Is the Tesla Model S Pedal Placement A Safety Hazard?

cartechboy (2660665) writes "When things go wrong with the Tesla Model S electric car, its very loyal--and opinionated--owners usually speak up. And that's just what David Noland has done. An incident in which his Model S didn't stop when he pressed the brake pedal scared him--and got him investigating. He measured pedal spacing on 22 different new cars at dealers--and his analysis suggests that the Tesla pedal setup may be causing what aviation analysts call a 'design-induced pilot error'. And pedal design, as Toyota just learned to the tune of $1.2 billion, is very important indeed in preventing accidents."

Comments

Re:Tesla

[bluefoxlucid]

Pretty much. I drive a car with a manual transmission; we don't get giant brake pedals, so I'm stomping on this tiny little square which my foot can easily slip from. It has, and has found the accelerator...which is usually non-functional because I'm out of gear.

So yeah. His massive foot should have been able to find the massive brake pedal. It's the big, long, wide one. If you're hanging on the edge of the brake, you could slip off the edge and floor it. I've done it.

Re:Tesla

[FireFury03]

Which is exactly why sane manufacturers have the parking brake actuator higher up and way off to the side and a large footrest left of the brake pedal.

I never figured out WTF was wrong with having a hand brake... A recent trip to Canada saw me having to use a torch to actually find the foot operated parking brake every time I needed to operate the damned thing!