Prius creeps forward with emergency brake engaged

The emergency brake has different degrees of holding the car based on the number of "clicks" when you push it in (at least this seems to be the case in my 3rd gen). How hard are you pushing the emergency brake pedal? Generally I find it easier just to hold my foot on the foot brake in D when stopped at a light or something like that, much as you would with any automatic transmission, then trying to put it in P or N and hold with the E brake

 

Hmm actually I don't know either. I know my emergency brake wouldn't be strong enough to hold against any kind of throttle (gas or battery), but I guess it might not be strong enough even to hold against the 9 or 10 amps the car pulls from the battery to simulate the engine idle creep of a regular car either

 

Oh I didn't know that you had zero experience with automatics. I have almost zero experience with manuals haha. In an auto transmission car you always hold your foot on the foot brake while keeping in D at a stop light. Some people like to put a regular gas car in N so the car isn't fighting the drivetrain, but with the Prius I wouldn't recommend that because the engine won't turn on in N to charge the battery and you don't want that getting too low or you will have big problems.

In summary, the Prius behavior is pretty much the same as any automatic transmission I have ever had, and they designed it that way so that the average driver won't have to learn any new behavior. Unlike an auto transmission there is no reason it would have to creep forward at "idle" with the engine off, but they made it simulate this because that's what average joe is used to. I also don't think I have ever had an automatic that can hold itself under power with the E brake. Didn't know that was common in manuals, that is interesting.

 

The good news is that the car won't use more battery to hold itself still on an incline (it isn't smart enough to know it is about to roll backwards and adjust), it will instead roll backwards if the incline is steep enough for the creep to hold it.

 

Does your Prius have rear drums or rear discs? North American Gen 2 Prius have drums but I seem to recall that European Gen 2 Prius have discs.

 

I haven't noticed the incline behavior you described, but I have a gen 3 and that might be different. That is interesting - any gen 2 owners that also notice this behavior?

 

You're wasting gas and prematurely aging your parking brake if you engage it and stay in D. This is true of all automatics. I liken it to a manual in gear with just enough throttle to not stall the engine. The car would creep slowly forward. You wouldn't want to pull up the parking brake while your foot is on the accelerator.

When new, the parking brake may have enough power to stop the creep in D but as it ages, it will be less effective just as in a manual.

 

In a manual car you're not really in gear when stopped, you're either in gear with the clutch pushed in or in neutral. Using the parking brake to hold the car at a stop is a bad habit, in my opinion. Your brake lights aren't turned on and it takes an extra moment for you to release the parking brake. Just holding the brake while stopped is fine for any car. Your parking brake could probably use some adjustment, though.

 

What vskid3 says....

First, your parking/emergency brake needs adjusting -- if it did not before you engaged in this behavior it does now. It's an easy process.

Second -- stop doing this -- as said by more than one previous poster.

Third -- you do not hold a manual transmission car at a stop with it in gear and parking brake on -- unless you have the clutch engaged -- and -- if so, you are sending the clutch to an early grave.

 

It fairly easy and cheap if you want someone else to do it. THere's a wire somewhere just like on a normal car that needs to be fixed. Supposedly can be done with just a wrench.

In large parts of Europe your car would fail the safety inspection though. They test the emergency brake by applying it and then pushing down on the accelerator a bit. It's supposed to keep the car from rolling when the throttle is depressed moderately. And a well functioning emergency brake will do just that. My old car failed the test unfortunately but it was an easy fix so just get it done.