Why is the Brake pedal higher than the Gas pedal

I notice it every time I drive my 2004 A4Q after a long time. All
other cars seem to have equal height for both Gas and Brake pedal in
resting position. Is this normal, can the height be adjusted, Audi
expert users please comment.

I am posting a question for the first time on the board. I sincerely
appreciate the advice from all the members. I have been reading the
posts for almost a year now, and they are very very helpful.

On Aug 1, 8:48 am, wrote:
> I notice it every time I drive my 2004 A4Q after a long time. All
> other cars seem to have equal height for both Gas and Brake pedal in
> resting position. Is this normal, can the height be adjusted, Audi
> expert users please comment.
>
> I am posting a question for the first time on the board. I sincerely
> appreciate the advice from all the members. I have been reading the
> posts for almost a year now, and they are very very helpful.

I think in Audi's case, it may have something to do with the whole
ridiculous 'unintended acceleration' fiasco of the '80's, where people
were stomping on the gas instead of the brake. I think they
consciously have them on a different plane to help prevent this.

Dan D
'04 A4 1.8Tq MT-6
Central NJ USA

wrote:
> I notice it every time I drive my 2004 A4Q after a long time. All
> other cars seem to have equal height for both Gas and Brake pedal in
> resting position. Is this normal, can the height be adjusted, Audi
> expert users please comment.
>
> I am posting a question for the first time on the board. I sincerely
> appreciate the advice from all the members. I have been reading the
> posts for almost a year now, and they are very very helpful.

Quite common on Fords/Vauxhalls as well. At least, on the models I
owned it was.

On Wed, 1 Aug 2007, Dano58 wrote:

> On Aug 1, 8:48 am, wrote:
>> I notice it every time I drive my 2004 A4Q after a long time. All
>> other cars seem to have equal height for both Gas and Brake pedal in
>> resting position. Is this normal, can the height be adjusted, Audi
>> expert users please comment.
>>
> I think in Audi's case, it may have something to do with the whole
> ridiculous 'unintended acceleration' fiasco of the '80's, where people
> were stomping on the gas instead of the brake. I think they
> consciously have them on a different plane to help prevent this.

Well, if the brake pedal is not higher than the gas pedal, you can't
properly do a heel/toe downshift while braking into a turn...

Steve

In article om>,
wrote:

> I notice it every time I drive my 2004 A4Q after a long time. All
> other cars seem to have equal height for both Gas and Brake pedal in
> resting position. Is this normal, can the height be adjusted, Audi
> expert users please comment.
>
> I am posting a question for the first time on the board. I sincerely
> appreciate the advice from all the members. I have been reading the
> posts for almost a year now, and they are very very helpful.

I hate the raised brake pedal too. My seat is adjusted for the gas
pedal. I'm pressing the brake pedal on the side edge to avoid having to
shift my leg.

I once got in an accident in a car having a raised brake pedal. The
edge of my shoe caught on the side of the brake pedal as I quickly
lifted off the gas. The extra second it took to recover resulted in
bumping the car ahead of me.

Next time I have a few free hours I'll take a closer look at the
mechanics down there. The brake on the A3 3.2 has a long travel so I
doubt it can be adjusted. Maybe the gas pedal can be moved.

In article t.com>,
Steve Thompson > wrote:

> On Wed, 1 Aug 2007, Dano58 wrote:
>
> > On Aug 1, 8:48 am, wrote:
> >> I notice it every time I drive my 2004 A4Q after a long time. All
> >> other cars seem to have equal height for both Gas and Brake pedal in
> >> resting position. Is this normal, can the height be adjusted, Audi
> >> expert users please comment.
> >>
> > I think in Audi's case, it may have something to do with the whole
> > ridiculous 'unintended acceleration' fiasco of the '80's, where people
> > were stomping on the gas instead of the brake. I think they
> > consciously have them on a different plane to help prevent this.
>
> Well, if the brake pedal is not higher than the gas pedal, you can't
> properly do a heel/toe downshift while braking into a turn...
>
> Steve

My 97 Civic HX had a taller gas pedal. You could press the gas pedal
while braking by rolling your foot a little bit.

"Steve Thompson" wrote
> Well, if the brake pedal is not higher than the gas pedal, you can't
> properly do a heel/toe downshift while braking into a turn...

But the inability to execute a proper heel/toe does not land you in a
lawsuit. I think Dan is right that they did this to make the car more
fool-proof.

Pete

On Thu, 2 Aug 2007, Pete wrote:

>
> "Steve Thompson" wrote
>> Well, if the brake pedal is not higher than the gas pedal, you can't
>> properly do a heel/toe downshift while braking into a turn...
>
> But the inability to execute a proper heel/toe does not land you in a
> lawsuit. I think Dan is right that they did this to make the car more
> fool-proof.

No doubt about that; I am certainly not arguing that point.

Steve