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Nissan's new dashboard accompanies its Eco Pedal to alert drivers when they are accelerating at a rate that will excessively burn fuel.

Photo: Nissan

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Nissan will unveil a new feature for the gas price-conscious in 2009: the Eco Pedal.

Speed up too quickly, and the pedal pushes back.

Touted as both a safety and efficiency feature, the pedal is accompanied by flashing lights on the dashboard.

By teaching drivers how much pressure is needed for optimal acceleration, Nissan believes it can save its customers as much as 5 or 10% on fuel costs. That's because quick acceleration and speeding burn more gasoline than slow, steady driving.

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Here's how Nissan describes the Eco Pedal:

The ECO Pedal system is fed data on the rate of fuel consumption and transmission efficiency during acceleration and cruising, and then calculates the optimum acceleration rate. When the driver exerts excess pressure on the accelerator, the system counteracts with the pedal push-back control mechanism.

At the same time, the eco-driving indicator incorporated on the instrument panel indicates the optimal level for fuel-efficient driving. Driving within the optimal fuel consumption range, the indicator is green. It begins to flash when it detects increased acceleration before reaching the fuel consumption threshold and finally turns amber to advise the driver of their driving behavior.

In order to achieve reduction in CO2 emissions, Nissan takes a “triple-layer” solution that encompasses vehicle technologies, driving behavior and traffic conditions. The ECO Pedal supports the second-layer addressing driving behavior and is among a range of eco-friendly technologies being pursued under the Nissan Green Program 2010. The company’s environmental roadmap aims at developing new technologies, products and services that can lead to real-world reductions in vehicle CO2 emissions, cleaner emissions, and recycling of resources.

Sounds something lot like the Toyota innovation on its hybrids, which alerts drivers to their rate of fuel consumption at all times. Countless drivers have reported seeing the fuel-efficiency light after repeatedly being told by their dashboard which habits consumed the most gasoline.

For more driving tips that can save you money, and prevent all that pollution from burning fossil fuels, check out this feature: How to Pay Less Than $1 Per Gallon of Gas.

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