Adjusting the idle ??

It is suppose to do that (to mimic standard vehicles) and it does not consume power while stationary. With my gauge I draw from 1 to 2 amps depending what is on (light, fan, etc) and just a little half amp less (break lights) if in neutral.

 

Just make sure you press the brakes hard enough to disengage the creep. This is a habit I am trying to cure myself of; I tend to press lightly on the brake when stopping, and then car is still trying to edge forward (yellow arrows on the energy display). Pressing more firmly gets rid of the arrows, and thus the impulse to creep forward.

 

Yes, but he has a GenIII so if you push too hard you activate the hill assist thing and might not be able to get moving again unless you know what you've done and how to make it go away.

But if you just press down hard enough so that no arrows are shown on the energy transfer screen, then you are OK. The general populace would not comprehend an automatic car that doesn't creep forwards when in drive, so they mimicked it much to the advanced users' dismay.

 

don't you have to pump the brake twice to engage hill assist?

wouldn't the gas pedal disengage it?

i never did read up on all the details about it...

 

So, what I'm hearing is that, even with moderate pressure on the brake pedal (not to the floor to engage the HSA), the system still shows arrows moving energy to the drive wheels on the screen?

 

Light pressure doesn't,but moderate pressure does remove the arrows.

 

neutral at lights isn't exactly a good idea. the hybrid battery does not charge in neutral.. also (i think it still applies to genIII) when you shift into neutral, your ICE continues to do what i was last doing.. if it's stopped, you're good, if it's running, it will continue to run without fuel (electric motors turn it)...

if you're running the air or heater, you will drain your battery and force a charge after every stop. this isn't good for your mileage or your battery if done wrong... or wrecklessly... (keep an eye on your state of charge!)

i don't understand why you don't just hold the brake? idle gets turned off when it's depressed enough. the system literally cuts the power to the electric motors. (the electric motors are the only force that makes up idle)

everything on this pedal is pre programmed under a pedal percentage... there is (or possibly was) a button under the pedal that basically tells the car "it's down all the way, shut off the ICE (internal combustion engine) if possible"

have you ever owned a hybrid? ( a little history helps )

 

Toyota Prius - Power Split Device

mg2 makes up idle. if everything is zeroed out and the brake pedal is down to a no arrows state, mg2's power gets cut by the system. when you raise your food again, mg2 will kick back in as you raise your foot.

basically.. if you're not moving, and you do 10% more on the brake pedal, mg2 shuts off and you're really only powering your brake lights and brake pump. that's as minimal as a car gets...

just thought i would sum it up with a visual... don't mean to overpost this.

 

I have no idea, I don't have a GenIII. But I have seen posts on here about it "not working" when really it is just hill assist engaged. So as long as you are aware it is there, then it is a non-issue.

No you can't. And neutral is not a good idea.

You start moving.

Correct but wrong. The brakes are not just brakes, they are accelerator overrides. Meaning you can mash the accelerator and the brakes and it will brake the car and stop accelerator. So when you fully depress the brake, it completely stops MG and no power is drawn accept for the accessories and ECUs. But when you slightly depress the pedal it engages friction brakes and slowly spins MG wasting power. So when you depress hard enough, no power. When you press lightly, wasting power.

 

Much to my dismay too, since I came from a manual transmission and didn't really appreciate this "creep" feature.

But everyone is right, the accelerator and brake pedals both feed input to the computer (ECU), they don't connect directly to a throttle or hydraulic brake system, and pressing the "brake" doesn't fight the creep with the brakes, if you press hard enough, it shuts the electric motor and the creep off instead. The engine speed is entirely computer controlled, and the "brake" uses regen rather than the friction brake as much as possible, switching to friction only when necessary.

I have a Gen-III, and I've tried unsuccessfully to activate the hill assist by pressing relatively firmly on the pedal. You're unlikely to engage it by accident just by holding the brake hard enough to stay stopped. You have to be pretty deliberate on the pedal pressure to get the hill assist activated. In any case, I don't expect it would be a big problem to engage it by accident, it only remains active for a limited time and is only supposed to prevent rolling back. I have not experimented with it on flat ground or downhill to see if it has any obvious effect.

I wouldn't worry too much about the power draw of the brake lights either, they're LED and consume minimal power. It's usually better to keep your brake lights on while stopped for safety to reduce the chance of getting rear-ended (perhaps this is a side benefit of the creep, it encourages drivers to keep the brake on).

 

I would tend to tap your brakes three times (fast), then tap them three more times - but hold it down a bit more for each tap, then tap them three more times in quick succession - this should cure any issues - and will reset the system...

 

Personally, I can't tell the difference between stopped and 'wanting to move' and just stopped. Let me know your technique.

 

You guys are changing the volume in Lake Superior with an eye dropper.

 

Really? A 2-page discussion about sitting at a red light? Press the brake. I don't get the difficulty. I have nearly 40k miles on my Gen III, and really haven't given it much thought.

Hill assist is easily applied, just press the brake harder. When you let go you have a second or two to hit the gas. If you don't press the gas soon enough after releasing the brake, it beeps and you are set adrift. Press the brake again firmly, it beeps and deactivates. Press the gas, and you pull out like normal. Don't over think it, Toyota's already done that for us.

 

It's better than the corollary, a 45-page discussion about the Prius taking off on its own.

 

The gas engine isn't causing the creep, it is the electric motor I believe. Not necessary or supposed to touch any fuel adjustments on a modern gasoline car.

Everything is as it should be, just keep car stopped just like every other automatic car, no surprises, driver is in charge of the creeping. They did a great job with emulating the feature to make it seem like an old fashioned torque converter car.