Study: Older women, people under 20 are most often at fault for pedal misapplication crashes

Filed under: Government/Legal, Safety

We hate to reinforce stereotypes as much as anybody else, so we'd like to point out that the source for this story comes from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. With that out of the way...

According to TheDetroitBureau.com, the recent study found that older women and people under the age of 20 are most likely to mistake the gas pedal for the brake, causing what many have dubbed unintended acceleration. What's more, the majority of pedal misapplication cases take place in parking lots.

In stark contrast, NHTSA has found that nearly two-thirds of all motor vehicle accidents are caused by male drivers. So, why are women so much more likely to mistake their pedals? Says the study:

"Possible explanations might include greater exposure by women where these crashes occur most often (parking lots); a poorer "fit" in their cars due to shorter stature, which may increase the likelihood of a pedal application error; or a disproportionately high rate of one or more functional deficits that contribute to pedal errors, such as neuropathy."

Due to the recent abundance of unintended acceleration claims, NHTSA has proposed that brake override systems be made mandatory on all new cars sold in the United States.

Older women, people under 20 are most often at fault for pedal misapplication crashes originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 13 Apr 2012 16:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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