Perhaps in a move to not win Consumerist’s Worst Company In America title, General Motors announced today that they plan on installing brake override software in all GM cars with automatic transmissions and electronic throttle control worldwide by 2012.

For those not familiar with brake override technology, it tells your car to stop paying attention to the accelerator once the brake is pressed. So even if your accelerator is pinned to the floor, pressing the brake should stop acceleration and begin to slow the vehicle down.

“We know safety is top of mind for consumers, so we are applying additional technology to reassure them that they can count on the brakes in their GM vehicle,” some guy with an impressive title at GM said.

Toyota, who has faced massive amounts of scrutiny over unintended acceleration in a range of its vehicles — and who lost to GM in our WCIA matchup — has already announced a similar plan to have brake override active in their cars. Toyota’s plan is scheduled to go into effect in 2011.

GM Plans to Install Brake Override Software Worldwide by 2012 [BusinessWeek]

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