When I tested the new Prius last week I noticed that the parking brake pedal to the bottom left was a bit "in the middle" - did you guys notice that too? why did they move it so much in the "in the middle" almost touching the leg? Have any of you had issues while driving with it, or was it just my impression?
It's farther towards the middle than my 05, but it doesn't bother me and i got used to it. If it hits your leg, just put the seat father back so your knees are lower.
I read somewhere that some people felt that the parking brake pedal in the gen 3 was in the way of the dead pedal, where you rest your left foot. You can't please everybody. I never noticed that in my 2010 and have not tried the gen 4.
I took a look at parking brake. No, it didn't seem in the way. It might actually be safer since it's not inline with the left shin like in the gen3.. You know, major front collision, kaboom.
Neither position bothers me but I can see why they pushed it to towards the centre. It's probably so that in a small offset crash, the parking brake won't hit the shin when the left leg is resting on the footrest. Yes, towards the brake pedal.
I recall seeing a photo after a IIHS tested (frontal crashed) gen3 and amazingly the parking brake was not pushed into the dummy's left leg.
If they put an electric parking brake like most modern car do, instead of going cheap and use once more a pedal parking brake my grandfather probably wasn't using anymore... I don't understand why they use this type of parking brake. Would the car cost that much more to the end custome if they installed something more modern...???
Probably cost and weight. I mean, there's technically nothing wrong with the cable parking brake as it's a simple, cost effective system. Yes it has the tendency to ice up in certain situations. I'm wondering if a small electric motor weighs a bit more than a cable system (I know, we're talking 10s or 100s of grammes here). Still, an electric parking brake would be nice.
Being a skeptical sort, I'm more concerned with "better" than "more modern". The advantages of the electric parking brake escape me, and a couple of possible disadvantages come to mind. If there is an electrical failure, depending on where it is an electric parking brake might not work whereas a mechanical one always will. Where to put the actuation? The pedal is in a familiar, standardized location which is both far from other controls and in easy reach of the driver. I suppose one could put a button on the lower left side of the dash, but would people find it as quickly when they need it quickly (like in an emergency to stop the vehicle from rolling)? I briefly drove a Land Rover Discovery, which has an electric parking brake. I couldn't find it. Eventually I discovered it: a square button labeled "P" just to the left of the base of the shift lever, which seemed a really stupid location. Consider the following scenario: around here some people leave their vehicles running when they go into a store, perhaps to keep the heat or AC on (for someone staying behind in the car, or so the car is comfy when they get back in) or just because they're too lazy to shut it off. Sometimes they leave kids in the car (which they should not do). If the kids start messing around and inadvertently or intentionally shift the transmission into "D", it's nice to have some other control, preferably far away, keeping the car from moving. Another option of electric parking brakes is incorporation of anti-rollback on hills. But the Prius already has this feature built into the HSD. While reading the manual (the new me!), I discovered that Toyota recommends not using the parking brake during the winter because it can freeze up in the cold. Good to know.
My mom has a Volt, which has a pushbutton electric parking brake. I was incredulous. In the Prius we've already been stuck with an electrically actuated park pawl since Gen 2, which is a dead doorstop in case of no power or an ECU fault, and if it dies parked you can't move the car. Then, GM thinks the parking brake also needs to be 'improved' from a simple mechanical cable that works because it can't not work, to some electrical computerized motor driven servo feedback idle engineer's wet dream that maybe solved some design problem somewhere, and probably costs the customer more to repair by a factor of ten. Maybe that's pessimistic, and I'm overlooking some really good reason for doing it, but at first blush it baffles me. -Chap
If the 2016 Civic has an electronic parking brake, the Prius should have one as the Prius is thousands of dollars more expensive. It might be because Toyota wants their cars to be more reliable, so they don't put in new technology.
It's just like saying "well my Kia Forte has heated rear seats so every car above that should have it". It's a give and take. I don't think the electronic parking brake is as big of an omission than what they did with the 2010 launch - the lack of a USB/iPod connector. It was rectified in the U.S. but never in Canada so the 2016 Prius is the first time a Prius has a USB/iPod connector in Canada.
Isn't the use of iPods declining due to the popularity of streaming services, and to people keeping their purchased music on their iPhones rather than having a separate iPod? This fix may be a bit late.
Not in Canada. We only have a handful of streaming services (Spotify, Apple Radio and Google Play. Is Rdio still around?). Also, data plans are expensive (plans are $80-$90/month with 2.5GB or less, 300 mins local calling. Nationwide is more and of course >2.5GB will push it over $100/month)
