Toyota has developed a new Acceleration Suppression Function that was designed to counter the misapplication of the accelerator pedal, which will be part of an upgrade to its Safety Sense suite. The function will be offered in new cars, and existing cars will also be able to retrofit a new accelerator control system with it from this summer in Japan.

Unlike previous older pedal misapplication acceleration control systems, Toyota’s new technology serves to control acceleration due to abnormal operation of the pedal even when no obstacles are present.

To develop the system, the carmaker looked at actual accidents where the cause was determined to be pedal misapplication, particularly in situations where the accelerator pedal was pressed fully. With data collected from connected cars, instances where it was determined that drivers were genuinely required to rapidly accelerate intentionally, such as when turning right or accelerating from a temporary stop were then eliminated.

Toyota was then able to identify and compute instances in which the accelerator was operated abnormally, which allowed for a function setting to control acceleration even in the absence of obstacles.

By combining the new function with its existing Intelligent Clearance Sonar (ICS) already found in a variety of models, the company believes it can further reduce the number of accidents caused by pedal misapplication in parking lots and other areas. It also plans to share the operational logic of this function extensively, including with other carmakers.