In this blog post, we’ll examine the causes of recurring sudden acceleration accidents and explore the current reality where responsibility is placed solely on the driver, as well as the responsibilities of manufacturers and the government.
Around April 2009, an acquaintance of mine was involved in a sudden acceleration accident. It happened less than a month after he had purchased his new car. They entered an underground parking garage and stepped on the brake to park. However, the brakes failed to engage, and with a loud screeching sound, the car surged forward, hitting a wall, then reversed and crashed into a pillar—an experience they described as truly terrifying. Ultimately, he filed a lawsuit against the car manufacturer over this incident, but the court ruled it was due to driver negligence—even though he insisted he had definitely not made a mistake by pressing the wrong pedal.
According to a lawyer, as of 2023, there have been no cases in Korea where a driver has won a lawsuit related to sudden acceleration. All cases have been ruled as accidents caused by driver negligence due to insufficient evidence. It is said that car companies actively deny the occurrence of sudden acceleration accidents themselves in every trial. When listening to interviews with people who have personally experienced sudden acceleration accidents, they testify that their memories of the incident are terrifying and horrifying. It is said that many people still suffer from aftereffects years after the accident, or that the wounds caused by the accident have not yet healed. The number of reports of sudden acceleration accidents filed with the police is also increasing every year. Although this issue has been consistently raised for the past 30 years, since the beginning of automotive electrification, no concrete measures have been put in place, and the current reality in South Korea is that the courts consistently rule in favor of the automakers in every trial. The victims of these accidents are simply pitiful. Urgent government-level measures to address the problem of sudden acceleration are needed.
Accidents involving sudden unintended acceleration began to occur as cars became increasingly electronic. This trend started about 20 years ago. The ABS system, which we are all familiar with, is also an element of automotive electronics. Automotive electronics refers to the integration of a computer-based control system (ECU—Electronic Control Unit) into traditional mechanical vehicles, which were previously operated via pedals and gear levers. This has enabled more precise and sophisticated vehicle control. For example, the computer installed in the car reads the driver’s inputs to precisely adjust the engine’s ignition timing. It also ensures the braking system operates more effectively or, on icy roads, repeatedly applies and releases the brakes to prevent the vehicle from skidding. This electronic integration has become an essential element of modern automotive technology.
However, as cars transitioned from mechanical to electronic systems, the possibility of malfunctions arose. High heat generated during the combustion process in the engine, or rainwater seeping into the car’s interior and corroding semiconductor components, can cause the ECU to malfunction. In traditional mechanical vehicles, pressing the brake pedal directly activated the braking system via a lever. However, in electronic vehicles, the braking system operates through the ECU; therefore, if the ECU malfunctions, the braking system may not function properly. Furthermore, in mechanical vehicles, acceleration does not occur unless the accelerator pedal is pressed; however, if the ECU malfunctions, the vehicle can accelerate rapidly even without the driver pressing the accelerator pedal. This is precisely what leads to sudden acceleration accidents. Due to an ECU malfunction while driving, the vehicle accelerates rapidly on its own even though the driver has not pressed the accelerator pedal.
At the same time, accidents occur when the brakes fail to engage, or even if they do, the engine continues to accelerate, preventing proper braking. This is precisely what constitutes a sudden acceleration accident.
The problem is that if you turn the engine off and then back on after a sudden acceleration incident, all traces of the ECU malfunction disappear completely. Consequently, most of these malfunction incidents are attributed to driver error rather than a vehicle defect. The solution, then, is simple: store the ECU’s processing history in real time on non-volatile memory, such as a hard drive or flash memory. In fact, automakers have already equipped vehicles with an Event Data Recorder (EDR). This EDR records the ECU’s malfunction at the moment of sudden acceleration. However, automakers have encrypted the EDR data so that only their subsidiaries can decipher it. It is reported that they categorically refuse to disclose the EDR data even when drivers request it. Naturally, not a single instance of EDR disclosure has occurred in Korea to date, and judging by this, it is clear that automakers have something they want to hide. To make matters worse, under South Korean law, there is no way to forcibly decrypt the EDR. It is as if the government and automakers are colluding to deceive the public. In the United States, for example, a law was enacted in 2012 requiring automakers to provide EDR information to drivers upon request at any time. Korea must also enact a law requiring automakers to provide EDR analysis results. When sudden acceleration accidents occur, the cause must be accurately identified to prevent innocent victims from suffering.
Since such a law has not yet been enacted, many people are installing dashcams as a stopgap measure. By mounting the dashcam near the pedals, it becomes possible to determine whether the driver was pressing the accelerator or the brake at the exact moment a sudden acceleration accident occurs. Although there is currently no documented case where footage from such a black box has been presented as evidence to win a lawsuit, this evidence could indeed help clear the driver’s name in the event of an actual accident.
However, neither the mandatory presentation of EDR analysis results nor the installation of black boxes can prevent sudden acceleration accidents themselves. Over the past 20 years since these accidents began occurring, the government has sided exclusively with automobile companies in every court case. This raises suspicions that automakers are not implementing definitive measures to address sudden acceleration incidents. If they had been held properly accountable and forced to pay substantial compensation, one might expect them to have gritted their teeth and focused on technological development. In fact, because automakers publicly deny the existence of sudden acceleration incidents, it is impossible to know what efforts they are actually making toward technological development. However, for the past 20 years, car companies have been denying the accidents themselves without offering any clear solutions. Given that the number of sudden acceleration accidents continues to rise, it’s easy to guess whether they are truly working hard or simply trying to evade responsibility.
If the electrification of cars represents the cutting edge of automotive engineering, we cannot stop electrification itself. I am well aware of how difficult it is to completely eliminate programming errors in electronic control systems. No program can anticipate every possible exception in advance. Furthermore, given the nature of a car’s interior—which is easily exposed to rainwater, dust, high temperatures, and physical impacts—the electronic circuits that make up the ECU are highly vulnerable to physical hazards. There are likely limits to how much this exposure can be reduced. Therefore, seeking a mechanical solution rather than an electronic one might actually be more reasonable. For example, reinstalling the clutch pedal in the car would be effective.
Gears transmit the engine’s power to the wheels, and different-sized gears are used depending on the speed. To increase speed while driving, a smaller gear must be engaged with the engine, and the clutch pedal serves to disconnect the gear from the engine for this purpose.
While the clutch pedal is depressed, the gear and the engine are disengaged; after shifting gears, releasing the clutch pedal re-engages the gear and the engine. Cars are classified as manual transmission vehicles (Stick) or automatic transmission vehicles (Auto) based on the presence or absence of this clutch pedal. In automatic transmission vehicles, there is no clutch pedal because the car’s ECU automatically shifts gears as the driver accelerates. However, this clutch pedal can serve as a major safeguard against sudden unintended acceleration. Even if the engine accelerates uncontrollably due to an ECU malfunction, the vehicle’s speed will not increase if the gears are disengaged, and the wheels, deprived of power, will inevitably come to a stop due to friction.
Reinstalling a clutch in a car is indeed a method that can definitively resolve the sudden acceleration problem. However, since most existing vehicles are equipped with automatic transmissions, they lack a clutch pedal, and reinstalling one would be very costly. Naturally, it would be impossible to install a clutch pedal in every car. However, it would be feasible to add a clutch pedal as an option for customers purchasing new vehicles. Even if it isn’t needed under normal circumstances, it should be available for use in urgent situations.
So far, I have examined the serious reality of the sudden acceleration problem in cars. Automakers are not coming up with concrete solutions and insist that their vehicles have no defects. This is despite the fact that there are clearly many victims. The government is also shirking responsibility, claiming it is not their fault. While they pass the blame back and forth, there are still citizens suffering from these incidents. The government must actively intervene in the sudden acceleration issue and enact laws requiring automakers to mandatorily disclose EDR data. Furthermore, the government should urge automakers to acknowledge that sudden acceleration incidents stem from vehicle defects rather than driver negligence, and to devise countermeasures as soon as possible. Finally, it would be beneficial to propose policies encouraging the installation of dashcams that record the area around the accelerator pedal. For example, measures such as providing subsidies or mandating installation should be implemented to ensure that no more innocent victims suffer from sudden acceleration accidents.
