The federal safety regulars proposed Thursday to require all cars in the United States to have brake override features.
After the Toyota’s recall incident due to unintended acceleration two years ago, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) proposed the new “Brake-Throttle Override” requirement. When both the brake and the accelerators are depressed at the same time, the BTO will ensure that the vehicle will stop and allow the driver to maintain control.
“America's drivers should feel confident that anytime they get behind the wheel they can easily maintain control of their vehicles — especially in the event of an emergency,” said Ray LaHood, U.S. Transportation Secretary.
“By updating our safety standards, we're helping give drivers peace of mind that their brakes will work even if the gas pedal is stuck down while the driver is trying to brake,” LaHood added.
Two years ago, four people were killed in an accident near San Diego because the driver was not able to stop the Lexus ES 350 when the gas pedal was pushed down by a floor mat. In 2010, Toyota announced to install brake-override system as a standard in all of the company’s 2011 vehicles. Prior to the 2009’s accident that resulted in death, Toyota only replaced some floor mats.
By this proposal to take effect, however, nearly all car manufacturers in the market would easily meet the rule, according to NHTSA’s 98-page proposal.
“…we expect that manufacturer design, validation, and implementation costs attributable to the proposed brake-throttle override requirement for light vehicles would be close to zero,” wrote NHTSA.
The proposal can be found here and NHTSA encourages to provide comments in the next 60 days.
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