Nissan ECO pedal promises to push back against aggressive drivers

While Nissan hasn't quite cut drivers out of the equation all together (yet), it is making some considerable progress in controlling just how they drive, including preventing folks from driving drunk and, now with its new ECO pedal, preventing people from driving inefficiently. To do that, the pedal simply pushes back against the driver's foot when it detects wasteful acceleration, which Nissan says could improve fuel efficiency by as much as five to ten percent. Of course, the system can be switched off, and it likely won't be making an appearance in all Nissan vehicles right off the bat, although the company says it'll be showing up in at least some of them as early as next year.

[Via Autoblog]

[Johan S @ Aug 4th 2008 4:51PM]

Coming in the next upgrade:

Electro-shock

[From My Cube @ Aug 4th 2008 5:28PM]

@epic

no thanks, your forum has five (5) REGISTERED MEMBERS

[Palatable_Doughnut @ Aug 4th 2008 6:33PM]

@kojo87

If you take 'average' as 'mean', then it's definitely 'statistically possible' that 80% of drivers are above average...it just means that you've got some really horrible outliers dragging the average down...where I'm from, they're called 'Queenslanders', but you'll have your own name for them... ;)

Oh, but that said, in no way do I disagree with the sentiment that a large portion of drivers think that they're better than most others, often mistakenly so.

[Flashpoint @ Aug 4th 2008 9:12PM]

Would it not be easier to just have a presetable "DO NOT EXCEED LIMIT" so you could cap the car's speedometer at 55?

This is what never understood about cars and the government's laws.

If we had speed capped to 55 mph, WHICH IS THE LEGAL SPEED LIMIT, people would have far less accidents and our insurance rates would go down.

Not to mention the fact you'd NEVER get a speeding ticket for doing over 55.

I think when the technology matures, we'll see AUTO SPEED LIMITING via GPs, satellite and digital transmission. Your speed cap will go down to 30 for residential neighborhoods and rise to 55 for highways or 70 for freeways.

[UnixSystemsEngineer @ Aug 4th 2008 9:49PM]

flashpoint (aka troll):

The legal speed limit is not 55. All of your other points are similarly stupid and/or wrongheaded.

Thanks, that is all.

[I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY @ Aug 4th 2008 11:43PM]

Flashpoint,
If you ever have the urge to run for public office, then do us all a favor and don't. You remind me too much of George Orwell's 1984. Scary.

[I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY @ Aug 5th 2008 2:05AM]

The speedlimit in Florida is 70 and for a while Montana had abolished the speed limit on a few of it's major roads; so you were free to travel at any speed that was considered reasonable (highly subjective); many motorists regularly did over 100-120 MPH.

[I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY @ Aug 5th 2008 2:06AM]

http://www.us-highways.com/montana/mtspeed.htm

[phanbouy @ Aug 4th 2008 4:52PM]

any mechanisms to combat driver idiocy are a plus in my book

(insert indignant "i wanna drive as dangerously and wastefully as i want" replies here)

[kjb434 @ Aug 4th 2008 5:06PM]

How is it indignant to drive they way I want?

If I want to drive in a way that wastes fuel, that's my choice.

I see most Nissan drivers turn this off!

[Driver @ Aug 4th 2008 5:08PM]

"I wanna live in a world where combating driver idiocy is done by licensing agencies and not by car manufacturers." And I mean that indignantly.

[kojo87 @ Aug 4th 2008 5:09PM]

well i do. just like i dont want that stupid light going on when the car thinks i should shift. im gonna shift when i damn well want. im not shifting at 1800rpm stupid light!! and im gonna accelerate as hard or soft as i damn well want. i dont want some force feedback thing giving me judging me when i want to pass the guy in the Pinto on the freeway.

what happened to car's just being about the driver? oh right. the public am an idiot.

[Joe @ Aug 4th 2008 5:12PM]

Typical response. Although I don't agree with government regulating anything to excess, I don't agree with vehicle manufacturers doing the same. If it is an "OPTION" then sounds good to me. Honda and other manufacturers had a "sport shift" button on their automatic vehicles to make the car rev higher and shift more sporty like. But it sounds just like gun control, we think regulating guns is going to change people. Regulating cars isn't going to change all the idiots on the road...it is just going to hinder survival of the fittest and we'll breed more idiots, instead of educating them on proper driving skills. Driving is a privilege many pretend they have a right to. How bout actually educating driver's on proper driving safety. I meet people every day that don't understand illegal lane changes, the purpose of access ramps and merge lanes, and what a blinker actually does. Thanks Nissan for missing the mark.

[Lowest Ranked @ Aug 4th 2008 5:13PM]

In Soviet Russia, CAR DRIVES YOU!

[kojo87 @ Aug 4th 2008 5:28PM]

thank you Joe. hit the nail right on the head. i read somewhere that something like 80% of people consider themselves "above average drivers." now how can 80% of the people on the road be above average. its statistically impossible. i consider myself an above average driver but only because the average driver doesnt know what the hell they are doing. im a delivery driver. i put on close to 500 miles a week. if i had a dollar for every illiegal lane change, ran red light or blind merge i've seen i would not be a poor college kid running pizzas for a living.

personally i dread the day that manual transmissions are completely phased out. sport-stick/manu-matic/ slap-stick or whatever they want to call it doesn't cut it. if there's not 3 pedals down there im not buying. but thats a whole different discussion

[Joe @ Aug 4th 2008 5:31PM]

phanboy - you obviously live where there is no traffic, so your comments are inappropriate for conversing with people who actually drive in traffic, where being able to accelerate rapidly at a moments notice can and does save lives. I have had people attempt to merge or I needed to merge around a vehicle and accelerating in a non-eco friendly manner saved me and the car behind me (if my only option was to break). Oh and by the way - I drive the speed limit ALWAYS, obey lane change laws, and traffic signals. Best of luck in your communist quest.

[phanbouy @ Aug 4th 2008 5:36PM]

communist quest? you guys are really off your rockers today.

all i'm saying is that 9 times out of 10 something OTHER than flooring (changing lanes, braking, swerving, honking, whatever) is probably the best move

if that makes me communist then I'm Joseph Fucking Stalin

but i forgot, everyone's a NASCAR professional here. go on, and let thine egos be unharmed

[kojo87 @ Aug 4th 2008 5:38PM]

no like turning right.

[KilgoreTrout @ Aug 4th 2008 6:57PM]

The day my car will pretend to start to teach me how to drive it will be the day I'll drive it directly to the scrap yard

[jordan @ Aug 4th 2008 9:24PM]

@phanboy

Ok, I'll give you your 9/10 statistic. Now, think this...consider that one time you don't floor it, you're in a *fatal* accident. Now, I'm completely all for safer driving practices, but I'm not willing to place my life in a pedal whose *ONLY* variable considers how hard you want to push the pedal.

Of all the times I've had to make split-second decisions on the road, the one that had the most significant chance of saving my (and others) life was when I had to floor it so I could dodge in front of a car driving my way, only catching the rear quarter panel of a car that was stupidly turning in front of us, instead of hitting them straight-on, possibly killing the mistaken driver (and any passengers riding with them) and being heavily injured. What resulted was the totaling of the *rear* of his car, and some body damage and frame re-alignment on my car. See, I knew that even if the car behind me hit me, we were both going the same way, so the potential energy exercised on my car was less than me hitting the car in front of us straight on.

[Dorf @ Aug 4th 2008 4:52PM]

Doesn't seem like a good idea to me. How does it know if you "driving inefficiently" or just flooring it to escape a T-Rex that is on your trail?

[OSnix*-geek @ Aug 4th 2008 4:56PM]

My thoughts exactly... or the stupid idiot who doesn't know how to "make a zipper" when merging at 55mph on the 5 story high overpass. Yah that's when I want the 'moral governor' to kick in.

[esoterica @ Aug 4th 2008 5:09PM]

Yeah but the weird thing is, most new cars already use an electronic throttle where in essence the go pedal is just an electronic torque requester (there is no physical connection between the accelerator pedal and the throttle), so why not just change the electronic mapping of the throttle curve? BMW's, among others, already change the throttle mapping on demand when you switch them to Sport mode.

[Benoit Cerrina @ Aug 4th 2008 5:31PM]

The whole point is that it is your call and you can still push stronger against the pedal and it will work. This is very different from acting on the electronic throttle.
In fact most cars in France have something similar in a variation of cruise control. Up to maybe five years ago almost no cars sold in France had cruise control, we don't like the car driving for us... Then the government started enforcing speed limit extremely aggressively with automated radars all other.
At that point cars sold in France started to have an option for both cruise control and another system (don't know the name in english) which does not accelerate for the driver but makes the pedal a bit harder to push when you would be about to go other the set speed limit. You can still easily go other it but the point is that you can feel with your foot the position of the gas pedal which will maintain the set speed as opposed to having to watch your speed to make sure you are not drifting up or down in speed. This gives more control to the driver and I like it much much better than the cruise control.

[Rob @ Aug 4th 2008 6:11PM]

@ Benoit Cerrina

I think if I understand you correctly, you are talking about the kickdown in the pedal. Its basically a European thing, I think when it was tried in the US it kinda flopped. It is essentially a button inside the pedal that you have to push to make it go to full throttle, otherwise under normal driving you gently run the pedal to the button and it doesn't go any further, keeping you from over accelerating. But in the instance you do want to really floor it, you just push a little bit harder and the pedal goes to the floor.

It has the same general purpose as the thing this article is talking about, just not nearly as fancy by offering variable resistance throughout pedal travel.

[Technex @ Aug 4th 2008 4:54PM]

"I tried to accelerate out of the way of that truck but my accelerator pedal wouldn't let me I swear officer."

[OSnix*-geek @ Aug 4th 2008 4:58PM]

reminds of the "self parking" lexus.... yah I let the car do it, and it ran right into that maserati, and the ferrari... it was out of my hands.

P.S. There is a snobby area here in silicon valley (where I rarely go to), that you could easily see both cars parked next to each other.

[phanbouy @ Aug 4th 2008 5:01PM]

actually, i don't see where it says it _prevents_ you from accelerating; it only provides more resistance. for the hypermilers around, this could be pretty useful "force-feedback", kinda like the fuel-efficiency gauges on hybrids

at least admit you guys just want to be able to speed with impunity

[Johan S @ Aug 4th 2008 5:01PM]

All that happens is that the pedal pushes back against your feet with slightly more "spring" than normal. If you need to accelerate to avoid against a sudden obstacle .. your reflex is going to be to push hard .. a few extra gram forces acting against you isn't going to be enough to counteract that.

[DYI driver @ Aug 4th 2008 5:45PM]

At the first accident with this feature enabled, some wingnut, talking on his or her cell phone, will sue nissan...

any bets?

[cstray @ Aug 4th 2008 5:47PM]

I second phanbouy and Johan S--sounds to me like it'll just make you notice when you're pushing the pedal past the 'efficient acceleration' curve, but will still be easily overridden.

I think this is a great idea; my wife's accord has such a soft pedal that it's ridiculously easy to hit 80 and beyond if you just have your eyes on the road and not on the speedometer. A little resistance would be nice for those of us who care about our fuel economy.

And for most of the country's oblivious drivers, they won't even notice what they're missing in normal driving because that's just where the pedal will comfortably stop when you rest your foot on it.

[nizzy1115 @ Aug 4th 2008 4:55PM]

If this shows up in the new Z i wont be buying it.

[Nihility @ Aug 4th 2008 5:50PM]

God forbid you don't do a racing start at every green light.

[Al @ Aug 4th 2008 5:57PM]

Im Japan GTR, Skyline and the Z(I think they have it on a Maxima and a few others but not really sure) are all limited to something like 115mph on the street and once you get on to let say a track or something the car's computer can recognize it and take that limiter off.

[nizzy1115 @ Aug 4th 2008 6:29PM]

@Nihility

Its not about that. If I buy a sports car i expect it to drive like a sports car. I can understand this in an economy car but if one wants gas mileage they wont buy a sports car in the first place.

Granted it could be shut off, but this is just another piece of equipment that could possibly fail and need fixing.

Telling you the gas mileage you are getting based on your driving habits is one thing, but controlling your driving habits to help gas mileage is just wrong.

[Dan @ Aug 5th 2008 5:18PM]

Or you could, like, turn it off.

Don't get me wrong, I hate this idea, but at least it's got an "Off" selection.

[eric @ Aug 4th 2008 4:57PM]

Consumers.

[Nastro @ Aug 4th 2008 4:59PM]

Total garbage. I am not gonna pay for a nanny car.

[phanbouy @ Aug 4th 2008 5:04PM]

yep, pile it on guys. new technology to _aid_ in economy and combat ignorance; screw it. KNEE JERK REACTION-ism for the win

[Nastro @ Aug 4th 2008 5:07PM]

phanbouy = Douchebag

[phanbouy @ Aug 4th 2008 5:09PM]

Nastro = recurrent right-wing ad-hominem-throwing neanderthal scumbag

[kjb434 @ Aug 4th 2008 5:10PM]

It ain't a knee-jerk reaction to insist on having some freedom.

Cars have work mighty fine for without this. If you want to save gas, then drive in the manner that saves it. If you don't care about saving gas, then you should be free to push that peddle down!

This just as bad as the features that force the car to brake early for you. If you need that much help driving, shouldn't drive.

[phanbouy @ Aug 4th 2008 5:11PM]

kjb, it has an off switch. thanks for playing

[Nastro @ Aug 4th 2008 5:18PM]

phanbouy = raving beta-male enviro lunatic bitch bouy. Go choke on a granola bar or "skeet skeet" juice since you come across as that type.

[phanbouy @ Aug 4th 2008 5:27PM]

Nastro, sorry that you're a product of inbreeding, but don't take it out on people who can still think for themselves.

[Lowest Ranked @ Aug 4th 2008 5:01PM]

Apple consumers? I don't care what you eat dude, I don't envy you.

[kojo87 @ Aug 4th 2008 5:02PM]

do you want everyone to hate you? cuz that was the most annoying post i've read in a long time.

looks like im not buying a Nissan anytime soon. i dont have anything against Japanese cars but it would seem all this eco friendly technology is coming out of Japan. im really not one to sacrifice performance for an extra 3 mpg. i think im gonna stick with euros

[xstream @ Aug 4th 2008 5:02PM]

A detection for dumb people would be better. I like the idea of my car talking to a potential thief "You are to dumb to drive this car, please buy a brain or die"

[Lowest Ranked @ Aug 4th 2008 5:05PM]

Your ignorant replies implies you've missed the part about being able to 'switch' it off when you need it.

Think cruise control or even the ability to turn off the passenger airbag if there is an under-weight person sitting shotgun.

Its nice to have extra features and luxuries with the ability to control it. If you don't use it, it won't change a thing.

[xstream @ Aug 4th 2008 5:08PM]

except the price and the reliability of the car. there are things that would be much cooler than this, like complete drive-by-wire and brake-by-wire, joystick controlled. mercedes has made a car like that years ago but like most prototypes it was never built for the mases