Got into an accident. Cautionary PSA about one pedal driving

[Monkey]

I keep auto-hold off. That's what I'm used to with my Teslas and it still gets me to put my foot on the brake if I want to stay at a stop. I don't know if this will help everyone, but that's just the way I do it. As for OP and this accident... It sucks, but stuff just happens sometimes. Hope it gets fixed in a reasonable amount of time. Glad no one was hurt...

...I wish the Lightning had a "creep" mode like Tesla where it would creep forward like Tesla or an ICE when I let off the brake. This is more handy than one would think it to be because then it slowly and gently goes forward with no actual touching of the accelerator...

Sponsored

 

[PA Lightning]

I like to creep along our hunting camp trails in one pedal drive. I was driving around yesterday and was ready to reach for a bottle of water in the back. Put the truck in park before I reached because this thread reminded me you can never be too careful.
Thanks for the heads up OP

 

[ivan256]

Another reason other than I hate the 1PD:
I drive other cars at home & work that don't have 1PD.

At work, driving government vehicles and if I get a small fender bender requires me to have state police take a report, immediate test for drug/alcohol, and unable to drive work vehicles pending test results.

1PD would interfere with my driving other vehicles.
So not to confuse my muscle memory.....

This needs to be repeated often! And it doesn't just apply to 1 pedal drive. It applies to any cruise control or the level 2 systems that Ford and others are installing....

You're sitting in a familiar space with a responsibility-heavy task that requires engagement and the ability to react rapidly and accurately. Having three completely different modes of operation with basically the same controls is a recipe for disaster in an emergency situation where you're relying on pure reaction of learned behaviors to save yourself and the people outside your vehicle.

There is no public data available. But if there were, I'd bet money that owners of cars with driver assistance features like 1pd and level-2 self driving have higher accident rates than vehicles without those features. Even if the accident rate is lower when the level 2 features are actively enabled.

You learn that "cover the brake" / "hit the brake" reaction when things are relatively safe, and it saves you in an emergency. Any feature that requires you to learn to suppress that behavior while you're using it is going to hurt you when the chips are down.

 

[Maquis]

I believe this may be the case now, but I'm about 99.5% sure it wasn't always like this. When I got my truck last July I turned on 1PD and it did not hold. I had to go find the Hold switch. They may have changed the behavior to now be Auto Hold on with 1PD and truly that is the only way it makes sense, they go together.

Use 1PD exclusively on both my Mach-E (going on 2 years) and my Lightning. During normal driving, I never touch the brake pedal, even when coming to a stop on an incline. Auto hold is off in the Mach, but I’ve never looked at the setting in the Lightning.

 

[RickLightning]

This needs to be repeated often! And it doesn't just apply to 1 pedal drive. It applies to any cruise control or the level 2 systems that Ford and others are installing....

You're sitting in a familiar space with a responsibility-heavy task that requires engagement and the ability to react rapidly and accurately. Having three completely different modes of operation with basically the same controls is a recipe for disaster in an emergency situation where you're relying on pure reaction of learned behaviors to save yourself and the people outside your vehicle.

There is no public data available. But if there were, I'd bet money that owners of cars with driver assistance features like 1pd and level-2 self driving have higher accident rates than vehicles without those features. Even if the accident rate is lower when the level 2 features are actively enabled.

You learn that "cover the brake" / "hit the brake" reaction when things are relatively safe, and it saves you in an emergency. Any feature that requires you to learn to suppress that behavior while you're using it is going to hurt you when the chips are down.

Last year I remember on the Mach-E forum at least 2 people that posted they hit the accelerator, instead of the brake, and surge forward. One was in a car wash line, the other in a parking lot and accelerated over the curb and up a slight incline, ripping the hell out of the battery pack.

People have "muscle memory" when they drive. Instincts, honed and grown over the years. 1PD without using the brake pedal flies in the face of that. Sure, people can adapt, but when they have a problem, they shouldn't blame 1PD, they should look in the mirror.

 

[stickyfingers]

I’m blaming myself here as it’s my fault. It’s pretty black and white. Although I do think if the vehicle is detecting another in front during a stop perhaps it’s should look for 2 foot presses on the accelerator. Just a thought. The torque is crazy in these vehicles. In an ice vehicle I would have still hit that car but not with the force I did. My previous ice truck had auto start/stop so hitting the gas pedal would have turned the engine on and that split second could have made a difference in the force of the collision.

I do like 1-PD. It’s amazing. Perhaps a better marrying of collision sensors and the accelerator could be something that could help in these instances.

 

[greenne]

I'm not so keen on OPD. I don't see the logic in it at all with blended braking and huge risk. Just my opinion but I'll never use it...

 

[GDN]

Last year I remember on the Mach-E forum at least 2 people that posted they hit the accelerator, instead of the brake, and surge forward. One was in a car wash line, the other in a parking lot and accelerated over the curb and up a slight incline, ripping the hell out of the battery pack.

People have "muscle memory" when they drive. Instincts, honed and grown over the years. 1PD without using the brake pedal flies in the face of that. Sure, people can adapt, but when they have a problem, they shouldn't blame 1PD, they should look in the mirror.

This is the source of so many claims about unexpected acceleration in Tesla’s. Muscle memory is a thing and people want to swear they didn’t press the accelerator but computer logs prove they do. There will always be mistakes and accidents, regardless of brand and driver.

 

[mr.Magoo]

I'm not so keen on OPD. I don't see the logic in it at all with blended braking and huge risk. Just my opinion but I'll never use it...

I was "set" on not using 1pd until I tried it. I like it, better than "normal" mode.
Even with blended braking it's very hard to modulate the brake pressure to create the same deceleration as you can achieve with 1pd and still use regen only.
With 2pd my "brake score" is usually in the low 90% where I can easily rely on regen only in 1pd.

The muscle memory issue is something I'm a bit concerned about, it's going to be too late to figure out that it's an issue when you really need it.

 

[ExCivilian]

With 2pd my "brake score" is usually in the low 90% where I can easily rely on regen only in 1pd.

I am almost always at or above 98% often obtaining 100% with 2pd. It takes a bit of practice to get a feel for when to start coasting but it's doable. It'll be difficult to hone that feel in 1pd, though. If you want a more draggy feel switch it to sport mode.

 

[Artificial Intelligence]

Something very similar happened to me while I was dropping of my daughter at school.When I realized I’ve hit gas pedal I panicked and then was shocked as I didn’t move an inch. Took me a while to gather myself only to realize I had shifted to Park… one of those old safety habits that I’ve developed over the years.

 

[jimfigler]

Use 1PD exclusively on both my Mach-E (going on 2 years) and my Lightning. During normal driving, I never touch the brake pedal, even when coming to a stop on an incline. Auto hold is off in the Mach, but I’ve never looked at the setting in the Lightning.

Yeah auto hold is not required to stop when in 1 pedal mode.

 

[jimfigler]

This is the source of so many claims about unexpected acceleration in Tesla’s. Muscle memory is a thing and people want to swear they didn’t press the accelerator but computer logs prove they do. There will always be mistakes and accidents, regardless of brand and driver.

I’m driving multiple gas vehicles weekly and the Lightning. Never had an issue switching between them.

 

[Maquis]

I’m driving multiple gas vehicles weekly and the Lightning. Never had an issue switching between them.

I have no issues, either. I’ve attributed that to having driven so many different types of vehicles in my almost 50 years of driving. After a while, it doesn’t matter if it’s a 3 on the tree or 4 & 2 or construction equipment with hydrostatic drive, I can just hop in and go.
I could see a person who has only driven an automatic could get into single-mode muscle memory, though.

 

[Gaalpwrd]

I tried it and decided not to use it. I constantly switch between my wife's ICE and my truck and I don't want to mess with my reflex so I can react correctly when stuff hits the fan.

This... I like the idea of 1 pedal drive, but I also don't want to get into a habit that I have to break just to drive another vehicle.

Sponsored