There Auto Be A Law The Ultimate Gaslight: Sudden Unintended Acceleration
Nov 6, 2025
Phil Koopman, an accomplished automotive safety engineer, delves into the perplexing issue of sudden unintended acceleration. He highlights the evolution from mechanical to electronic throttles and the dangers of misinterpreted data blaming drivers instead of faulty systems. Phil recounts the Audi 5000 case and explains legal tendencies that obscure engineering failures. He warns about the risks of complex software systems and the industry’s pushback against safety improvements, all while emphasizing the need for better regulatory standards.
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The Driver-Blame Narrative Propagated
- Many later reports tracing causes of SUA cited the Audi case and propagated a driver-blame narrative.
- There is no solid data showing pedal misapplication explains most SUA incidents.
Throttle-by-Wire Tradeoffs
- Throttle-by-wire delivered efficiency gains but introduced new safety-critical failure modes.
- Many early systems lacked mature safety engineering and proper redundancy.
Invest In Safety Processes Early
- Follow established functional-safety processes and standards like ISO 26262 when designing safety-critical systems.
- Invest in proper safety engineering early rather than retrofitting fixes later.