P2138: Throttle/Pedal Position Sensor/Switch D/E Voltage Correlation
Do not keep driving
Mention any history of a wet footwell or a spilled drink, however long ago. Both pedal sensors share one connector down there, so water makes them disagree without either being faulty — and if it is caught before corrosion sets in, drying and cleaning the connector may be the entire repair. A pedal assembly is not a cheap alternative.
What this code means
Position sensors D and E disagree — on most vehicles, the accelerator pedal's own pair.
The reasoning under P2135 applies in full, with one addition specific to the pedal end: a spilled drink or a wet footwell affects both sensors at once, because their connector is shared and sits in the same puddle. So a pedal correlation fault has a common cause that is neither sensor and neither the supply — it is the environment — and it is diagnosed by looking rather than by measuring.
That also makes it recoverable. A connector dried and cleaned before corrosion sets in often needs nothing further, where the same neglect a few months later means a pedal assembly.
Likely causes
Start here
- Water ingress into the footwell · moderate
- Corroded accelerator pedal connector · easy
- Failed sensor reference voltage supply · moderate
Less common
Symptoms
Components involved
Information, not instruction
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Have anything you intend to act on checked by a trained person against the manufacturer's own procedure for your vehicle. Nothing here replaces that procedure.
Community experience
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What makes one worth reading:
- The car — make, model, year and engine. The same fault behaves differently on each.
- What you measured, not only what you replaced.
- What actually fixed it — or that nothing did, which is worth knowing too.
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