Nissan announces its environmentally-friendly ECO Pedal. Image: Nissan Motor Company.
Japanese automotive manufacturer Nissan Motor Company, Ltd has this week unveiled the ‘ECO Pedal’, a brand new driving innovation designed to counter potentially dangerous speed and environmental pollution.
The ECO Pedal, which is expected to be available in Nissan vehicles sometime in 2009, functions through the accelerator and physically pushes back against the driver’s foot if its sensors detect the vehicle is speeding up too quickly.
Beyond keeping acceleration controlled, Tokyo-based Nissan claims the inclusion of the ECO Pedal could serve to help ecologically-minded motorists improve their fuel efficiency levels by between 5 and 10 percent.
The ECO Pedal system calculates a given vehicle’s most efficient rate of acceleration based on contributing factors such as how fast fuel is being burned, and then creates forced feedback through the pedal so that drivers can maintain optimum efficiency and a safer speed.
The Associated Press reports that vehicles equipped with the ECO Pedal, which can be switched on and off based on personal preference, will also come fitted with a real-time fuel efficiency dashboard meter that will emit flashing colours to alert drivers and provide further incentive to rest a little lighter on the accelerator.
Looking to buff more than just its eco-friendly image, Nissan has also announced a new collision-free safety feature via a prototype test vehicle. The anti-collision technology places sensors on the back and sides of a vehicle, which then trigger alarms and the automatic application of the brake pedal in the event of incoming collision contact.
Nissan Motor Company, Japan’s third largest carmaker, offers that the anti-collision system can also be used to prevent the host vehicle from swerving off the road or out of its lane, and to also maintain a safe distance from vehicles ahead of it on the road.
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