ECO Pedal by Nissan: Tactile Feedback in Gas Pedal to Help you Save Gas
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada 
on 08. 5.08
If you can measure it, you can improve it
Feedback is very important. If you don't know how you are doing, it's very hard to improve. That's why the big screen in the Toyota Prius helps you drive more efficiently, and that's why we should make electricity meters easy to read and put them inside houses.
ECO Pedal by Nissan: Coming in 2009
With the ECO Pedal, Nissan has come up with a new way to get fuel economy feedback while driving. The way it works is simple. When the system is on, "each time the driver steps on the accelerator, a counter push-back control mechanism is activated if the system detects excess pressure, helping to inform the driver that they could be using more fuel than required." After a while of this pavlovian regime, you can't help but learn which behaviors the car "approves" of and which you should avoid.
How Well Does the ECO Pedal Work?
Studies by Nissan have found that the ECO Pedal system can provide fuel savings of 5-10%, depending on driving conditions. That's not quite as good as a stop-start anti-idling system (10-15%), but nothing's keeping car makers from using both systems in combination.
ECO Pedal Indicator
The ECO Pedal system can be turned on and off at the preference of the driver. When it is activated, an indicator lights up in the dash (shown above).
Technical Details
According to Nissan Global:
The ECO Pedal system is fed data on the rate of fuel consumption and transmission efficiency during acceleration and cruising, and then calculates the optimum acceleration rate. When the driver exerts excess pressure on the accelerator, the system counteracts with the pedal push-back control mechanism.At the same time, the eco-driving indicator incorporated on the instrument panel indicates the optimal level for fuel-efficient driving. Driving within the optimal fuel consumption range, the indicator is green. It begins to flash when it detects increased acceleration before reaching the fuel consumption threshold and finally turns amber to advise the driver of their driving behavior.
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More on Nissan's ECO Pedal
Nissan's Official Press Release on ECO Pedal
Nissan Introduces Eco-Pedal Intelligent Accelerator Pedal System
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What a good idea. Maybe they can raise the bar and have the steering wheel give you a progressively higher shock as you accelerate excessively.
That's a really good idea, actually. I wish my car had it to teach my girlfriend.
That's pretty nifty.
I know my mom's 2008 Honda Accord has a little light that comes up when the car is driving more efficiently but it says, "ECO" and it's green.
Too bad she won't let me drive it. I'd give her much better MPG.
See, I told you video games weren't a complete waste of time.
I was with my nephews this weekend whose latest PlayStation game was a car racing game. When you steer your car off the track, the game controller vibrates. I am sure the folks at Nissan got the idea from this.
Seriously, this is a great idea. I would bet that 10% to 15% of my great Prius mileage (51.7 MPG, currently) is due to the visual feedback from the screen. The pedal would be another cue.
As an aside, in the video game I was pleased to see my car, the Prius, listed amongst the zillions of other cars available to game players. I was more than a little aggravated, however, when my nephews disparaged the car (but agreed to race me fair and square using some 1930's era pickup truck).
I told them I could beat them at any race in my Prius. It was only later that I learned the winner was the one who got around the track fastest, not the one who did it most efficiently. Maybe in this year's more enlightened version? :-)
Tom
Just like airbags and seat belts, this should be a required feature in all future cars.
What about just putting a stronger spring on the accelerator pedal? My '98 nissan avenir has a pretty strong spring and I always find it hard to push it above 100km without really stomping. Seems a lot cheaper than a computer controlled snitch that watches your every move.
How about an iPhone application that measures your acceleration using the built in accelerometer and then calculates, based on the model of car you've chosen, whether you are getting too aggressive with the gas?
It wouldn't be as accurate as one that is built in, and it wouldn't give tactile feedback (visual and auditory instead), but it also wouldn't require you to buy a whole new car, which most likely will cost you a whole heck of a lot more money than the system will save you in gasoline.
good idea.