Patent ID: 8634985

Claim:
A method of detecting an in-range failure of a brake pedal position sensor for a vehicle, the method comprising: initializing a full test buffer; incrementing a full test buffer counter when the full test buffer is initialized to track a total number of instances the full test buffer is initialized; sensing a first position of the brake pedal position sensor; sensing a second position of the brake pedal position sensor; calculating a position difference between the sensed first position and the sensed second position of the brake pedal position sensor; sensing a position of a brake transmission shift interlock of the vehicle; initiating a full test when the brake transmission shift interlock is disposed in a park gear; sensing a depressed position of an accelerator pedal; sensing a speed of the vehicle; weighting the calculated position difference to define a full test weighted input value when the full test counter is greater than a initiated full test value, the brake transmission shift interlock is moved out of the park gear, the speed of the vehicle is less than a pre-defined vehicle speed and the depressed position of the accelerator pedal is less than a pre-defined accelerator pedal position; incrementing a cumulative test result value by the full test weighted input value to re-define the current cumulative test result value; and tracking a moving average of the current cumulative test result value to determine if the brake pedal position sensor is functioning properly.