Step off the gas

Presumably the manufacturer is going to have sufficient indemnity insurance to cover for the occasions when Plonkers in Tonkas claim that they "didn't have enough acceleration to get out of trouble", and that the collision is the "manufacturer's fault"?

Anti-lock brakes I can understand, don't like, but understand. A gas pedal that pushes back at you?! There are just some times when you need to blow the carbon out of the engine and heat up the tires a little by flooring it.

Reason number 3,128 why I'll never own a Nissan

And a female voice that gives a sharp intake of breath when you corner above 0.01G .

you know... my 01 audi, and my 07 subaru.. use this really cool thing... drive-by-wire... now, last i checked, that means the ecu already has the ability to completely over-ride my desires for throttle application... why in the holy heck is nissan going to the added complexity of making a dynamic feedback device? i mean.. seriously... drive-by-wire and electronic throttles already can do everything the proposed nissan unit does, the audi even had a built-in consumption indicator in the dash...

this is nothing more than a cheap marketing ploy taking the engineering staff for a very un-necessary ride, to capitalize on the "new" awareness people are having as a result of their poor driving habits in a time when fuel is at a price where belts need to be tightened.

i hate marketing-driven crap that has no real purpose (speaking as an engineer that often has to deal with marketing-drive crap that serves very little purpose other than to create some shiny new gizmo that won't do the job any better than the "outdated dull gizmo"

I have an '05 VW Jetta with the same drive by wire and I hate it (DBW, otherwise I'm happy with the car). Every time I go to shift WOT, I have to drop the throttle 'early' before punching the clutch, otherwise the revs pop up because the electrically controlled throttle plate doesn't snap shut like the old cables ones did. If I drive like Granny, it works fine. If you want to drive it like you stole it, it's a pain. Granted, with the price of gasoline, I usually drive like Granny. In fact, for most situations, I can shift from 1st to 3rd to 5th and avoid the extra gear shifts getting to top gear that much sooner. But, when you have to merge in traffic with all the NASCAR wannabees on the freeway you have to be able to goose it up through the gears.

Sure, I don't mind not having control over spark advance timing, choke plate position, etc. But please don't take my throttle away from me.

(Sure, I'll take some cheese with my whine.)

It's the beginning of the end, folks.

Those machines are going to be the rulers of us.

Now, if only they had spent all that research money, into photovoltaic cells, electric wheels, and efficient controllers.

Rumour has it, that Al Gore stopped research into efficient transport vehicles, because of his vested interests.

Kind Regards....

A few years back, I was carpooling (really vanpooling) to work. In the morning I was driving and when the van reached just under 100mph a limiter kicked in and dropped the speed down to 95. Terrible, just terrible... A smacking hand would be a great idea; especially, for those "back seat drivers" that really get under the skin...Mrs. Ferris would not appreciate this hand though , I would though, yes indeedy...