Effect of accelerator pedal hunting suppression mechanism on operability of off-road vehicles

Abstract

Accelerator pedal is one of the important man-machine interfaces that affect vehicle drivability. Multi-purpose off-road utility vehicles are often used on rough roads. The excitation force from the road surface tends to affect the operability of the accelerator pedal. Many of the previous studies on pedal operation of passenger cars have investigated the effects of driving posture on pedal operability from an ergonomic point of view. But there are few studies have focused on accelerator pedal operability under rough terrain conditions. Therefore, we evaluated the operability of the accelerator pedal while driving on a rough road simulator and evaluated the operability of the vehicle running on rough terrain. The hunting suppression device generates resistance force that suppresses the hunting of the accelerator pedal in a vibrating condition and improves the vehicle speed controllability without increasing the operating muscle load.