My guess is probably not. The brake pedal mechanism is incredibly complicated (compared to conventional master cylinders) so it would take some serious engineering to move things around.

Important point that I'm sure you are aware of: most people put their seats back way too far. You want to be close enough to the pedals so that you can apply full body strength to the brakes even if the pedal is only an inch up from the floor. Just touching the pedal with the tip of your shoes is fine for regular driving, but when things go wrong and your fancy power brakes with integrated brake force boosting go south, and you have to stop your 5000 pound car with manual disk brakes, you had better be strong.

I suspect that most people nowadays have never driven a car with non-power disk brakes. It is shocking to find out how hard you have to push the pedal.

 

My guess is probably not. The brake pedal mechanism is incredibly complicated (compared to conventional master cylinders) so it would take some serious engineering to move things around.

Important point that I'm sure you are aware of: most people put their seats back way too far. You want to be close enough to the pedals so that you can apply full body strength to the brakes even if the pedal is only an inch up from the floor. Just touching the pedal with the tip of your shoes is fine for regular driving, but when things go wrong and your fancy power brakes with integrated brake force boosting go south, and you have to stop your 5000 pound car with manual disk brakes, you had better be strong.

I suspect that most people nowadays have never driven a car with non-power disk brakes. It is shocking to find out how hard you have to push the pedal.

I had a 67 F100 with manual brakes AND manual steering, and man did I work up a sweat driving that thing! Manual brakes are pretty scary.

 

I’ve owned a LOT of vehicles. The only one with a power-adjustable brake pedal was a 2007 Nissan Pathfinder SE. Not even the top trim level!

 

Yeah I assumed it's not possible... I am pretty comfortable with my foot on the "gas" pedal, but feel like I have to lift higher than I'd like to, to get from it to the brake pedal... so I stay further back where it's more comfortable. If I could lower the pedal slightly, I'd probably be closer to it overall than I am now in a closer seating position.

I have driven non power brakes as well, and I'm probably a little further back than ideal if they were to fail completely, but also not tip of toes back. I could get good force on it if necessary. But if the pedal could be like an inch further down closer to the accelerator pedal, I'd likely move like 2" further forward.

 

One of the primary selling points when getting a vehicle for my petite daughter was adjustable brake pedal. The inaugural year 2003 Mazda 6 had same and it worked very well for her. So same have been around for quite some time, but rare to find. Great car that thanks to good maintenance over time (mostly mine) provided well over 100k miles of carefree service and then passed on to the next generation high schooler. Its only downside was a large turning radius - every vehicle has flaws.

 

Yeah for sure.

I'm not even looking for a fancy adjustable brake, just something as simple as can the assembly of the arm be unscrewed and screwed back together using second set of holes or something like that.

Never understood why most brake pedals are mounted higher than the accelerator pedal. In some cars it doesn't bother me at all, and it doesn't really in the ID.4 either if I have my seat further back. But coming forward a couple inches it starts to feel like more work than necessary to lift over the height difference, and I tend to catch the side of the pedal a bit with the side of my shoe. But with the seat further forward, I can more safely and comfortably reach the touchscreen and other controls, plus more legroom behind me.

Silly little thing, but it certainly would be nice to be able to make a slight change there with a different shape of pedal, or mounting position, or something.

 

In practice, “heel and toe” is usually “toe and side of foot.” Unless you have a 1950s Ferrari with the gas pedal in the middle as Mother Nature intended.

 

Y, that's one way to heel-and-toe with the toe-and-side of the foot if the brake & throttle pedals aren't designed for it, I.e. a square vs rectangular brake pedal, the distance between the two pedals etc.

 

Ah, I guess that makes sense. I never learned that technique when I was driving stick more, many years ago. Mostly only drive a manual on a motorcycle these days, and they have that sorted out nicely, using more than 2 limbs for these operations 🤪

It does seem like that mentality should be absent on a ground up EV... But I'm sure VW used many stock parts off the shelf.

Oh well, I'll live. Just wish I could gain an inch or so down there...

"That's what he said..."

 

Maybe for safety so that you don’t press both at once in a panic situation? Also may be because if the brake booster fails you need the long pedal travel to make enough hydraulic pressure to stop the car.

I did a quick Google and this question comes up for Honda, BMW, Fiat, etc… and in Europe and US. And that was like the first page of results. So, I assume it is common…

 

Maybe for safety so that you don’t press both at once in a panic situation? Also may be because if the brake booster fails you need the long pedal travel to make enough hydraulic pressure to stop the car.

Yes, that's right. A longer brake pedal linkage requires less effort to press than a shorter one. This is due to the mechanical advantage provided by the longer length, which reduces the amount of force needed to apply the brakes.