In this blog post, we will look at the causes of repeated sudden acceleration accidents in cars, and the current reality of only holding the driver accountable, as well as the responsibilities of the manufacturer and the government.
Around April 2009, an acquaintance of mine had a sudden acceleration accident in a car. It was less than a month after he had bought a new car. He entered the underground parking lot and tried to park by stepping on the brake. However, the car did not brake and, with a loud “whoosh,” it moved forward, hit a wall, then moved backward and hit a pillar, which really scared him. In the end, he filed a lawsuit against the car company, but the trial resulted in a ruling that the driver was negligent. This is despite the fact that he clearly stated that he did not make a mistake in stepping on the pedal.
According to a lawyer, there has been no case in which a driver won a lawsuit related to sudden acceleration in South Korea until recently in 2023. All cases have been ruled as accidents caused by the driver’s negligence due to insufficient evidence. Automobile companies are actively denying the existence of sudden acceleration accidents in each trial. When you listen to the interviews of people who have been involved in sudden acceleration accidents, they testify that the memories of the accident are so terrible and frightening. Many people are still suffering from the aftereffects of the accident or the wounds from the accident have not healed even years after the accident. The number of reports of sudden acceleration accidents to the police is increasing every year. This problem has been raised steadily for the past 30 years since cars began to become more and more electronic, but the reality in South Korea is that no effective measures have been taken and all the courts have ruled in favor of the car companies. The only people who are suffering are those who have been in accidents. It is urgent for the government to take measures to address the problem of cars suddenly accelerating.
Sudden acceleration of cars began to occur with the start of the electronization of cars. It has been about 20 years since cars began to be electronized. The ABS system we are familiar with is also one element of the electronization of cars. Electronization of cars is the installation of a computer-based control system (ECU-electronic control unit) in conventional mechanical cars that are operated through pedals and shift levers. This has made it possible to operate the car in a more detailed and sophisticated way. For example, the computer in the car reads the driver’s needs and adjusts the engine’s ignition timing accordingly. It also makes the braking system work better, or it repeatedly applies the brakes to prevent the car body from slipping on icy roads. This kind of electronicization of cars has become an essential part of today’s automotive technology.
However, as cars have transitioned from mechanical to electronic systems, the possibility of malfunction has arisen. High heat generated during the combustion process of the car engine, or rainwater seeping into the car interior, can corrode the semiconductor elements, causing the ECU to malfunction. In conventional mechanical cars, when the driver presses the brake pedal, the brake system is activated immediately through the lever, but in electronic cars, the brake system is activated through the ECU, so if the ECU malfunctions, the brake system may not work properly. Also, in a mechanical car, acceleration does not occur unless the accelerator pedal is pressed, but if the ECU malfunctions, the car can accelerate rapidly even without pressing the accelerator pedal. This is what leads to sudden acceleration accidents. When the driver does not press the accelerator pedal due to a malfunction of the ECU while driving, the car accelerates rapidly on its own. At the same time, the brakes do not work, or the brakes do not work properly due to the engine continuing to accelerate, resulting in an accident. This is a sudden acceleration accident.
The problem is that after a sudden acceleration accident, if the engine is turned off and then turned on again, the traces of the ECU malfunction disappear completely. Therefore, most malfunction accidents are considered to be caused by the driver’s operation error, not the car’s problem. Then the solution is simple. The ECU’s process is stored in non-volatile memory, such as a hard disk or flash memory, from time to time. In fact, car companies have already installed an accident memory device called an EDR (Event Data Recorder) in their cars. This EDR records the ECU malfunction at the time of the sudden acceleration. However, the car company has encrypted the contents of the EDR so that only its subsidiaries can read them. Even if a driver requests disclosure of the contents of the EDR, the request is said to be thoroughly denied. Naturally, EDR has never been released in Korea, and given this, there must be something that the automakers want to hide. To make matters worse, Korean law does not allow EDR to be interpreted forcibly. The country and the automakers are working together to deceive the people. In the United States, for example, a law was enacted in 2012 that requires car manufacturers to provide EDR information to drivers whenever they request it. South Korea should also enact a law requiring car companies to provide EDR interpretation results. In the event of a sudden acceleration accident, the cause of the accident must be accurately identified to prevent innocent victims from suffering.
Since the law has not yet been enacted, many people are installing dash cams as a temporary measure. The dashcam is installed on the part where the pedal is located so that it can determine whether the driver pressed the accelerator or the brake pedal at the moment of a sudden acceleration accident. There is no data yet that shows that this dashcam footage was used as evidence to win a case, but this evidence could actually help to resolve the driver’s grievances in the event of an accident.
However, the mandatory presentation of EDR analysis results or the installation of black boxes does not prevent sudden acceleration accidents. In the 20 years since sudden acceleration accidents began to occur, the government has sided with automakers in all trials. Therefore, it can be suspected that automakers are not taking definitive measures against sudden acceleration accidents. If they had been properly identified and had to pay a lot of compensation, I think the car companies would have focused on developing the technology. In fact, since the car companies are denying sudden acceleration accidents, we don’t know what efforts they are making to develop the technology. However, for 20 years, the car companies have been denying the accidents themselves without any clear measures. The number of sudden-start accidents is also increasing, which suggests that they are either working hard or simply trying to avoid responsibility.
If the electronization of automobiles is the cutting-edge technology of automotive engineering, then there is no way to stop electronization itself. We know how difficult it is to fundamentally prevent program errors in electronic control systems. No program can be prepared in advance for all possible exceptions. In addition, due to the nature of the car interior, which is easily exposed to rainwater, dust, high temperatures, and physical impact, the electronic circuits that make up the ECU are exposed to a considerable amount of physical risk. There will be limits to reducing this exposure. Therefore, it may be more reasonable to find a mechanical solution rather than an electronic one. For example, it would be effective to reinstall the clutch pedal in the car.
Gears are used to transfer the power of the car engine to the wheels, and different sizes of gears are used depending on the speed. To increase the speed further while driving, a smaller gear must be engaged with the engine, and the clutch pedal is used to separate the gear and the engine. While the clutch pedal is being pressed, the gear and the engine are separated, and when the gear is changed and the clutch pedal is released, the gear and the engine are engaged again. Cars are divided into manual transmission (stick) and automatic transmission (auto) vehicles depending on whether they have a clutch pedal. In the case of an automatic transmission vehicle, there is no clutch pedal because the car’s ECU automatically changes gears when the driver accelerates. However, this clutch pedal can be a great countermeasure in the event of a sudden acceleration of the car. This is because if the engine accelerates on its own due to a malfunction in the ECU, the speed will not increase if the gear is disengaged, and the wheel that has lost its power source will have to stop due to friction.
Re-installing the clutch on the car is a sure way to solve the sudden acceleration problem. However, since most existing vehicles are automatic transmission vehicles, they do not have a clutch pedal, and it would cost a lot of money to retrofit a clutch pedal. Of course, not all cars can be equipped with a clutch pedal. However, it would be possible to add a clutch pedal as an option that customers can choose when purchasing a new car. Even if it is not necessary in normal times, it can be used in an emergency.
So far, I have tried to understand the serious reality of the sudden acceleration problem of cars. Car companies are not taking any concrete measures and insist that their cars are not defective, even though there are clearly many victims. The government is also avoiding responsibility, saying it is not its responsibility. There are still people who are suffering from this situation where responsibility is being passed around. The government should actively intervene in the issue of sudden acceleration of cars and enact a law that requires car companies to disclose EDR. In addition, it is necessary to urge car companies to recognize sudden acceleration as a defect in the car rather than driver negligence and to take measures as soon as possible. Finally, it would be good if a policy were proposed to encourage the installation of black boxes that record the position of the car’s pedals. For example, a subsidy or mandatory installation policy should be introduced to prevent innocent victims from suffering from sudden acceleration accidents.
