Hello, Prius friends! Am getting ready to take in car for free oil/filter change & tire rotation at 5K miles. I was thinking of just doing myself but wanted dealer to look at an issue. Sometimes, when stopping at a redlight & the gasoline engine shuts off, it does so with a jerk or thumpy feeling. The first time it happened, I actually thought someone had bumped me lightly in the rear, but not. This does not always or often happen & I am trying to see a pattern, but don't. It seems to me in the past the car had always shut on/off silkly smooth that you wouldn't even know you had a hybrid.Of course, when I made appt., the dealer said come in & show the tech. what you're talking about. We all know it won't happen then. Has anyone else expereinced this? Is it normal? Am I nuts? Thanks!
This is completely normal. We see this posted as a question more than anything else. What happens is that the Prius engine is always stopped in a particular position that favors restarting with minimum emissions. If the computer misses on the first try, it runs the engine around and tries again. An extra try or two makes the engine shudder when it shuts down. You will see this happen more often with new engines and during cold weather. Tom
Yep. Tom's right. Sometimes the engine runs so quietly that you can't tell it's on. Much of the time, it shuts off so smoothly that it's difficult to tell that it's stopped. But every once and a while you get that jerky stop. Quite frankly, I would rather take notice of the infrequent jerky stops because it means that it's not the norm. Just think how different it would be if people posted that the shut-off was occasionally uncharacteristically smooth.
As the others have said, it's normal. First time it happened to me I was stopped at a light and a big yellow Hummer pulled up very close behind me just as the ICE shut down, causing the shuddering sensation you've experienced. Initially I thought the Hummer had nudged my bumper, but when I got to my destination and checked there was no sign of damage.
This is the best explanation I have seen. Thanks! Is there more where that came from in the technical threads that I didn't see?
Yes, there is a wealth of technical information floating about in the forum. Some of it is from me, which makes it suspect, the rest is from reliable sources. Tom
At first I thought you had cut and pasted my post! Yes I have the same thing going on with mine and it seems it is normal and maybe worse in cold weather. You will get used to it . I just consider it a smack on the behind from the environment saying ,"Hey good choice."
See 5 stages of prius operation at http://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/five-stages.txt There is thought to be a delayed and rough stop in Stage 3 which may be the ticket into Stage 4 'normal' operations in which electric glide below 42 mph is available.
Wow, thank you, all my Prius friends who answered! I was thinking it happened more when really cold out, but now I understand better and will not worry. Again, thanks so much!!!!! p.s. my husband asked to borrow my Prius to make a trip to Florida because his RAV-4 v6 gets about 20 mpg, and he figures he will save about $180 on the 2K mile round trip. Now I know the car is safe for a trip.
Make sure hubby bones up on P&G, SHM(super highway mode), Warp Stealth, Warp Neutral, etc. Not only will he save $, but it mitigates the frustration of the inevitable traffic delays. His worst mileage will come on the open freeway sections (unless he drives a bit slower than traffic).
My wife and I can fly to my parents' house for about $120 apiece or take the Prius on one tank of gas. It's 375 miles door-to-door; easily within reach for Priapus. Round trip: $60 with gas left over.
