Japan will require all new automatic passenger cars to be equipped with technology that prevents drivers from unintentionally accelerating by pressing the accelerator pedal instead of the brake pedal, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.
As the country faces a rapidly ageing population, it is hoped that new UN regulations, due to come into force in June next year, will reduce traffic accidents caused by elderly drivers.
“Japan is proposing to make it an international standard from 2022,” Transport Minister Tetsuo Saito said at a press conference in late June.
A Toyota Motor Corp. device to prevent accidents caused by pedal misapplication, photographed in Nagakute, Aichi Prefecture, December 2018. (Kyodo)
“We will work to improve automobile safety in preparation for the new regulations,” he said, but did not specify exactly when the regulations would be introduced.
The technology limits acceleration so that if a driver presses the accelerator fully when 1 to 1.5 metres away from a large object, the car will stop before a collision occurs or slow to less than 8 kilometres per hour if a collision is unavoidable.
According to the ministry, when the technology is activated, a warning such as “Please take your foot off the accelerator pedal” will also appear on the car’s display.
The ministry plans to revise ministerial orders after the UN regulations are formally agreed upon in November this year to require new automatic vehicles to be fitted with the technology first, before expanding it to new vehicles of existing models.
According to the ministry, manual vehicles are exempt from the new regulations because there is less risk of accidents caused by pedal misapplication.
Most new cars in Japan already come equipped with similar technology, and some automakers sell products that can be retrofitted to existing cars.
According to the Traffic Accident Comprehensive Analysis Center, there were 3,110 traffic accidents caused by mistaking the accelerator for the brake in Japan in 2023, resulting in 38 deaths and 4,343 injuries.
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