The Occurrence of Accelerator and Brake Pedal Actuation Errors during Simulated Driving

Abstract

Observations were made of subjects' foot movements while they drove an automobile simulator modified to represent the pedal, floor, and seating geometries of four actual automobiles. The type and frequency of pedal actuation errors that occurred were documented and recorded. The results indicate that a wide variety of pedal errors occur and that their frequency of occurrence varies greatly according to the seriousness of the error. Configuration differences were found for the less serious categories of error but not for the serious category.