Run away acceleration

Only worry is - are there different versions of the PCS around the world - that is EURO-NCAP, so should be your version, but many other features are different in different parts of the world.

Different t yres, Daylight Running Lights, Middle East has full size spare wheel, different batteries - even which side to put the steering whe ...

 

The term 'Standardisation' has lost all its meaning in the auto industry.

Edit: spelling!

 

I am a little late to the game here, but Gen4 is definitely differently from Gen2. With Gen2, you could hold up the stalk until the vehicle reached the desired speed, then release to set it to that speed. With Gen4, holding up the stalk sets the target speed in the window, and when you release that is the speed it will be shooting for. After 10 years in a Gen2 and almost 10 in a Camry before that (which worked the same), I am still adjusting after several months in my Gen4. I'll look down and see cruise is set for 85 mph when my target was 55 or 60. In the long-term I think this may o be better, but you have to keep an eye on the screen to see your desired speed, which is a distraction.

Sorry I am a little late to the game here, but Gen4 is definitely differently from Gen2. With Gen2, I would hold up the stalk until the vehicle reached the desired speed, then release to set it to that speed. With Gen4, holding up the stalk sets the target speed in the window, and when you release that is the speed it will be shooting for regardless of your current vehicle speed. After 10 years in a Gen2 and almost 10 in a Camry before that (which worked the same), I am still adjusting after several months in my Gen4. I'll look down and see cruise is set for 85 mph when my target was 55 or 60. While I like the precision of setting the exact speed you want, you do have to keep an eye on the screen to see your desired speed, which is a distraction.

 

If you disable the DRCC (by holding the button in for about 1-2 seconds) the gen4 will revert to the behavior you describe for the gen2 with conventional cruise control.

kevin

 

So I'm guessing in some cars you would hold the cruise control stick up until the car reached the speed you wanted to cruise at, then release the stick, which sets it to the current speed?

I've owned 4 cars from different manufacturers that have come with cruise control, and none of them operate in that way. You turn the system on. Press down to use the current speed as your set speed. Then press up or down to adjust the speed of the cruise control system (independently of the speed the car is actually travelling at), and the speed of the cruise control is displayed somewhere else on the dashboard.

 

I think the "speed up until I let go" is from electro-mechanical cruise controls from 30 or 40 years ago. The more advanced ones at that time. On less-advanced systems you just pressed on the gas pedal until you were at the higher speed you wanted, and hit "Set" again.

 

That's good to know. Thank you.

You can of course do something similar on the modern systems as well to change the speed. Usually by hitting Off-On-Set while travelling at the speed you want.

 

You can press and hold with the Gen 4 Prius, but you'll have to watch as the speed in the DRCC window on the MDF rises swiftly, (in UK the jumps are of 5mph increments)!

 

Subtle difference: you hold the stick up until the cruise SET POINT is at the speed you want. The set point rises faster than the car accelerates so if you hold the stick up until the car hits the speed you want the set point may be well above that.

 

OK, so that style was used more recently than I thought. Until the DRCC, I really only ever used CC a handful of times.

Another advantage of the new system is that you can set your target speed while stopped. Got clued into that in one of these forums, and it's nice with the DRCC, which can slow to a stop and take off from a stop.

 

Yes, definitely.
OTHER cars -1) turn on, 2) set the current speed, 3) move the cruise button/stick up (or down) until the car reaches the speed (or reduces speed) you wanted to cruise at. There is no digital display of set speed - you have to remember what it was.

PRIUS Gen 4 - (and maybe some other newer cars??) - 1) turn on, 2) set the current speed, 3) move the cruise button/stick up (or down) until the DISPLAY SHOWS the speed you want to cruise at. The digital display IS your set speed.

The big advantage I've appreciated with PRIUS - if you've been negotiating a few back streets or wander through a small town not using Cruise, and then get back on the Main Road/Motorway, you press "RESUME" - and you can see at a glance what speed RESUME will take you to.

It is also great when joining a Motorway (110km/hr) after driving in suburbia at 60 - just hold the lever up till it displays 110 - it does it's own thing - even if there is a slower car in front, it is still set at 110 which it will go to when that slowcoach disappears or you change lane. Something you can't do on a car without a display of set-speed.

 

it's so complicated, even wozniak couldn't sort it out.

 

Nah - I find it's much easier than the previous C/Control controls - except for the stupid stalk which I understand TOYOTA has finally tossed.

This is the new RAV4 (or is it RAV5 now with the new model?

 

Of course only people over 50 or so will get that reference. Anyone younger probably only knows of Steve Jobs.

 

I had to google it/him - Steve is no longer with us now.

 

Really? Woz is in the news a lot. The other day it was all about him ditching Facebook because of their using him/us as a product rather than as a customer. But I/we digress.

 

Simply put:
Woz - Engineering
Jobs - Marketing

 

Yes coincidentally Wozniak was recently in the news because of his Facebook comments but I wouldn't say he's in the news a lot. What I am talking about is think of how often you see Steve Jobs picture or his name mentioned in all kinds of contexts. Compared to Steve Wozniak which is basically nil. In fact the recent Facebook articles is the first time I've seen a picture of Wozniak in years.

You know maybe bisco is actually much younger than we think and he only recently learned about Wozniak after reading about him in the Facebook articles

 

There is a third individual that was a principal reason for Apple's early success, Dan Bricklin. Dan wrote Visicalc (VisiCalc - Wikipedia), the first electronic spreadsheet, and it ran on the Apple 2. It was one of the primary reasons (the other being Woz's good design) for the product success since every accountant wanted (needed) Visicalc.

JeffD

ps: I guess I'm showing my age.

 

No doubt that Jobs took the spotlight. And still does. But I read about Woz often in tech articles in Flipbook. He's gotten quite a bit more public in the past few years. But you're right about Jobs and I think he'll always be an icon no matter how hard he was to work for or with. It's like Jobs and Gates invented computing. LOL!