I've posted here before...three weeks ago my car acted up in traffic on my way to the gym. It accelerated and decelerated between 2,000 and 3,000 RPM's whether I was in first, second or neutral; it didn't matter. It also didn't matter if I were idle or if I were driving!! I let my foot off the gas while at 45 miles per hour (for example) and for an extra 5-10 seconds it would still be going at 45 miles an hour then my car ' oh yeah, she took her foot off the pedal, I should slow down.' Then it bucks back when it decelerates. It's even worse when I'm stopped and I'm trying to get out of first. By the way, I have a manual Mazda 3 2.0 and no, I don't have cruise control. In fact, the only features that I have are the CD player and A/C. I do believe that people with automatic tranny's have had the same problem.

I found a couple of people here had the same problem and thankfully a tech was finally able to witness the problem so by the end of the day we should have an answer. The good news, it's not operator error. The other good news, Mazda should be paying for it.

I would never be this happy to have my car at the dealership right now but I am because yesterday my car started acting up and I was just minutes away from the dealership and they were open. I even had a tech in the car with me. I had been waiting for this day for sooooo long. Can you imagine how scary it is when your car accelerates and decelerates all by itself?

BTW I'm in a Toyota Yaris right now. It's not as comfortable nor as exciting inside. It's better than renting from Enterprise though!

 

I would have left it alone, sounds exciting in traffic

 

I've never heard of such thing .. sounds wicked strange to me. Did they tell you what they think it might be?

 

You need to add another frame to your sig - "I'm under your hood, yankin' the accelerator cable".

 

They never said what it could be. The first time that I had brought the car to a different dealership they had called some hotline and no one had a clue.

 

the car has a mind of its own... zoom zoom....

 

They just called and figured it out. The sensor in the throttle body that reads the amount of air that comes in and out was malfunctioning and therefore confusing the main computer. That makes sense! I'm getting it back tomorrow.

 

Haha, I just need a cat to take a picture of under the hood and it'll be done.

 

by the time I read this post, you had already found what I was going to suggest, youre not the only one thats seen this issue. Before I got my 3, I had a nissan pathfinder (2001, 4wd, 4spd, automatic) that did that when it blew the MAF, I think its whats called a "test mode" on the computer or whatnot. But because I'd added an aftermarket air intake, I'd voided the warranty, I hope this isn't what happened to you, if you did, I have a suggestion for you the next time you bring it in, IF this happens again.