Don't know for sure if yours has the new throttle system but the old double cable pull system would never do that. Hope they get that fixed for you and it doesn't ever happen again...:thumbup:

 

[wyliec]

There was something similar about a year or two ago. That time the husband was following the wife and speaking on their intercom during the incident. She had, if I remember correctly, an RS. The spyder was picking up speed without her moving the throttle. As they were talking on the intercom, the husband said to hit the kill switch; she did, but the spyder kept picking up speed, and applying the brakes did nothing. In the end, the spyder went over and the husband got to her and turned the key off. The wife was banged up some, but was okay. After that there was never another post indicating what caused the problem. I don't believe the husband ever came back on spyderlovers.:dontknow:

I thought I had that post book marked; but, I can't find it.

OP, Glad you are okay.

 

[NancysToy]

glad you were able to keep a cool head and handled the situation as well as you did. Don't know for sure if yours has the new throttle system but the old double cable pull system would never do that. Hope they get that fixed for you and it doesn't ever happen again...:thumbup:

????? Cable throttle are notorious for this. Breaking the return cable will do it every time. Been there, done that, don't like to wear the T-shirt.

 

[Bob Denman]

:agree:
Scotty,
Other than the "blipper" that gives a shot of fuel during programmed downshifts; is there any other connection between the throttle and shifting systems?

 

[NancysToy]

:agree:
Scotty,
Other than the "blipper" that gives a shot of fuel during programmed downshifts; is there any other connection between the throttle and shifting systems?

Only the CANbus, as far as I know.

 

[wyliec]

spyder wouldn't stop, old thread

This is the one I was thinking of in my other post:


http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/showthread.php?38644-RT-wouldn-t-stop&highlight=throttle+stuck

 

[ARtraveler]

Scarry. Glad to hear you are all right. The above posters have you covered. Let us know what they find out.

 

[sledmaster]

Get familiar with the kill switch

Old snowmobilers know about stuck throttles all too well. The carb slides would ice up and the throttle would stick, so we all got familiar with the red kill switch in a hurry. Now with electronic throttles people are not as quick to using and knowing the kill switch is still your best course of action. On the ACE 900, this is the first sled with an electronic throttle and I was told it has a double circuit that compares the hand throttle position and cuts the engine if the two position sensors do not agree with where the throttle is at. I assume the new Spyders with the electronic throttles would have a similar redundant system as well. So, it would be unlikely this was simply a matter of throttle position error. With the shift error occurring at the same time, it makes one wonder what the logic sequence was doing in there. Curious to see what kind of error codes were thrown on this one.

 

[NancysToy]

.....With the shift error occurring at the same time, it makes one wonder what the logic sequence was doing in there. Curious to see what kind of error codes were thrown on this one.

If it was a CANbus fault, it may well not have thrown an error code, since it might not have realized there was an error. It will be interesting to find out.