idiot driver, 'runaway prius'
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idiot driver, 'runaway prius'
seems all of them will do that,some at 94mph
nobody is arguing you cant do all of the above,the question is if there is a fault preventing this in some/all of these cases
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The systems will be 'fail safe', so if anything goes wrong, power will be cut.
In the hugely unlikely event that they're not - and I'm sure the start / stop isn't going to be part of CAN-BUS for safety reasons, you can use the mechanical foot brake to stop the car.
These 'incidents' are caused by idiots who don't know anything about the car they're driving, or, and this is quite possibly the case now, non-events brought to light by people seeing an opportunity to claim some 'free' money.... 'where there's blame, there's a claim'.
In the hugely unlikely event that they're not - and I'm sure the start / stop isn't going to be part of CAN-BUS for safety reasons, you can use the mechanical foot brake to stop the car.
These 'incidents' are caused by idiots who don't know anything about the car they're driving, or, and this is quite possibly the case now, non-events brought to light by people seeing an opportunity to claim some 'free' money.... 'where there's blame, there's a claim'.
You'd think they'd be fail safe, but apparently not.
http://www.autoblog.com/2010/01/12/breaking-toyota-said-to-install-brake-override-systems-in-all-c/
I assumed it would work like that anyway, but i guess not.
http://www.autoblog.com/2010/01/12/breaking-toyota-said-to-install-brake-override-systems-in-all-c/
I assumed it would work like that anyway, but i guess not.
:worship:
ThoughtI was talking to myself
I've a feeling that it probably is in one way or another. Hence how it can be intergrated to detect key, know when brake pedal is pressed to start etc.
As for the latter, How do you know that? No reason why the car can't over power the brakes to the point that you start to get brake fade before the car has stopped, concidering the Prius has a CVT box, so will always be ratioed to get max acceleration if signal tells it to (like wide open throttle).
I don't think that ALL these people are stupid enough to not be able to stop a car.
There was an issue some years ago in the states with Fords doing similar, and it was linked to CC system and something stupid like static.
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All I know is that I tried absolutely everything to mimic what is being claimed and found that there was an over-ride 'fail safe' at all points I tried.
I even tried the normal 'rapid launch' procedure for auto boxes - hold the car on the brakes and floor the throttle, then just jump off the brakes - it didn't work, as the ECU wouldn't let the car rev at all if I was holding it on the brakes.
In terms of brake fade, only the parking brake relies 100% on mechanical pressure on the discs - the normal foot brake slows the car using the hybrid generator - hence the Prius has very long pad and disc life as you only get braking from them if you hit the brakes hard.
There is absolutely no way that all systems would have gone down at the same time - all these cases are purely down to idiots behind the wheels.
You'd be amazed at how many people don't know the first thing about the car, even though they'd been driving them for months, or years.
Shockingly, I found that none of my colleagues knew to select the 'B' mode on the CVT selector when driving in the snow and ice, leading to many of them complaining the cars were dangerous on snow covered roads....
Once they'd tried 'B' mode, they all reported back that the cars were fine.
I even tried the normal 'rapid launch' procedure for auto boxes - hold the car on the brakes and floor the throttle, then just jump off the brakes - it didn't work, as the ECU wouldn't let the car rev at all if I was holding it on the brakes.
In terms of brake fade, only the parking brake relies 100% on mechanical pressure on the discs - the normal foot brake slows the car using the hybrid generator - hence the Prius has very long pad and disc life as you only get braking from them if you hit the brakes hard.
There is absolutely no way that all systems would have gone down at the same time - all these cases are purely down to idiots behind the wheels.
You'd be amazed at how many people don't know the first thing about the car, even though they'd been driving them for months, or years.
Shockingly, I found that none of my colleagues knew to select the 'B' mode on the CVT selector when driving in the snow and ice, leading to many of them complaining the cars were dangerous on snow covered roads....
Once they'd tried 'B' mode, they all reported back that the cars were fine.
So if you've a computer that controls everything its impossible for everything to be affected if the computer goes pete tong?
Has this happened to any UK Prius's yet (other than the bloke who ran over his wife in Tesco car park)? Could also be a 'market' specific thing for cars made to a certain spec.
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Well, the recurring theme here is that Toyota don't appear to be able to find anything wrong with the cars when they're taken in to be looked at - and I'm sure that a system 'crash' taking out everything would have taken out much of the rest of the electronics, too - ie. the dash, the info panel in the centre etc.
Software is pretty consistent throughout the world, you can set the Prius to dozens of different languages etc, with only the navigation data system being region specific.
After doing around 25k miles in one in the last 12 months, I'm really not convinced by all these claims.
The parking brake alone is enough to stand the car on its nose at 30 or so MPH, so I have a lot of faith in the ability of it to slow a car - especially as applying it sends all systems into 'panic mode', cutting engine power and dropping the box into neutral.
Actually - I'll amend this - when I say 'drop the box into neutral', it's actually dropped into what Toyota show as 'P', but this isn't a traditional auto box parking lock, it works by applying current to the generator to slow the hybrid drive down.
Software is pretty consistent throughout the world, you can set the Prius to dozens of different languages etc, with only the navigation data system being region specific.
After doing around 25k miles in one in the last 12 months, I'm really not convinced by all these claims.
The parking brake alone is enough to stand the car on its nose at 30 or so MPH, so I have a lot of faith in the ability of it to slow a car - especially as applying it sends all systems into 'panic mode', cutting engine power and dropping the box into neutral.
Actually - I'll amend this - when I say 'drop the box into neutral', it's actually dropped into what Toyota show as 'P', but this isn't a traditional auto box parking lock, it works by applying current to the generator to slow the hybrid drive down.
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In my honest opinion, any car that does not have a mechanical method of killing power to the wheels (such as a clutch) should have a fuel/power cut off system. All it needs to be is a switch that disconnects motors and fuel pumps.
report i heard the guy was applying the foot and handbrake together and it dropped the speed from about 90 to 50
so surely that infers the engine was accelerating against the braking force?
Perfectly sound logic for you but the problem is that what makes the prius appealing is not the 'green' technology which has a pretty minimal effect on economy/emmissions and quite considerable downsides on manufacture and disposal, but the totally disproportionate tax breaks that hybrids get because the car companies producing them have convinced the government they are better than they are. If you take the tax issues out of your equation the Prius suddenly looks like an interesting and reasonably capable car but not up to the better standards in the class and way overpriced!!! The owners aren't idiots, the government are.
If the emissions benefits were that good the Prius would put itself in a lower tax bracket without artificial incentives. It doesn't, you pay higher tax, congestion charge etc on a smaller car taking up less road space in a crowded city and putting out less emissions. How does that work?
As for the throttle issues, well fair enough as cars get more and more complex electronics they are occasionally going to get wierd issues and the Prius isn't the only Toyota to have problems.
sorry, rant over.
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Not wishing to scare you Jon but the JDM Prius's are now on their way over, yep them heaps are now getting to 10 years old
Trev
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all I'll say is f***ing LOL.
But the difference between your car and theirs is that yours hasn't got the software glitch.
Again, how can you possibly say this? A simple build up of dust inside a PC can cause it to crash, same with the mouse, a bit of carp on the sensors & the pointer can end up going all over the place.
They said the Titanic was unsinkable !
Look at NASA's setbacks - they spend billions & yet Challenger blew up because of a dodgy O ring seal!
And look at computers in general, some people have no end of computer problems - XP was a real PITA for me until I found a beta version of SP1. Win 98 was OK but I had no end of BSOD with XP.
When you think about how fragile a computer is, & this car is sat outside & subjected to huge temperature variations, then it's subjected to vibrations & serious jolts (especially with all the potholes) and the biggie, if the prius has an electric engine - that's one very large magnet under the bonnet?
How well shielded are the computer systems in the car?
I can't agree more.
Give me a common-rail diesel anyday.
I've driven a Honda Civic CVT Hybrid. What a horrible little car it was. Returned awful mpg when driven anything but carefully. Overtaking anything had the other driver staring at you thinking you were sitting with your foot on the clutch since the engine revs raise to 6000rpm and stay there as the gearbox changes.
Diesels have more power, return better mpg, don't have large toxic batteries, will last longer and don't need government subsidies when it comes to road tax costed on enviromental damage.
Hybrid for those who want you to think they're saving the planet, diesels and little fiat petrols for those who are saving the planet.
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All I have to say on it now is that you can easily stop a Prius if it's 'running away' - and it's highly unlikely that all systems will fail without having a fail-safe mode.
I'm honestly not surprised that people seem to want the Prius to be somehow faulty, as everyone who hasn't lived with one or done any real comparisons loves to roll out the Top Gear coloured hatred every time they're mentioned.
My previous 2 company cars have been a Focus and a Passat (both 'economical' TDIs - the Focus was the 1.6TDCI and wouldn't top 38mpg and the Passat a 2.0TDI which just about managed 42mpg) - this is more economical, more spacious, better equipped and, because it runs on petrol, significantly better on emissions.
My company cars tend to do 100k+ miles whilst I have them, so there will be a net environmental benefit in me having a hybrid over a particulate spitting, higher emissions diesel, and when it finally does get scrapped, Toyota have an obligation to re-cycle the battery pack anyway.
I honestly don't understand the hatred, but I do get the feeling both the press and the 'petrol heads' are loving all this (unwarranted) negative publicity.
I'm of the opinion that, for day to day use, you buy the car best suited to the job - which is why I have a hybrid for business and a selection of proper toys for the weekends and holidays.
In terms of drawing comparisons with the Civic IMA, there just isn't a comparison to be made as Honda are at least 2 generations of hybrid tech. behind Toyota.
I'm honestly not surprised that people seem to want the Prius to be somehow faulty, as everyone who hasn't lived with one or done any real comparisons loves to roll out the Top Gear coloured hatred every time they're mentioned.
My previous 2 company cars have been a Focus and a Passat (both 'economical' TDIs - the Focus was the 1.6TDCI and wouldn't top 38mpg and the Passat a 2.0TDI which just about managed 42mpg) - this is more economical, more spacious, better equipped and, because it runs on petrol, significantly better on emissions.
My company cars tend to do 100k+ miles whilst I have them, so there will be a net environmental benefit in me having a hybrid over a particulate spitting, higher emissions diesel, and when it finally does get scrapped, Toyota have an obligation to re-cycle the battery pack anyway.
I honestly don't understand the hatred, but I do get the feeling both the press and the 'petrol heads' are loving all this (unwarranted) negative publicity.
I'm of the opinion that, for day to day use, you buy the car best suited to the job - which is why I have a hybrid for business and a selection of proper toys for the weekends and holidays.
In terms of drawing comparisons with the Civic IMA, there just isn't a comparison to be made as Honda are at least 2 generations of hybrid tech. behind Toyota.
Ohwahhh, I actually want a Prius at some point! I like them, just as I like alot of what Toyota do, but still doesn't mean that they can't be faulty though.
I'm sure we'll know in a bit of time what the outcome is.
Try releasing the throttle from the fully floored position every once in a while...my dad runs a focus 1.6 petrol VVT and thats getting 39 mpg 42 on a run and even with my lead wellies my swift 1.5 VVT does 38mpg in winter and 42 in summer, while returning 46-48 on a long run.
