I strongly suspect that the driving / gas pedal is a red herring.

My foremost hypothesis has not been directly refuted yet, so I'm not sure if I should drop it or not.
I.e. are you 100% certain that you're tying square knots and not granny knots?

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There are many knots and they serve different purposes.
Some have moving or slippery parts and stationary or fixed parts, yes. A slipknot has a loose part that forms the actual loop, and a fixed part which holds the loop closed.