2013 Prius C (Leaked photos of brochure)

I believe you are right. I rarely hear about Geniii owners losing as much as Genii owners when upsizing wheels and tires. The handling and safety improvement is worth it though. Despite the loss I can still manage a 50mpg average if it were not for my uphill commute and if I keep speeds at 65mph or lower.

 

Exactly. Rear drums. ..and, I've had the exact same experiences you describe.

 

Here's new thought, perhaps they were usable has emergency brakes in an earlier era. Parking brakes aren't* a seperate brake on the wheel. It's just a different path of activating the existing brakes. They activate the brakes on the non drive axle. So, for rear wheel drive cars, they are on the front wheels. The larger brakes that do most of the work to stop the car.

With FWD, the E-brakes moved to the rear. Where it's fine for keeping a parked car from rolling away, but really, only better than nothing, in terms of an emergency brake.

*While better in nearly everyway when compared to drums, disc brakes make poor parking brakes. Park cars could still roll away when they were first used for the job. An additional clamping mechanism is needed in order to keep the pads pressed against the rotor. Most manufacturers just put a small drum brake in place behind the disc one for parking.

 

It depends on the car. When I go to car shows, sports cars with rear disk brakes have a separate caliper on the rear disk for the emergency brake, which is a completely separate system from the foot pedal brakes.

Anyways, getting back to the original point, all cars should (I thought it was the law) have emergency brakes so that if a brake line gets punctured or the brakes fail by some other means, the driver can still slow down the car.
(note: This is not comparing it to being able to over ride the engine acceleration. I'm not referring to a stuck accelerator here; just brake failure).

The Prius should have an emergency brake. A backup brake system so that if the primary system fails, the driver can still slow the car down. Aside from the Prius (apparently), all cars have an emergency brake.

And you can't exactly "downshift" on a Prius.

UPDATE: I just found this:

http://priuschat.com/news/why-out-control-prius-driver-is-full-it

UPDATE 2: I found this via Google images,
so apparently the Prius has BOTH, an E-brake and a P-brake. so, we're both right
http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...9-drip-brown-fluid-emergency-brake-pedal.html

 

The parking brake does this function. I'm just trying to say they aren't very effective in terms of what you expect with the term emergency considering they only operate the rear brakes on most cars.

They are better than nothing, but drivers are better served knowing how to use neutral and lower gears to control the car's speed. That also has applications outside emergencies.

 

Natural selection.
A person has a lever or pedal in the car they drive every day, and it doesn't take much brain power to ask yourself what that lever/button/etc does. When I'm moving along on the highway at X mph, you better BET I know what every little button and switch in my car does!

The average Joe has also probably never opened the instruction manual that comes with the car.

 

144volt and smaller battery

 

New review out today on Aqua
2012 Toyota Prius C (Japan-spec) First Drive

 

Interesting that in the UK we never refer to this brake as an 'emergency' brake. It is either called the hand brake or the parking brake.

I'd have thought that given that it operates on the rear wheels, you'd find yourself in a big pickle jamming this on at speed. Unless you are a stunt driver pulling a handbrake turn or something.

 

It may not have been officially called an emergency brake since the early '80s, but the term has stuck.

 

nice one... so it does handle well.

 

It's because the Merkins drive autos so rarely have to use it (it get you rolling and there's a Park setting on the shifter). When I learned, I was taught to apply the hand brake at red lights (for safety and ease of launch). I unlearned it here but have started to do it again just so I can take my foot off the brake.

 

I never used a parking brake until the Prius. It was simply because none of the other automatic cars I drove had the level of play in the park gear the Prius did. Now I just take it as good practice to use it always. I can't get my wife to use it. Even after explaining it be how the rear drums self adjust.

 

double post

 

Would I be wrong to assume that all of the above thread is really discussing the Prius C 2012 model? Or is Toyota referring to this as a 2013 model to match the Japanese release naming convention? Since this model appeared this winter here in the US, and all the dealers are calling it the 2012, I guess the thread is misnamed. But has anyone heard of what might be in the pipeline for a true 2013 model. Would it likely appear in the States next March?