Continental claim theirs is the first Accelerator Force Feedback Pedal to communicate with the driver by vibrating and generating counter pressure, prompting the driver to take his foot off the pedal and be prepared to brake.
The mechanical core of the AFFP is an electric motor that is connected directly to the accelerator pedal and can change the pedal’s position in a tenth of a second.
AFFP can be installed in any vehicle. The supplier claim AFFP also helps a motorist drive more uniformly and thus more economically as fuel consumption and CO2 are reduced — this is the application adopted by Nissan.
Continental say another Japanese automaker are interested in adopting the pedal following Nissan’s lead.
Rival supplier TRW Automotive are also working on vibrating warning devices. At a technology show ‘n’ tell in France last June, TRW demonstrated a vibrating steering wheel rim fitted to a BMW 3-series sedan. This automotive equivalent of an airliner’s ‘stick shaker’ had not yet been selected for a production vehicle but discussions were under way with automakers, engineers said at the event.