Sudden Unexpected Acceleration today

[CyberShy]

That’s the funny thing about unintended acceleration. If the driver intended to press the brake and, instead, pressed the throttle. It is, by definition, unintended. They intended to stop, but did not.

The funny thing about your brain is if you think you pressing the brake, you will NEVER be able to comprehend that you were pressing the throttle. That’s because your brain already convinced itself it was pressing the brake by doing so.

Do we need pedal cams to convince these people they are at fault?

 

[malcolm]

Do we need pedal cams to convince these people they are at fault

Maybe not a camera, but on-screen icons of both pedals side-by-side?

The one you are pressing is highlighted. Bright green highlight for the accelerator. Bright red highlight for the brake pedal.

 

[EVnut]

That’s the funny thing about unintended acceleration. If the driver intended to press the brake and, instead, pressed the throttle. It is, by definition, unintended. They intended to stop, but did not.

The funny thing about your brain is if you think you pressing the brake, you will NEVER be able to comprehend that you were pressing the throttle. That’s because your brain already convinced itself it was pressing the brake by doing so.

Do we need pedal cams to convince these people they are at fault?

Using "unintended" for this gives us the same problem as calling every crash an "accident." I think we can stipulate that nobody means to shoot their car into a building or wall or river. Nor do they intend to crash into another car. So let's call them crashes, and then figure out why it happened. And it is almost always human error.

Otherwise, we should discount everything in life that turns out bad as "Oops. Didn't mean to."

 

[GuyDude]

Maybe she enabled cruise control accidentally?

 

[EVnut]

Maybe she enabled cruise control accidentally?

Recall how the story goes... "I was pressing the brake and..."

 

[config.sys]

Do we need pedal cams to convince these people they are at fault?

I actually have a camera pointed at my screen, which happens to show the position of my feet. Not to blame Tesla for my mistakes, just for bug reporting if needed, and for learning from my own mistakes.

 

[CyberShy]

Otherwise, we should discount everything in life that turns out bad as "Oops. Didn't mean to."

That wasn't the point of my post.

It's not an "oops" to the driver. The driver thought he did the right thing. He will never think otherwise.

 

[EVnut]

That wasn't the point of my post.

It's not an "oops" to the driver. The driver thought he did the right thing. He will never think otherwise.

I get it. I sort of veered off into the weeds to make my own pet point. Sorry if it seemed like I implied otherwise. I was actually agreeing with you, in my own, confusing way.

 

[CyberShy]

I hate it when we agree! I mean... wait. (Breathes deeply...)

I, too, agree, with calling “accidents” crashes. It does not require any evaluation of the cause or imply intent or blame.

 

[lolder]

The car records which pedal you pushed. No need for a camera. Unintended acceleration claims peak with new drivers and old drivers and are lowest for middle age drivers. It is always caused by intellectual "pedal confusion".

 

[config.sys]

The car records which pedal you pushed. No need for a camera. Unintended acceleration claims peak with new drivers and old drivers and are lowest for middle age drivers. It is always caused by intellectual "pedal confusion".

Recording the pedals is just a bonus. It's focused on the main screen, mostly for bug reporting (which has been useful already).

 

[FlatSix911]

Maybe not a camera, but on-screen icons of both pedals side-by-side?

The one you are pressing is highlighted. Bright green highlight for the accelerator. Bright red highlight for the brake pedal.

Gives new meaning to the phrase... Dash Idiot lights

 

[EVnut]

- now that I think about it, I think there is a speed range that it will lock. I know stopped. I’m not sure about anything between stopped and 18mph...

Again, more testing required.

Some testing done today. And surprise! I was allowed to set TACC at 0 mph (We all knew that) but also at 3-9 mph. Consistently. Now, I couldn't do it at 1 or 2. But I did get it at 10 mph once. But for some reason the sweet spot was 0, then 3-9 mph... and then 18.

Can anybody reason that one out for us??

 

[mongo]

Some testing done today. And surprise! I was allowed to set TACC at 0 mph (We all knew that) but also at 3-9 mph. Consistently. Now, I couldn't do it at 1 or 2. But I did get it at 10 mph once. But for some reason the sweet spot was 0, then 3-9 mph... and then 18.

Can anybody reason that one out for us??

Was there a car in front of you?

 

[lolder]

TACC, EAP, AP currently require the car in front of you to be tracked for engagement below 18 mph.

 

[EVnut]

Was there a car in front of you?

Yes.

TACC, EAP, AP currently require the car in front of you to be tracked for engagement below 18 mph.

Yes.

It would appear that in a full parking lot, that there is *always* a car somewhere in front of you. At least when you're swinging around an island of parked cars as we usually find in a parking lot

 

[wk057]

Sudden Unexpected Acceleration today

All threads re: SUA should just redirect to this single post (the quoted one, not mine).

Agreed.

 

[llavalle]

In the most juvenile and condescending tone as if there's a language barrier in a B-movie: If your foot on brake, car not move. Foot on brake. Car not move. Period.

Except when the brakes are iced over of glazed with water... then the powertrain will overpower the brakes (definitely not what happened here!)

Had a few surprises last winter... disks were covered something that made the first 1-2sec of braking completely ineffective. I was also wearing boots (winter)... had a pedestrian jump in front of me out of nowhere... hit the brakes a bit in a hurry. For a good second or two, *felt like* car accelerated slightly before getting the "both pedal pressed" message. Emphasis on "felt like".

Looking at my dashcam footage (that includes G-meter), car didn't accelerate one bit. It slowed down... but not as much as I was expecting it to because of the brake issue. Things were made worst by the fact that the brake pedal feeling was weird and I pushed more and more on it... and the tip of my boot hit the accelerator.

Was in complete disbelief that I touched both pedals. Was convinced I just had an unintended acceleration event... then re-did the same thing a few seconds later while checking my feet and as expected, I was touching the accelerator. Pushing more meant more accelerator too.

Had it happen to me a few times...Lessons learned : when backing out of the garage after a humid day or getting out the highway in icing condition, I put the car in neutral and dry my brakes a few times... never had an issue since.

I think pre-AP cars are more prone to this because ESP1 doesn't automatically dry brakes (or not as much as ESP2 cars).

 

[Twiglett]

Can’t we just change the name of this thread to “unintended acceleration - it’s not the car”

 

[SMAlset]

Story on KPIX5 news at noon. Model 3 crashed into a restaurant this morning in Danville, CA. Ruled pedal confusion. Refreshing to hear on the news and that they weren't claiming unintended acceleration or AP fault.

Tesla Crashes Into Restaurant In Danville