Posted on 08/04/2008 3:15:51 PM PDT by Libloather
Nissan accelerator pedal pushes back to save fuel
For drivers who like to step on the gas but don't want a higher fuel bill, Nissan Motor on Monday unveiled an accelerator pedal that pushes back to help motorists get more mileage.
Nissan's "Eco Pedal" system is the latest salvo in the fight between automakers to woo customers with technology that reduces fuel consumption.
The pedal automatically pushes back on the foot when the system detects too much pressure on the accelerator, informing the driver that he or she is using more fuel than required, Nissan said.
An eco-driving indicator fitted into the instrument panel shows real-time fuel consumption levels and indicates the optimal level for fuel-efficient driving, changing colour when the driver surpasses it.
Nissan said its research had shown that drivers can improve fuel efficiency by up to 10 percent with the system, which can also be turned off.
Japan's third-largest automaker aims to introduce the pedal in its cars next year.
Nissan's pedal is one step ahead of Toyota Motor Corp.'s "Eco Drive" panel, introduced in 2006, which tells the driver if a vehicle is being driven in a fuel-efficient manner.
Hey - invent a device which tells the driver that they've been on the cell phone way too long.
I think this vehicle is going to be called the “Nissan Tampax” because you are a complete ___________ if you need it.
Wait until the brake pedal decides that you must be “stopping too suddenly” and refuses to be depressed all the way to the floor.
This behavior change stuff is probably being taken very seriously at Ford and GM as well. It’s cheap to put in, without much expensive tech or retooling. However, I don’t think US mileage standards allow the improvements to be considered in setting the stats for cars.
BTW, nearly all behavior change impact is on highway miles only. 15% improvements are pretty normal for hwy travel.
before this invention there was my father.
Speaking of active accelerators...
A couple months ago I had my car in for service and the dealership had my loaner ready as promised. I pulled out into traffic and punched the gas to clear the traffic. Unfortunately, it stayed punched. OOOF. I was in the middle of heavy traffic, a stop light (naturally red) about an eigth of a mile away, and in a runaway Lexus. I couldn’t find the emergency brake. The engine’s Start/Stop button had no effect. I finally stood on the brake hard enough to get it stopped and the engine finally stalled out, but it literally took all the leg strength I had. Needless to say, I immediately and gingerly proceeded back to the dealership for a replacement. Turned out that the loaners have very heavy floor mats in them and the driver-side mat on this car had been put in upside down. When I punched the gas, the pedal got hung beneath the edge of the mat.
MM
"An eco-driving indicator fitted into the instrument panel shows real-time fuel consumption levels and indicates the optimal level for fuel-efficient driving, changing colour when the driver surpasses it."
Both ridiculous. Just put in a "Miles per gallon" meter.
Like the power company here. You get reduced rates if you allow the power company to operate your thermostat remotely.
If you want the house cool, the company remotely raises the temperature.
Technically, you cannot boycott a product that the public doesn’t want and refuses to buy, anyway.
It doesn’t work that way ;)
My 1987 GTI has one of those. While merging onto a highway, do you hit the gas to get up to speed - or look at that light so your mileage doesn't suffer?
I can't wait until the gas pedal doesn't allow you to speed up enough. Deaths will mount.
So if you’re in an emergency situation and need to accelerate then it’s harder and harder to push the pedal .... right, that will work .... someone would think they were pressing the brake pedal ....
Gedoudahea. Some stranger controls the temps? There's gotta be a way to bypass that option.
That’s why many modern cars have a hook to keep the drivers side floormat from sliding. A friend totalled his new Subaru a couple of years ago when he jumped on the brake and his newly Armor-alled rubber floormats slid forward and jammed his accelerator to the floor (Subaru’s mats are 3/4 inch rubber and are very heavy). The turbo kicked in and he could NOT get the car stopped before it shot into an intersection against the red. He was t-boned by another car.
His car had the little hook on the floor by the drivers seat, but he didn’t bother hooking it back through the mat when he cleaned it. That one minor oversight cost him his 4 month old car.
I'll decide how much fuel is necessary.
(The designer needs to spend a few weeks on the L.A. freeways and then see if she really wants the car telling her how much go go go is "needed" when you really need it.
I had too heavy of an accelerator return spring on my truck at one time. It doesn’t save gas it just makes your ankle sore.
Yah ... the big ol’ electric company. I did not want it. I like my home like an icebox 12 months a year.
I turn on the AC when I start the fireplace. Ya, know ...
OK... so what’s the big deal? It’s a feedback system in the pedal that tells you when you’re accelerating most efficiently. Nothing here about not being able to push faster when you need to. Seems like a handy bit of information to have.
Sure, most people get to know their cars and can probably approximate this anyway. I drive a Jeep Commander. It’s a great vehicle, I love it but it just ~ain’t~ about gas mileage. I’m usually pretty soft on the pedal anyway since a foot-to-the floor stomp costs about a gallon (or close to it). Sure... it’s fun... and that 5.7L takes those 5 Kilopounds to light speed in no time... but all that being said it would be interesting to know what the most effective acceleration rate is.
Ouch.
You are the Hemmingway of online prose. Cheers to you! Kudos! A Pulitzer and a Nobel!
But you know it already. Doesn't mean you (or me) have to care one way or the other. Me, I'd be interested to know the point at which it happens. It's just a data point.
During the 1973 Arab oil embargo I installed a manifold vacuum gauge in my car. Observing it taught me to drive with a light foot, no government/industrial intervention necessary.
Actually, the article says that you can turn it off. And... it doesn’t stop the pedal, it just increases the resistance. Heck, it could be a little gauge on the dashboard for all I care. Maybe a gauge that shows relative economy would be better yet.
I remember back in the early 90's my friends dad had a car with a digital MPG readout on it. I think it may have been a Lexus.
There’s no way in hell I’d own something like this.
The driver is the ultimate decison maker, period.
The first car trying to pass a semi with an oncoming semi that doesn’t make it, good-bye automaker.
That’d be handy. My Jeep has MPG in a selective display, but it’s an average over too long of a time (like, this tank of gas) to be useful moment-to-moment. And it’s a number that’s too depressing to leave on the dash for very long.
I have noticed that I seem to get better mileage at a touch higher speed like 65, instead of the speed limit on the highway. Probably the big motor finding its happy place.
Yeah, the drive 55 crowd can go jump off a cliff! It’s not surprising your jeep gets better mileage at 65, it’s probably sitting at just the right RPM’s for that engine. I’m thankfully most of our speed limits are 65+. Honestly, traffic moves at about 80. If you do try to do 65 you will be causing a backup. It makes it easier for the CHP to collect funds (give speeding tickets), all they need to do is pull over any car in the fast lane.
Well, things are different in CA. Curiously enough I’m sitting in CA tonight having just run the gauntlet from SFO to my hotel off of 101 in the Redwood City area. I agree that 65 in CA gets you killed. Around here 75 or so seems pretty good, though you’ll still get passed up by CHP with their lights OFF. :-)
But where I’m from up in WA, most traffic does move a bit slower. 65 or so along the freeway between Seattle and Tacoma is about average. There’s a huge difference between the WSP and the CHP. I’ve never seen the CHP doing a speed trap, or really enforcing speed limits... well... ever.
The WSP has refined the speed trap to an art form. They’re ~really~ good at it. They say that the stretch of freeway between Olympia and Seattle is the single most heavily policed and speed-trapped highway in the country. I have no data to back that up. But I believe it. I’m not sure in the 30 some-odd years I’ve driven it that I’ve ever driven between those cities ~without~ driving through a speed trap at least once. I’m not sure it can be done. :-)
Seed traps annoy me mostly because they are more about revenue than safety.
I often drive that same route on 101 near SFO. The CHP do speed traps from time to time.. but they're heavily announced in the news, with information as to location. Easy to avoid by using alternate routes. Seems to me that they want the traffic to go 75, prefer that to clogged slow-driving traffic. I've gotten stopped for doing 85, never for 75 on 101.
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