Sudden Start Accidents
It has been found that Hyundai Motor cars occupied nearly the half of vehicles suspected of having suddenly started, which the National Institute of Scientific Investigation was asked to check over the past 10 years.
According to a report on accidents suspected of being jack-rabbit starts that the National Police Agency handed over to the Safety Administration Committee of the National Assembly, cases where vehicles suspected of having suddenly started that the National Institute of Scientific Investigation was asked to check totaled 154 from 2007 to 2016. Among them, Hyundai Motor vehicles added up to 73 cases (47.4 percent). They were followed by 30 cases involving Kia Motors cars (19.5 percent) and 14 cases linked to Ssangyong Motors vehicles (9.0 percent) and 9 cases connected to Renault Samsung automobiles (5.8 percent). Among imported car companies were BMW (3 cases), Honda (2 cases), Volkswagen (1 case) and Chrysler (1 case).
However, none of the 154 suspicious accidents that the National Institute of Scientific Investigation had dealt with over the past years proved to be a sudden start accident.
Although the National Institute of Scientific Investigation purchased an Event Data Recorder (EDR) accident record analyzer in order to analyze EDRs which can check brake operations for 3 to 5 seconds before jack-rabbit starts on May 8, 2015. The criminal lab has been unable to find out whether or not an accident was a sudden start accident.
Accordingly, the National Institute of Scientific Investigation asked for other data from manufacturers because they could not clearly find out whether or not they were jack-rabbit starts with EDRs alone. However, as relevant law and systems were not in place, the manufacturers refused to submit the data so it is not possible to find out how and why sudden starts happened.
Above all, it is pointed out that the National Assembly has failed to pass a bill requiring automobile manufacturers to submit relevant data required by the National Institute of Scientific Investigation or the police, or to make reasonable compensations even in the event of consumer damage caused by defective automobiles if a probe of a sudden start is needed.
"In the case of the United States, a vehicle manufacturer and a driver are held accountable for proving whether or not a case is a jack-rabbit start at the same time. But in Korea, it is a different story. Korea need to supplement relevant systems or law," said an official of the Safety Administration Committee of the National Assembly.