Hand controls for a paraplegic, updated to 2001 standards.

My buddy got himself paralized at age 19, for several years we moved his hand controls from one winter beater to the next.  For those not familiar with hand controls picture a motorcycle grip to the right of the steering wheel, forward for brake, down for gas, linked with rods and rod ends to the brake and gas pedals.

Now a guy I work with wants a Focus ST, they are manual and he has a prosthetic leg from the knee down on his right leg.  Right now he drives an automatic with his left foot.  His problem with a manual transmission car is throttle actuation and modulation with no feeling in his right "foot".

In a drive by wire car couldn't one just add a second pedal position switch to a thumb throttle like a four wheeler has.  Mount it on the steering wheel on the left side,  add a dash switch to toggle from foot to wheel mounted position sensor.

Is this dumb or could it work.

I have not googled to see if it is already a thing.

A flappy paddle car is the obviouse answer, but not the question, he is old school and wants a Focus.  His current DD is a Focus that he purchased new and now has 350k on it.  Silly guy doesn't even change the timing belt, to he will likely need a new Focus soon.

Given your problem, I image a "trigger" like potentometer on the shift knob its self...  

I bet it could work. Carefully measure the existing pedal resistances though.

I'm not sure if any of the pedals are smart (have more features than tps, like maybe kick down or something), if they are that will make it harder.

If he is happy with brake and gas on his left foot, look into a duck clutch shifter.  It adds a trigger to the shifter that works just like a clutch pedal.

I was going to say, if he's good at using the pedals lefty then he should just move the clutch onto the shifter- it's what I was looking at doing when my left hip was out of commission for a while, but luckily I got repaired before I started buying parts. 

At least BITD, the drive by wire cars had double and triple redundancy on the throttle pedals to keep it safe and keep faults to a minimum.   It wasn't just a radioshack potentiometer.  Due to the liability and reliability concerns of modifying the electrical end of the foot throttle, I would look at cable or linkage actuation of the factory pedal.  The chance of making a life-ending mistake is a whole lot less, plus your drivability should be smoother.  

I second moving the clutch. Both the throttle plates on the intake and the peddles have redundant electronics that are monitored independently and have to match. If the computer senses any variance it puts the car in limp mode. 

Good ideas, I wasn't planning on reinventing the wheel, just buying duplicate parts of what is already on the pedal.   I will look into moving the clutch action.  You still need both feet even with a hand throttle. 

Holding the brake with a stumpy foot is easier that modulating the gas so taking off is not an issue.  However while stopping you still need your left foot on the clutch and right on the brake.  With only using the left foot you could either brake or clutch but not both.  So do you put it in neutral brake with the left while stopping, then switch feet to left clutch and right brake for take off.  That way you always use the good foot for what ever needs more feel?  

A hand operated clutch would work best for someone with a left foot issue.

Already can use left foot for gas and brake.  Use motorcycle cable lever on shifter for clutch.  Would require some custom bellcranks to get proper motion and effort to actuate clutch cylinder, but is doable.

Years ago I helped put that kind of setup on one of those push/pull gas/brake levers so that all three could be controlled with one hand.  Was a bit hard to get used to but the owner mastered it.

I'd look into a go kart hand clutch. Then there's no need to reach down to the shifter to clutch when braking. Running a mechanical linkage to the stock clutch pedal may require too much effort. But you could probably add an extra clutch master cylinder actuated by the hand clutch that is sized properly to reduce effort.