I purchased a used 2016 Prius C2 with 44k miles in 2021, and it now has 59k miles. Over the past year, I’ve noticed an issue where, occasionally while driving and not pressing the pedal, it sounds like the engine is revving up, almost as if it's accelerating, though the car doesn’t actually speed up. I recently changed the transmission and engine oil, thinking it might be related to the 60k-mile mark. However, I still heard the noise today. Has anyone experienced a similar issue or have any advice on what might be causing this?
What's the speed of the car at those times, how many bars of battery charge, and grade of the road (uphill / flat / downhill )?
Great questions. Today I was driving on a flat road, not highway, battery was at least 80%, speed was 40 miles or so.
That used to happen to me on one particular route. Battery wasn’t quite full, but I would get the engine revving, like it was trying to burn off charge, but I was going slow enough that it could have just gone into ev mode. Could never figure it out
The car is programmed to feel pretty much like other normal cars, which includes slowing a bit when your foot is off the go pedal, the way normal cars do. The designers decided you would think it felt weird if it just kept coasting along freely then, because normal cars don't. Of course, the way normal cars would slow some with the pedal released was just a natural consequence of how they were built, while the Prius had to be programmed to feel the same way. If there is unfilled capacity in the battery, the car will generate that feeling by doing a little bit of regen braking: capturing some energy of motion from the car and storing it into the battery. If the battery is closer to full, the car will instead capture the energy of motion and use it to spin the engine, with the throttle closed and no fuel or spark. You can feel and hear the same combination of slowing and engine revving in a normal car by downshifting it.
A good OBDII scanner + an Android phone with the Hybrid Assistant program will help you take readings from the engine and hybrid systems while driving. Hybrid Assistant: RPM Chart