By Kim Tae-jong





Daelim University Prof. Kim Pil-soo speaks during a news conference at COEX in Seoul, Monday. / Yonhap

A group of automotive experts claimed Monday that a brake booster device is one of main causes of sudden unintended acceleration in automatic cars.

The announcement immediately drew controversy because it conflicts with previous claims by the government and automakers, who claim drivers are at fault in such accidents.

"About 75 percent of such accidents are blamed on drivers," Daelim University Prof. Kim Pil-soo said during a news conference at COEX in Seoul. "But about 25 percent or so are caused by vehicle defects."

He said pressure surges in a vacuum servo system are the main cause of such accidents. Commonly called a brake booster, a vacuum servo is a component used in a vehicle's braking system to provide assistance to the driver by decreasing the braking effort.

Kim, who chairs the Research Institute for Sudden Unintended Acceleration, said they examined and analyzed some 120 cases that took place last year.

The term sudden unintended acceleration refers to the unexpected high-power acceleration of a vehicle from a stationary position or a very low initial speed with an apparent loss of braking effectiveness.

There have been hundreds of such incidents reported every year, but they have been mostly blamed on driver error, although the drivers of the vehicles in question insisted they tried to brake after their car suddenly accelerated.

The nation's transportation ministry said it had found no evidence of vehicle defects in such cases, and has conducted an investigation of new cases.

Kim admitted that his research team has not yet conducted a test to prove their theory but decided to announce their theory to openly talk about the main cause in an effort to initiate a more active and collective move to come up with measures to prevent such accidents.

"I think this is the first time for someone to openly talk about the main cause of sudden unintended acceleration, as the government and automakers have only focused on who should be blamed for accidents related to it," he said. "But, over the past 30 years, there have been accidents related to it and now we need to find out the cause and come up with solutions to prevent accidents."

He said the government, automakers and other experts should cooperate to find out the main cause and come up with preventive measures, although this is a very sensitive issue to automakers, as they may have to face a huge setback such as massive recalls or financial compensation to drivers, depending on findings.

In this regard, officials from automakers and others in the auto industry expressed their discontent over the new theory and questioned its reliability.

"It is too premature a conclusion," an official from a local automaker said. "How could he and his team rush to the conclusion without any in-depth research and tests? It's nonsense."