NHTSA Complaint #11698604 — 2024 FORD F-150 LIGHTNING BEV

I was making a road trip in my 2024 F150 Lightning Lariat. I pulled up to a Tesla supercharger. I turned the car off and attempted to plug in but the cable was about three inches too short. So I got back in the truck, turned it back on and put it in gear for the last three inches of travel. The truck accelerated dramatically. It clipped two charging stations, hopped a curb and went into a field, headed for a major lane of traffic. I rode the brake as hard as I could and it continued to accelerate. I threw it in neutral and finally got control of it, just short of the road. I turned the vehicle off and back on and drove out of the field, the truck behaving normally. I finished the trip and returned home without incident. In reviewing the experience in my mind, I can't make mistaking the accelerator for the brake pedal make sense. You can't turn the vehicle on without pressing the brake pedal. You can't put it in gear without pressing the break pedal. And the fact that it continued to accelerate after hitting the charger doesn't sound like a pedal mistake. I have never found the human factors of the F150 to be challenging - it is very straight forward to drive. I also don't think I could have accidentally hit the cruise control. You can't accidentally engage the cruise control from a standing stop. I do always use one-pedal driving.