An investigation into the occurrence of accelerator/brake pedal actuation errors during simulated driving

Abstract

Although many studies have investigated accelerator/brake pedal placement in terms of the time needed to move the foot from the accelerator to the brake during emergency braking (i.e. movement time), none have as yet specifically addressed the issue of pedal actuation errors. The primary purpose of the present study was to determine what types of errors (if any) occur, to document the frequency with which various categories of error occur, and to determine whether the different types of error are configuration-dependent. To accomplish this, the foot movements of subjects were observed and recorded while they performed a variety of driving tasks in an automobile simulator. Subjects drove the simulator on four separate occasions. For each session the simulator was modified to represent one of four different pedal, floor, and seating geometries present in actual automobiles.