Curb Your Acceleration: Aging Drivers Spur Toyota Into Action

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

A rising number of elderly drivers — and pedal misapplication crashes — in its home market has compelled Toyota to engineer a solution.

The automaker announced Monday that a new “acceleration suppression function” combining data collected from real-word driving and its existing Toyota Safety Sense suite of driver-assist features will determine, and intervene, when a driver hits the wrong pedal.

While it’s not the first time Toyota has attempted to reduce damage and injuries stemming from pedal misapplication, it’s by for the most comprehensive. In 2012, the automaker introduced Intelligent Clearance Sonar (ICS), though that system only worked when the car’s sensors detected objects nearby — like garage walls, for example.

The new system works without objects nearby, Toyota claims.

After analyzing crashes in which the accelerator pedal was (accidentally) depressed fully, the automaker then delved into data collected from connected cars. “By eliminating instances where it was determined that drivers were genuinely required to rapidly accelerate intentionally, such as when turning right or accelerating from a temporary stop, Toyota was able to identify and compute instances in which the accelerator was operated abnormally,” the automaker stated.

“In turn, this allowed for a function setting to control acceleration even in the absence of obstacles.”

Toyota plans to share details of the system with other automakers. While the company plans to add the feature as an option this year, it can be retrofitted into older vehicles outfitted with the necessary driver-assist functions. The Japanese home market comes first, though Automotive News reports that other global markets will follow.

In Japan, incidents of unintended acceleration caused by pedal misapplication are on the rise. The number of drivers aged 75 or older killed behind the wheel rose from 381 in 2007 to 791 last year, Toyota claims. Pedal misapplication is suspected in the majority of those crashes.

[Image: Toyota]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • Old_WRX Old_WRX on Feb 04, 2020

    I doubt any of the unintended acceleration has been in cars w/ mt. So, just require that all cars have manuals. I know... too low tech :)

    • See 2 previous
    • Slavuta Slavuta on Feb 04, 2020

      @HotPotato I like dudes who drink good Czech beer, hates German cars, loves MT, and takes their RWD into the snow

  • IBx1 IBx1 on Feb 05, 2020

    Ban automatic transmissions and make it harder for old people to renew their license.

    • JimC2 JimC2 on Feb 05, 2020

      Mwuahahahahaha!! If we could post memes on here, I'd post the Sam Kinison to Rodney Dangerfield, "I like the way you think." It wouldn't just affect old people renewing their licenses, it would affect young people trying to get their initial license and it would affect 90% of the people in the middle. The left lane would get a whole lot less crowded!

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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