Cars gone wild: the major contributor to unintended acceleration in automobiles is pedal error
Unintended-acceleration automobile accidents typically begin when the driver first enters the car, starts the engine, and intends to press his/her right foot on the brake while shifting from Park to a drive gear (Drive or Reverse). The driver reports an unintended (uncommanded) full-throttle accele...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2010-11-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2010.00209/full |
| _version_ | 1828908072733507584 |
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| author | Richard A. eSchmidt Richard A. eSchmidt Douglas eYoung Douglas eYoung |
| author_facet | Richard A. eSchmidt Richard A. eSchmidt Douglas eYoung Douglas eYoung |
| author_sort | Richard A. eSchmidt |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Unintended-acceleration automobile accidents typically begin when the driver first enters the car, starts the engine, and intends to press his/her right foot on the brake while shifting from Park to a drive gear (Drive or Reverse). The driver reports an unintended (uncommanded) full-throttle acceleration, coupled with a loss of braking, until the episode ends in a crash. Pedal misapplications--where the right foot contacts the accelerator instead of the brake that was intended--have been linked to these accidents (Schmidt, 1989, 1993) which, in the 1980s, were thought to occur only at the start of a driving cycle (and/or with the car in Park). But, in 1997, we identified over 200 pedal errors as the cause of accidents reported in the North Carolina database; these crashes occurred during the driving cycle (Schmidt et al., 1997), and/or with the vehicle in a gear other than Park. Our present work provides a more thorough analysis of these North Carolina Police Accident Reports from 1979 to 1995. The vast majority of pedal misapplications (over 92%) (a) occurred during the driving cycle, (b) were generally in unhurried conditions, and (c) were categorically separate from those events referred to as unintended-acceleration episodes at start-up. These ideas are explanatory for the recent (2009-2010) surge of unintended-acceleration reports, perhaps even suggesting that all of these crashes are caused by pedal errors, and that none of them are based on some vehicle defect(s). |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T18:04:00Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fe4e203e90274e97812fa3cc26473250 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T18:04:00Z |
| publishDate | 2010-11-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-fe4e203e90274e97812fa3cc264732502022-12-21T23:36:07ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782010-11-01110.3389/fpsyg.2010.002098782Cars gone wild: the major contributor to unintended acceleration in automobiles is pedal errorRichard A. eSchmidt0Richard A. eSchmidt1Douglas eYoung2Douglas eYoung3Human Performance ResearchUniversity of California, Los AngelesExponent, IncCalifornia State University, Long BeachUnintended-acceleration automobile accidents typically begin when the driver first enters the car, starts the engine, and intends to press his/her right foot on the brake while shifting from Park to a drive gear (Drive or Reverse). The driver reports an unintended (uncommanded) full-throttle acceleration, coupled with a loss of braking, until the episode ends in a crash. Pedal misapplications--where the right foot contacts the accelerator instead of the brake that was intended--have been linked to these accidents (Schmidt, 1989, 1993) which, in the 1980s, were thought to occur only at the start of a driving cycle (and/or with the car in Park). But, in 1997, we identified over 200 pedal errors as the cause of accidents reported in the North Carolina database; these crashes occurred during the driving cycle (Schmidt et al., 1997), and/or with the vehicle in a gear other than Park. Our present work provides a more thorough analysis of these North Carolina Police Accident Reports from 1979 to 1995. The vast majority of pedal misapplications (over 92%) (a) occurred during the driving cycle, (b) were generally in unhurried conditions, and (c) were categorically separate from those events referred to as unintended-acceleration episodes at start-up. These ideas are explanatory for the recent (2009-2010) surge of unintended-acceleration reports, perhaps even suggesting that all of these crashes are caused by pedal errors, and that none of them are based on some vehicle defect(s).http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2010.00209/fullautomobile accidentsPedal misapplicationsUnintended-accelerationvehicle defect |
| spellingShingle | Richard A. eSchmidt Richard A. eSchmidt Douglas eYoung Douglas eYoung Cars gone wild: the major contributor to unintended acceleration in automobiles is pedal error Frontiers in Psychology automobile accidents Pedal misapplications Unintended-acceleration vehicle defect |
| title | Cars gone wild: the major contributor to unintended acceleration in automobiles is pedal error |
| title_full | Cars gone wild: the major contributor to unintended acceleration in automobiles is pedal error |
| title_fullStr | Cars gone wild: the major contributor to unintended acceleration in automobiles is pedal error |
| title_full_unstemmed | Cars gone wild: the major contributor to unintended acceleration in automobiles is pedal error |
| title_short | Cars gone wild: the major contributor to unintended acceleration in automobiles is pedal error |
| title_sort | cars gone wild the major contributor to unintended acceleration in automobiles is pedal error |
| topic | automobile accidents Pedal misapplications Unintended-acceleration vehicle defect |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2010.00209/full |
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