Accelerator pedal location?

bass mechanic · May 20, 2014

if it helps anyone, I moved my pedals to the lowest position, then disconnected the cable that turns the adjuster on the brake pedal. now my pedal adjustment only moved the gas pedal so I raised the height of the gas to be closer to the brake and set that in the memory position. much better.

06pirate · May 21, 2014

Accelerator pedals are lower to the floor because they require very little effort to actuate, and they don't move very far. You only move your foot a little bit, flexing at the ankle. It is more of a fine motor skill than a strength move. Plus you spend about 99.78% of your time with your foot on the accelerator, but very little time actually footing the brake pedal, so comfort is less important there.

The brake pedal is higher because braking requires (a little) more effort, so you tend to flex your leg at the knee. If the power boost system failed and you had to stop the vehicle with straight brakes, you'd really need that extra leg muscle. The brake pedal also has more potential travel distance than the accelerator, if for some reason you have a brake fault that requires more than the usual movement.

Granted with today's power brakes the effort is much less than the old days with non-boosted brakes, If your have never driven a really big car like a 1950's sedan or pickup truck with manual all-drum-style brakes, you'd be amazed how easy you have it today. Someday, face your truck downhill (make sure you have a good safe distance to roll-out), turn the engine off, put it in neutral, and hit the brakes. See?

That pedal placement carried over to today's vehicles, so we still have that height difference, again because of the distance the pedal can travel.

The only possible drawback to blocking up the accelerator and then moving he seat back to make your leg more straight and comfortable might be if you DID have a brake issue that required full pedal travel (to the floor), your leg might not be long enough to get it there. Just a thought.

Good luck finding a solution.

bass mechanic · May 21, 2014

I disagree, ive owned a lot of cars, a few of them GM and both me and the wife noticed the brake pedal was too high and constantly hit it on the side when going for the brake from the gas.

none of our other cars have had a height difference like this. there is no need to have it that high.

MaverickZ71 · May 23, 2014

My accelerator pedal is back several inches from the brake pedal. It's a constant annoyance. I must either twist my knee and ankle to hit the brake or use the tip of my foot to press the accelerator. Can I move the brake pedal toward the engine and/or the gas pedal towards the seat? If so, how?

'99 Sierra 1500 NBS 5.3L Extended Cab

Note: I'm not asking about throttle/braking response, just where the pedals are physically located.

This pedal offset (brake and accelerator farther apart and also offset front-to-back) has been done intentionally by most vehicle manufacturers since the mid-90s. GM seems to take it a couple of steps farther than most, probably because they are worried about crashes and lawsuits. (Oh sure, they are worried about lawsuits over this, but not millions of faulty ignition switches or nationwide AFM problems??!!!!)

Back in the 90s, Audi cars were greatly gaining popularity, partially due to their ergonomic interior setup which included the brake and accelerator pedals grouped closely together (and on the same plane) for enthusiast drivers who favored a 'heel-and-toe' type of driving style while driving aggressively. The problem was, a few ham-footed and/or age- or experience-challenged drivers of these Audis started making unintentional drive-thrus in whatever structure was in front of them. When those idjits went to brake, they hit the gas, and then stomped the gas when then panicked while trying to stop. Audi damn near went bankrupt due to the pile-on me-too lawsuits that came out of the woodwork after the first occurrences hit the tv news. A couple of these incidents were later proven to be intentional, from people who had heard about it on the news and then thought they could bilk Audi out of a big chunk of change. Ever since then, all of the manufacturers have been running scared from this potential situation.

Like Ron White says, "You can't fix stupid." This is just one example of how the manufacturers are forced to alter their vehicles due to the ignorance of 1% of the population, and all that does is piss off the other 99% of us and make us pay more.

Mike-1000 · May 23, 2014

I moved from an '03 silverado 1/2t 4x to a '13 2500hd 4x and after nearly a year I still hit the side of the brake pedal when braking. There is definitely a difference in pedal location/s between the two trucks. In the older truck I could just pivot my foot from one to the other but the newer truck requires me to lift my foot to get to the brake pedal. I'm sure it's engineered that way and I guess I'm just slow to adapt.

Mike

intheburbs · May 23, 2014

Funny. I have an 01 and an 08, and never noticed anything.

CoasterCOG · May 23, 2014

Your '99 is also one of the last couple years that the gas pedal is still directly attached to the throttle body. Off the top of my head I think it was '01 and later that the trucks are all "drive by wire" and the accelerator is just an input to the computer.

I drove my '99 for almost 15 years. The distance from the firewall was the least of the issues I ever had with the horrible, worthless, scary, dangerous braking system on that truck.