Inventor Gets Spotlight with 1 Pedal

In a year that has been littered with recalls and unintended acceleration, one man has a plan. A Japanese inventor whose ideas have pushed aside for two decades has finally been given the spotlight.

The reason? He may have solved a major factor in many cases of unintended acceleration: driver error. Naruse has designed a combination gas/brake pedal pedal that he says reduces the risk of a driver accidentally stepping on the gas when they mean to hit the brakes.

The New York Times’ reports that Masuyuki Naruse, the inventor, wonders “We have a natural tendency to stomp down when we panic…the automakers call it driver error. But what if their design’s all wrong?”

Remember, it was only within the past month that an internal investigation of 2,000 Toyota vehicles, that were said to have had unintentional acceleration, found that the real cause was due to drivers misapplying the gas instead of the brake.

Instead of using a side-by-side set up as all vehicles have now, the Naruse's pedal design uses one pedal. Instead of pushing down to gain speed you nudge the pedal, to the right of the foot, in order to accelerate. To stop, simply apply pressure on the pedal underneath the foot. By arranging the accelerator and brake this way, there is no possible way for a driver to mistakenly stomp down on the wrong pedal and cause an accident.

Although Swedish regulators have begun testing a single pedal design, this new change will not happen smoothly. According to Popular Science the main hurdle “is the need for people the world over to have to relearn the muscle memory they've developed over a lifetime of two-pedal driving.” As a result, it may be years before it passes thorough regulation requirements and gains acceptance from the automobile manufacturers around the globe.

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