diff --git a/systems/input/controls_manager.gd b/systems/input/controls_manager.gd
index 17db707..cd0da6e 100644
--- a/systems/input/controls_manager.gd
+++ b/systems/input/controls_manager.gd
@@ -269,12 +269,19 @@ func vibrate(device: int, weak_magnitude: float, strong_magnitude: float, durati
 ## effect and make it repeat instead." That's exactly what broke the lobby gate's 7-second
 ## rumble (the short 0.2 s hit-vibration works fine): this repeats vibrate() as short pulses
 ## to cover the same total duration instead of one long call.
+## Explicitly stopping between pulses (rather than letting each one time out on its own) and
+## spacing them out avoids re-triggering the effect faster than some drivers/browsers can
+## retire the previous one — back-to-back-to-back start calls left the gamepad's rumble
+## motor stuck reporting "busy" for the rest of the session on at least one setup.
 func vibrate_for(device: int, weak_magnitude: float, strong_magnitude: float,
-		total_duration: float, pulse: float = 0.3, gap: float = 0.1) -> void:
+		total_duration: float, pulse: float = 0.25, gap: float = 0.6) -> void:
 	var elapsed := 0.0
 	while elapsed < total_duration:
 		vibrate(device, weak_magnitude, strong_magnitude, pulse)
-		await get_tree().create_timer(pulse + gap).timeout
+		await get_tree().create_timer(pulse).timeout
+		if not OS.has_feature("web"):
+			Input.stop_joy_vibration(device)
+		await get_tree().create_timer(gap).timeout
 		elapsed += pulse + gap