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Driver brake response to sudden unintended acceleration while parking
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Driver brake response to sudden unintended acceleration while parking

John G Gaspar and Daniel V McGehee
Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Vol.2, p.100039
09/2019
DOI: 10.1016/j.trip.2019.100039
url
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trip.2019.100039View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

In the past decade, there has been a rapid increase in reports of sudden unintended acceleration (SUA). While the precipitating conditions for SUA are well known, we know little about how drivers respond in such emergencies and how particular responses might lead to crashes. The goal of this study was to examine how drivers respond to a SUA in a controlled high-fidelity driving simulator experiment that closely replicated the motion cues of real driving. Younger and older drivers encountered a SUA event that mimicked a vehicle malfunction at the end of a simulated drive while executing a parking maneuver. A hierarchical cluster analysis revealed three distinct brake response patterns: hard braking, gradual braking combined with brake pumping, and light or no braking. The critical point in these brake responses, that is, the point at which response types diverged, was about 1 s after the onset of the SUA. Furthermore, older female drivers responded with less brake force than did younger or male drivers. These results indicate that over half of drivers react to SUA with indecisive responses that could lead to crashes. These results have important implications understanding how SUA may lead to crashes. The results also highlight the potential need for advanced driver assistance systems to aid drivers in hazard situations. •This was one of the first studies to experimentally investigate driver response to sudden unintended acceleration.•Motion cues were replicated in a high-fidelity, full-motion driving simulator.•The results show clusters of driver braking behavior in response to sudden unintended acceleration.
Driver response Pedal misapplication Unexpected events Unintended acceleration

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