Lexus lacks a critical safety feature for drive-by-wire vehicles?

Some interesting revelation regarding Toyota's highly publicised floor mat recall and stuck accelerator pedal issues in USA. Consumer Report replicated the scenario of a jammed accelerator pedal on two German cars - a Mercedes-Benz E350 and VW Jetta Estate. The result was very surprising. Turns out that many German cars already have a so called "Smart Throttle" built into many of their vehicles since the early part of this decade. Smart Throttle is a safety feature built into cars equipped with electronically controlled drive-by-wire throttle. When both the throttle and brake pedals are depressed at the same time, the engine's computer will always use the brake pedal signals to override the throttle control, allowing the vehicle to be safely brought to a halt. Even with the throttle pedal continued to be pinned to the floor, the engine remained idle. A throttle pedal need not be physically jammed to the floor to cause the problem of unintended acceleration. Sometimes a problem with the throttle position sensor and even the cruise control could cause it. Hence the need for another layer of safety override.

If a similar feature was equipped in the ill fated Lexus ES350 that killed a family of 4, the vehicle would have been stopped with no drama. In fact, after reading this piece from Consumer Report, I am wondering why didn't the VSC (Toyota's speak for electronic stability control) cut engine power when the brake is fully depressed? I am not sure about Lexus vehicles but I understand that Mercedes-Benz vehicles uses the brake lamp switch signal as one of the inputs for the ESP. This also means the enthusiast drivers will not be able to do any left-foot braking as depressing the brake pedal could also cut engine power. So in theory, ESP / VSC is supposed to cut engine power when the system kicks in. No?

The thing about European cars is that while their built quality and overall reliability may still not match the best of Japanese brands, I appreciate the many thoughts that went into the design of their vehicles, most of them go unnoticed and not publicised. I appreciate how Volvo put their ignition key location above and away from the driver's knee (for the obvious benefit in a bad frontal collision). And I appreciate how Mercedes-Benz are putting multi-stage illuminating brake lamps that flashes rapidly in the event of a hard braking. Money were poured in to develop these features despite the fact that there is no obvious demand for such items. Smart throttle is not something you will see in MB and VW brochures and most drivers won't even know that their vehicle is equipped with it.

This not a very clear example of the differences between European and Japanese car companies, but it does give you a glimpse of the differences in their mentality. Why was smart throttle omitted in a Japanese Toyota? Because it is not required by law, because consumers don't see it, because consumers are not willing to pay extra for it, because market data shows that consumers won't appreciate it. Why is it included in a humble VW Jetta? Because the engineers think it is an important safety issue, because the top management is mainly made up of people who are either engineers or are Ph.D holders (just look at the number of people with the title Prof. Dr. in VW's board!), because they believed it is the right thing to do, no further justification required. Of course, this also meant that VW probably made less profit for every car compared to Toyota.

Smart Throttle is standard on all BMW models since 2005 while VW and Audi had them fitted since 2001. Note however these confirmations were made in relation to US spec models.