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Cruise control issues!

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by DIPMODE, Apr 3, 2012.

  1. DIPMODE

    DIPMODE Pri-me

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    I just bought a 2012 Prius 2 (pearl) and I love the car but the cruise control always works the first time I set it after I start the car but after the first use, it works when it wants to or not at all unless I restart the car. Am I alone with this problem? P.S. - the cruise control icon shows on the dash when I turn it on but the "set" icon doesn't and it won't set cruise ( after the first use) (first use consist of my setting it then hitting brakes to slow or stop) ( I've tried toggling between on and off and pushing up on stalk to resume)
     
  2. dkelly

    dkelly Member

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    If you are a long-time cruise control user, you might discover that this cruise control operates a little differently than most with regard to using the accelerator pedal while engaging the cruise. Using "legacy" cruise controls, I would typically hold the accelerator to maintain the desired speed, engage the cruise, then release the pedal. This led to a very smooth engagement.

    However, because of the electronic throttle, if the accelerator is not fully released, the cruise control thinks you are trying to override it and will not engage until you fully release the pedal. The car will actually slow down if you are not giving it enough gas to maintain speed. Release the pedal and the cruise will take over.

    Try this and see if it helps. If not, you might have a defective unit but I would guess it's an "operator training error.":D
     
  3. DIPMODE

    DIPMODE Pri-me

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    I tried that also. I take my foot off the pedal and try to set and some times I keep my foot on slightly to see if that helps but it doesn't. Crazy part about it all is that I serviced my can and had a rental for a couple days it was a 2011 Prius 3 and it did they same thing. I read the Manual and I did everything right according to it.
     
  4. tach18k

    tach18k Member

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    It is a bit odd, but pressing the activate button, then set speed, then press the lever down to set CC. I kept touching the windsheild wiper arm at first. Took a bit to get used to.
     
  5. wick1ert

    wick1ert Senior Member

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    Can you elaborate a little bit more on the exact steps you're doing them and in what order? I haven't had any issues with an intermittent cruise on the Prius, although I did on a previous car.

    As long as you aren't toggling the cruise on/off or shutting down the car between trying to "resume" (i assume that's what you're trying to do), then it sounds like it may be an issue with it. Setting cruise and braking or pulling the stalk to cancel and setting again at any speed shouldn't be a problem.
     
  6. DIPMODE

    DIPMODE Pri-me

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    Okay 1.) reach my desired speed (above 30mph)
    2.) activate cruise by pressing button on (green icon on dash lights up)
    3.) set cruise by pulling down, not back or forward or up. And it works but only the first time after the car has been started or it works randomly. But it most cases it only works the first time.
    4.) I tried lifting up in the cruise stick to resume (no luck), I tried canceling and resetting (no luck) I tries turning off cruise and turning it back on (no luck) The only thing that works is to turn the car off then turn it back on.

    Any suggestions?
     
  7. ursle

    ursle Gas miser

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    Cruise control doesn't work when the regen brake is active
     
  8. Judgeless

    Judgeless Senior Member

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    90% of the time I am driving I am using cruise control. I have 80,000 miles and have never had it not work. Your unit might be defective somehow. Here is how I use it.

    When I start the car I turn it on. When I get to the desired speed I tap down to set. When I see I need to slow down I either tap or hold down and this will slow down the car. I use the gas pedal to get back up to speed because when you tap or hold up it is too aggressive and waste gas.

    Another trick is if you are going less then 40MPG it is better to set cruise at 2 MPH higher then back off by tapping down. This will force the car to run on electricity.

    I hate when people post stuff like this. First there is no way to make it active or not active. Regenerative breaking is always on. If the bar is below this area the car is generating energy.

    [​IMG]

    While cruise control is on it uses regenerative braking all the time. Especially when going downhill.
     
  9. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    I think you mean B mode, not regen brake.

    Tom
     
  10. Judgeless

    Judgeless Senior Member

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    I think he meant ren braking. I could not imagine anyone wanting to turn cruise control on while using then engine brake (B Mode).
     
  11. dragonfinder1

    dragonfinder1 Junior Member

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    I use "B" mode quite often and sometimes I forget it's still in "B" mode and the cruise control will not work in my car. Simply shifting back to "D" allows it to work.

    I use "B" mode to slow the car without using the brakes, that's what it was meant to do, not for re-gen.
     
  12. Judgeless

    Judgeless Senior Member

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    No one ever claimed it was for regenerative braking. Its purpose is to use the combustible engine to slow the car down when going down a long steep hill.

    If you are going down a long steep hill you should be using regenerative braking. There will be a point where the battery is full or there is too much heat at the motors generating energy. This is when you have the choice of wearing down brake pad or using B Mode to use the combustible engine to slow the car.

    The OP is having flaky results using cruise control. I doubt very much that the OP is going down a steep hill for a long time and putting the car in B Mode when having the issue. Ursle posted this.

    I just wanted to make it clear that regen braking does fully function with cruise control.
     
  13. DIPMODE

    DIPMODE Pri-me

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    Thank you all for your info. I will take the car in to dealer to rule out faulty cruise control unit. It seems like I'm following all the rules.
     
  14. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    It's meant to throw away energy. If what you are after is slowing without the brakes, just push the brake pedal. It will use regenerative braking, up to the limit of regen.

    Tom
     
  15. bobsylviapeters

    bobsylviapeters Junior Member

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    Yep! Got my 2012 Prius last Thursday. Cruise works but won't resume. Dealer gets in back this friday.
     
  16. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    What speed are you at when you attempt to resume? You're shifted into D mode and not B, correct?
     
  17. bobsylviapeters

    bobsylviapeters Junior Member

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    I have the same problem. how did it get resolved? My dealer has had the car twice. Can't find the problem. Happens after about 25 minutes of highway operation. Cannot resume or reset cruise. Waiting for help from Toyota Canada now.
     
  18. Big Steve

    Big Steve ramblin wreck

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    My CC is working fine, just the same as my '97 Camry.

    One thought, you can pull the stalk forward, towards you, to disengage CC. Could this somehow be part of the problem? Disengage point is improper, sticky or just f#%^d up?
     
  19. mthiker

    mthiker New Member

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    On my new 2012 Prius I had a somewhat similar problem with the one-shot function of the windshield wiper stalk. That is, if if I used intermittent wiper setting then the one-shot wiper setting would not work until I stopped and restarted the car. After a few failures like this I started jiggling the stalk and it seemed to do the trick, and with a lot of jiggling the problem has gone away (no more jiggling required) for the last month. So my conclusion was that there was some mechanical problem in the stalk, but why the heck would stopping and restarting the car affect a mechanical problem in a switch (maybe a soft switch that recalibrates with each car start)?
     
  20. priusrick

    priusrick Member

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    I'm not able to get my cruise control to engage

    SGH-M919N ?