Patent ID: 8381703

Claim:
A method for calibrating an accelerator pedal during driving operation, comprising the steps of: converting a mechanical position of the accelerator pedal to an electrical signal value by at least one potentiometer and reading the signal value to an electronic engine control unit; setting an idle limit for an idle position of the accelerator pedal and a full-load limit for a full-load position of the accelerator pedal as initial values; storing an idle signal value that is less than or equal to the idle limit in a potentiometer-specific idle data memory for each potentiometer; determining a representative idle signal value from at least one stored idle signal values value; setting the determined representative idle signal value as the determining idle position of the accelerator pedal specific to each potentiometer; storing a full-load signal value that is greater than or equal to the full-load limit in a potentiometer-specific full-load data memory for each potentiometer; determining a representative full-load signal value from at least one stored full-load signal value setting the determined representative full-load signal value as the determining full-load position of the accelerator pedal specific to each potentiometer, wherein the converting step includes converting by at least two potentiometers; and determining a reference potentiometer from the potentiometers, computing an offset of the representative idle signal value of the potentiometers to the representative idle signal value of the reference potentiometer, setting the representative full-load signal value for the reference potentiometer to the full-load limit, computing the representative full-load signal value of the potentiometers by adding the offset to the full-load limit, and setting this computed value as the determining full-load position of the accelerator pedal.