Sudden Acceleration Verdict Is in - its not a electronic issue

Hey, a serious reply. Are you really a Prius owner?

The footwell video camera would record data like RPM, MPH etc. But even if the electronics blacked out (like what happened to my friend's Prius) the camera would continue to record for 20 seconds using a built-in lithium battery. I would also suggest a simple G-force device consisting of a small weight on a string. It would show braking and acceleration and shake if there was a crash.

 

I purchased a new 2010 Prius II last week. Amazing car so far. Only problem is that twice there was a quick acceleration when stepping on the brake and hitting a bump. I'm 100% sure I was stepping on the brakes since I was going downhill to a stoplight. Is this the same problem the report was investigating? I looked on the recall.gov site and saw there was a fix.

 

This is not acceleration, but loss of traction. When the braking wheels lose traction, you lose braking force. The reduction of braking force feels like acceleration, but it's not.

That's the short layman's version. If you want the physics behind it, let us know.

Tom

 

That's not a problem, that's the way the car was designed, it's supposed to do that. Give yourself a little more room when braking. If you don't like it sell the car and leave the forum.

 

It was pretty strange and scary. It almost felt like the engine was revving up a bit. It happened at low speeds and on very odd bumps. The first time just the right wheels hit the bump. I never experienced this in any car before, even in my 09 Rav4 which has the traction control, though it is 4wd.

So you don't think this is something I should take to service to check out? Reading through just some of this post, I see this debate has gotten pretty heated. So thanks for the reply.

 

Hi Hyperdrive,

Welcome to the site, I see you're new. Qbee42 knows his stuff, please accept his post. Other posts you received are not indicative of the helpful generosity you can receive on this site, so please don't be put off by any rudeness.

There are tons of posts with great information. Many are short and sweet so you can breeze in and out with a better understanding. Happy reading and driving, and congrats on the car!

Mike

 

Thanks for the welcome.

 

When traction control kicks in the car continues to slow down, but not as quickly as would be the case without the traction control. The upside ? The driver gets to steer.

The subjective feeling of acceleration that qbee mentioned is familiar to people who ride elevators. Towards the end of the trip down one feels as if they are being pushed up even though the elevator continues to go down and the downward speed is decreasing.

 

Going through similar posts, I see qbee42 has explained this a million times! Thanks for your patience.

 

:flock::flock::flock::flock::flock: