earticle

영어

The traffic accidents by sudden vehicle start have been social concern in Korea. They are limited to the vehicles equipped with automatic transmission. We redefine the sudden unintended acceleration(malfunction of ECU and TCU in vehicle) as the state in which drivers cannot control rapid acceleration of vehicle because of the driving power exceeding the braking power by means of unidentified cause. We deal with 7 topics as follows : I. The recent investigation result about traffic accidents by sudden vehicle start, II. A statistical analysis on 40 Cases, III. Comparing 2 acceleration cable restraints with throttle valve's open trace case, IV. Comparing 4 undecidable cases, V. Proposing 6 methods for discriminating sudden unintended acceleration(malfunction) or driver's mal-operation, IV. Surveying foolproof and fail-safe function built in vehicle, VII. Reviewing SBS TV program critically. Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport in Korea did not present vehicle defects. In a statistical analysis, we classify 40 traffic accidents by 5 categories as follows : ①Sudden unintended acceleration(malfunction) ②Driver's mal-operation ③Acceleration cable restraints ④Undecidable case ⑤Impossible appraisement. The ratios of respective categories were 0 %, 80 %(32), 5 %(2), 10 %(4) and 5 %(2). The sudden unintended acceleration case was absent. The majority of cases were driver's mal-operation. They were identified by brake-stop lamp on/off images recorded in CCTV or blackbox. We propose 6 methods for discriminating sudden unintended acceleration or driver's maloperation as follows : ①Scuffmark-acceleration trace ②Throttle valve state ③Brake-stop lamp on/off images ④Brake-stop lamp bulb divided into hot shock and cold shock ⑤EDR(Event Data Recorder) ⑥Acceleration or brake pedal trace identified in shoes bottom. The brake-stop lamp on/off are mutually exclusive and are necessary and sufficient condition for deciding brake pedal on/off. They are most useful in discriminating sudden unintended acceleration or driver's mal-operation. There are several foolproof and failsafe functions in vehicle as follow : ①2 APS(Acceleration Position Sensor)s in engine ②Shift-lock in transmission ③ BOS(Brake Override System) in brake. We cannot identify a single brake-stop lamp- on image scene in reviewing SBS TV program.