Here are some common symptoms of a bad or failing throttle position sensor to watch for:

1. Car won’t accelerate, lacks power when accelerating, or accelerates itself

It may feel as though the car simply doesn’t accelerate as it should, and jerks or hesitates as it picks up speed. It may accelerate smoothly, but lack power. On the flip side, it may be that your car suddenly speeds up while you’re driving, even if you haven’t pressed the accelerator. If these symptoms occur, there’s a good chance you’ve got a problem with the TPS.

In these cases, the TPS isn’t providing the right input, the onboard computer cannot direct the engine to work properly. When the car accelerates while driving, it usually means the butterfly valve inside the throttle has closed up and pops open suddenly when the driver presses on the accelerator. This gives the car an unintended burst of speed that occurs because the sensor cannot detect the closed position of the throttle.

2. Engine won’t idle smoothly, idles too slowly, or stalls

If you start to experience engine misfires, stalling, or rough idling when the car is stopped, it can also be a warning sign of a failing TPS. You don’t want to wait to get this checked out!

If the idling appears off, it means the computer is unable to identify the fully shut throttle. The TPS can also send bad input that ends up stalling the engine at any time.

3. Car accelerates, but won’t exceed a relatively low speed, or shift up

This is another failure mode of the TPS, which indicates that it is falsely limiting the power being requested with your accelerator pedal foot. You may find that your car will accelerate, but not beyond a speed of 20 – 30 MPH. This symptom often goes hand in hand with loss-of-power behavior.

4. Check Engine Light comes on, accompanied by any of the above behaviors

The Check Engine Light may come on if you’re having issues with your TPS. This isn’t always the case though, so don’t wait for the Check Engine Light to illuminate before you get any of the above symptoms checked out. Have your vehicle checked for trouble codes to verify the source of the problem.

The throttle position sensor is key to getting the desired power and fuel efficiency from your vehicle in any driving situation. As the symptoms listed above make clear, failure of this component has serious safety implications and must be checked out immediately by a qualified mechanic.

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