I've heard of it happening.
The "fix" for good would be to use the gas pedal off an automatic vanagon.
It's different, reinforced with metal and i believe the pivot point is
reinforced as well. I still don't understand why VW thought that automatic
drivers were more likely to really romp on the pedal, but they definitely
made it stronger (I assume due to the additional resistance on the automatic
throttle linkage/transmission linkage setup).

-Craig
'85GL turned WESTY
Turned BOSTIG

On Mon, May 11, 2009 at 10:01 PM, Joy Hecht <jhecht@alum.mit.edu> wrote:

> So the latest in my never-ending saga of van problems - I got in to go
> somewhere today, and my gas pedal is broken.  The bottom end of the pedal,
> which apparently should be attached to something in the floor, is not
> attached to anything.  So I have no leverage to push on it, it just flops
> around.  It actually looks like the plastic at the bottom end should be
> able
> to bend flexibly when you push on the gas, but it has simply worn out and
> broken.
>
> Has this happened to anyone before?  How do you fix it?
>
> In the very short run, I think I can jerry-rig something by attaching a
> piece of some sort of slightly-pliable plastic to the pedal, and wedging it
> in the hole in the carpet through which the pedal used to go, so I can get
> my van somewhere besides where she's sitting right now.  But I think that
> will only be a very temporary fix.
>
> Is this very weird, or a normal problem?  I've never heard of such a thing
> happening!
>
>
>
> Joy
>