Vehicle pedal assembly with hysteresis assembly

A vehicle pedal assembly comprising:

• a pedal housing;
• a pedal extending into the pedal housing and adapted for rotation relative to the pedal housing from an idle position in response to the application of a foot force against the pedal;
• and
• a pedal hysteresis assembly in the pedal housing including a friction device and a friction plunger adapted for movement along different lines in the pedal housing in response to the rotation of the pedal from the idle position;
• and
• means in the pedal housing for returning the pedal to its idle position including a lever arm extending from the pedal into contact with the friction device and first and second springs extending along different lines in the pedal housing, the first spring extending between the pedal and the friction plunger and adapted to return the pedal to its idle position with and without movement of the friction device, the second spring extending between a wall of the pedal housing and the friction device and adapted to return the pedal to its idle position with the movement of the friction device.

A vehicle pedal assembly comprising:

• a pedal housing;
• a pedal extending into the pedal housing, the pedal being mounted to the pedal housing for rotation relative to the pedal housing from an idle position in response to the application of a foot force against the pedal;
• and
• a pedal hysteresis assembly in the pedal housing including:
• a friction device that is separate from the pedal and adapted for movement in the pedal housing;
• a friction plunger that is separate from the friction device and the pedal and adapted to exert a force against the friction device;
• a first spring that is separate from the pedal and the friction device and the friction plunger and extends between the pedal and the friction plunger and is adapted to exert a first spring force against the friction plunger which causes the friction plunger to exert the force against the friction device which causes the friction device into abutting frictional contact with the pedal housing in response to the rotation of the pedal to generate and transfer a resistance force to the pedal, the first spring also being adapted to exert a second spring force against the pedal in response to the removal of the foot force from the pedal that returns the pedal to its idle position with and without the movement of the friction device;
• a lever arm extending from the pedal into contact with the friction device and adapted to move the friction device in a first direction in response to the rotation of the pedal;
• and
• a second spring in contact with the friction device and adapted to exert a spring force against and move the friction device and the lever arm in response to the removal of the foot force from the pedal that returns the pedal to its idle position without the second spring force of the first spring, the first spring further being adapted to exert the second spring force against the pedal in response to the removal of the foot force from the pedal to return the pedal to its idle position without the spring force of the second spring.