Experts and company officials have recommended that Korea increase incentives for drivers to install pedal black boxes, pointing to ongoing reports of suspected sudden acceleration incidents as a major social issue.
Earlier this month, a driver involved in a fatal crash that killed nine pedestrians claimed that unintended acceleration of his Genesis vehicle caused the accident. However, the absence of a pedal black box makes it difficult for him to support his argument.
In many of these car accident cases, drivers claim that their vehicles accelerated suddenly and without warning, often shifting the blame to the car manufacturers. The pedal black box, a camera system that monitors the driver’s foot movements, serves as crucial evidence in these situations, helping to determine which pedals the driver was pressing during the accident.
Experts argued insurers should offer incentives by cutting insurance fees to those who install pedal black boxes on their vehicles.
“Insurers need to do so, as this gives them clear evidence to figure out the cause of such accidents,” said Lee Ho-geun, an automotive engineering professor at Daedeok University.
But he did not support the idea of institutionalizing the mandatory installment of pedal black boxes, saying that this does not fundamentally help reduce similar accidents.
“The government should not hastily push for it, as the move is far from resolving the fundamental cause of accidents from unintended acceleration,” the professor said.
“No country in the world compels drivers to install them.”
The remark was made in response to a proposal by some lawmakers to mandate that carmakers install pedal black boxes in all new vehicles. Rep. Lee Hun-seung of the ruling People Power Party introduced a revision to the Automobile Management Act that would require carmakers to install these devices before selling new cars. Companies failing to comply with this new rule will face fines of up to 30 million won ($21,700).
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport — a competent authority handling the issue — is moving to recommend automakers here and abroad to install pedal black boxes, even though the ministry does not have any immediate plans to make them mandatory.
Carmakers have argued that it is too early for them to begin offering vehicles equipped with pedal black boxes.
“If a majority of customers ask carmakers to launch vehicles with pedal black boxes, we will have to do so, but this is not the case for the time being,” an official from a carmaker said on condition of anonymity.
On top of that, customers will end up facing a bigger financial burden when purchasing vehicles with the additional camera monitoring system, according to the official.
“Even if the suspected sudden acceleration of some vehicles becomes a significant social issue, it still seems premature to mandate that most 대표하는 carmakers install pedal black boxes, especially considering that most other countries do not have such requirements,” the official said.
According to data from the Korea Transportation Safety Authority and the National Forensic Service, there have been a total of 760 reported cases of suspected unintended acceleration since 2017, but none of these cases has been substantiated by authorities.
Japan’s transport authority is scheduled to make it mandatory for carmakers to install a pedal misapplication prevention device into their new vehicles from June 2025.
