The gas pedal, the brakes, and the steering wheel all have the ability to accelerate a car—how?

They all have to do with the different types of acceleration; the gas is positive acceleration or increasing velocity, the brakes are negative acceleration or decreasing velocity, and the steering wheel is directional acceleration which measures how much an object is changing direction

Speeding up, slowing down, and changing direction are the 3 forms of acceleration, and the controls in the car can produce all of them.