How can there be ANY runaway Prius'es if they have brake override?

Have you ever used the parking brakes to stop a moving car? Surprise the moron didn't spin the car doing that. Oh well, he is too dumb to hit the brakes hard

 

You hit the nail on the head and have exposed this joker! He simply held the brakes on just enough to heat them up and cause the smell of brakes. One foot on the brakes lightly and one foot on the gas pedal just enough to go about 90. If he had really pushed on the brakes and brake assist worked he would have been able to stop other wise he would have really cooked the brakes into flames and huge clouds of smoke! I hope they throw him jail. A floored Prius is capable of speeds in excess of 110mph. He obviously kept the gas pedal back a little to make this all look like a floored vehicle but not to the point of him being really in jeopardy of crashing. He obviously was angry about the whole recall thing and hoped to cash in or get rid of his car.

 

Toyota does not have Brake Override on all its models, in fact very few have it, they are going to add it to all 2011 models, and retrofit it to certain older models, but thats it.

 

I feel we have all overlooked one important point:

On FOX news this AM, the driver said he was afraid to take any overt effort to stop for fear that he would be "rear-ended." That is about as weak a reason as I can think of.

There may be legitimate Prius issues ... but I am satisfied this one was either driver stupidity .... or intentional fame or financial motivated. And there is always the possibility that he was caught speeding, and used the excuse to avoid a ticket.

 

My 07 Prius definitely has brake override, I've tested it several times.

 

Gee, there are some places here in the Northeast where you might fear being rear-ended, slowing down from 94mph!!!! :rip:

 

I tried pressing both the brake and accelerator hard at 40 mph and definitely witnessed the brake override in my Gen III. The regen bar immediately went to full in the HSI as well. Also, at a stop with the brake depressed, I can push the accelerator down all the way. The ice will turn on and rev while doing this, but it seems to be in neutral as I feel no pull from it revving.

I think it's worth noting that I needed to press the brake down about a quater to half way (not completely sure exactly how far, but I was not standing on it for sure) for the brake override to kick in.

 

I'm not trying to judge his motive; I am only trying to offer an explanation why the throttle override may not have worked in his case.

I think the important thing to learn from his misfortune is, in this situation, you want to use the brakes hard and do not let up on the pedal until you come to a stop. The brakes should be able to stop the car even without brake throttle override as long as you don't allow them to heat up and fade.

The best option is to shift to N, coast to a safe spot where you can pull off, and then brake to a stop.

 

That is exactly the case. Pushing hard on the brakes activates the accelerator override, as the video on the GII model Prius shows. moderate brake force only activates the regenerative braking feature; you need to get to the friction braking level before the ICE throttle override cuts power from the ICE. Both injector fuel flow and ignition are then deactivated.

 

My advice, wait a month.
By that time, this guy in San Diego will be unmasked as a fraud!

 

I aggree with u on that only if: do any of the gen 2 priuses have the brake override? because if you notice its only the gen 2 priuses that claim the unentended acceleration.. i havent herd any of the new gen 3 priuses going wack-o... (besides tracktion controll brack problem)(sorry if i got that wrong) but tother then that what i will still buy a prius.

 

I would be able to recognize the smell of burning brakes and I'm just some Prius driver. Anyone who has ever left a parking brake partly engaged while driving or burned up a clutch knows that smell. So it's a bit harsh to claim the officer wouldn't know what it smells like.

If there really is a brake override on his Prius, he either disabled it, or it did not function. The officer stated he saw the brake lights and smelled the brakes and the car was not slowing down. I will wait for more info before I pass judgement.

In his defense, I would not have tried turning off the power at freeway speeds either. When I stop the car, I sometimes turn off the car without putting it in park first. Turning it off puts it in park. I would have thought that the car would immediately go into park and I would lose steering and maybe braking by turning off the power. If that happened, you'd lose all control and be in for a helluva ride.

I would not have tried the emergency (parking) brake either. I am smart enough to know that if you lock up your rear tires at freeway speeds, you are going to lose control and crash. On the Prius, you can't just let up on it, you have to take your foot off and then press harder to get it to release. That design would make it scary to try operating it at speed.

I would have tried to put it in neutral. This guy didn't. That part sounds suspicious to me. Does the Prius have a neutral lockout when it is up to speed? I have not tried it myself.

Mike

 

I could explain, but the videos do a better job.

 

Thanks for those vids. I actually logged on today so I could research the best way to stop my Prius should it become a "runaway." It's good to know that you will still have full control if you turn it off. The neutral thing seems to work pretty well also.

Thanks again.

Mike

 

You should try it for yourself when you have the opportunity. You don't have to go 70 mph to test it. You just need a stretch of road that has no other traffic. I have done the shutdown at around 30 mph and the brake override (last video) at 40 mph. You can shift to N and back to D at any speed.

 

I'll let investigators examine the Prius. I'm reasonably sure they can piece together what happened.

But imo, there's a couple ways to look at the Sikes case.

#1. The he was legitimately trying to stop/slow his vehicle and "something" prevented him from doing so.

OR

#2. In an effort to commit fraud he wanted to make it look like he was trying to slow his vehicle and do as much damage to his brakes as possible.

Either scenario would result in an outside police officer finding the vehicle at the end of the incident with burnt brakes. Or approaching the vehicle and seeing brake lights.

Again, I leave it to investigators to examine the vehicle. As I said yesterday I'm highly suspicious of James Sikes apparent reactions during the incident and some of the statements he made after the incident.

But suspicion is not enough to reach conclusion. I could be wrong. But if there was nothing wrong with his Prius and he was simply trying to create or mimick conditions of a run-away vehicle, I think that should be apparent with investigation of the vehicle.

The fact that the brakes were burnt and the officer once reaching the vehicle saw brake lights and smelled burning brakes, imo, does neither condemn Toyota or exonerate James Sike.

If there is a flaw in the vehicle whatever it might be, from floormats to electronics hopefully honest investigation would reveal that reality. If there is no flaw in the vehicle, then and only then I think you look to "personal motivation" of the driver.

I have my own personal feelings and opinion but admittedly it's based almost solely on statements read in the media and from the 911 call itself. The better conclusion will be reached with examination of the vehicle itself.

 

I could be wrong on this, but the brake override seems to pulse the throttle every other second rather than cutting it off completely for as long as you hold it.

 

What speed did you try this from? When I did it from 40 mph, the car stopped within 3 sec. Once stopped, I could rev the engine, but the brakes held the car stationary.

 

all,

All this recent bad publicity involving the Prius brakes hasn't phased me at all regarding safety &, in fact, has given me quite a few chuckles as to the ridiculousness of the "runaway acceleration" issue & the "unable to stop my car" claims made by some Prius drivers who don't really seem to be all that familiar with their own cars, so just for ha, ha's yesterday, I tried 2 different things with my 2005 Prius.

First, I got it up to 65 MPH (with the accelerator fully depressed) & then pushed & held the joystick over into the neutral position. After only one second the "box" appeared around the "N" position on the dash display & then immediately the engine noise/RPM's dropped way down & the car started slowing down right away (with the accelerator still fully depressed). Wow, imagine that : a car is able to slow down (even without the use of brakes) if you just put it in neutral. Sikes said he didn't even try to put his car in neutral because he was afraid he would spin out. That sounds like an inexperienced driver to me.

Next, I was doing 65 MPH again & I floored the accelerator (while going downhill). I kept the accelerator all the way to the floor & at the same time began to apply the brakes. I didn't really have to press too hard on them before I felt the force of inertia push my body forward as the car held back because it was drastically coming to a stop (even going downhill with the accelerator still fully depressed).

My feeling is that we need to send a lot of people back to driving school. Think about all the clutches that have been prematurely worn out by drivers using that pedal as a foot rest thus allowing the clutch to slip. And what about the other people like them who don't have a standard transmission, so they use the brake pedal as a foot rest instead. Because they're power brakes there isn't much pedal effort required for the pads/shoes to make contact with the rotors/drums to start the heating up & wearing down of the brake parts. And because the brakes are usually fighting very strong V-6's or V-8's, the driver isn't feeling any hold back from the brakes to realize they ARE making contact & heating up & wearing down.

Ken (in Bolton,Ct)

 

The Gen II has brake override. However, by design there are several modes where the driver can override the override.

Tom