Throttle control method and method of selecting powertrain objectives

An electronic throttle controller comprising:

• a first module receiving a pedal voltage signal and filtering said pedal voltage signal at a predetermined filter rate (alpha) dependent upon an engine speed and a vehicle speed, and using said pedal voltage and filtered pedal voltage to determine a rate of change of a pedal position;
• a second module that selects a performance mode according to the rate of change;
• a third module that generates an acceleration signal, wherein the acceleration signal is indicative of a duration of acceleration;
• and
• a controller that communicates with the second module and the third module and controls acceleration according to the performance mode and the acceleration signal.

An electronic throttle controller comprising:

• a sensor that determines a pedal voltage;
• a filter that filters the pedal voltage to generate a filtered pedal voltage, said filter having a predetermined filter rate (alpha) dependent upon an engine speed and a vehicle speed;
• a comparator that compares the pedal voltage to the filtered pedal voltage;
• a controller that communicates with the comparator and selects a performance mode if a rate of change of the pedal voltage exceeds a rate of change of the filtered pedal voltage by a threshold.