Was at a stop light behind a truck with our Prius (bought December 2000) in Neutral and my foot on the brake. When I put the car in Drive, foot still on the brake, it surged forward FAST. Luckily the truck stopped me, though the front of the car is all crumpled up. Anyone heard of similar experiences?
Yea, it's called not keeping your foot on the brake enough. Why did you put it in neutral? I'm betting you foot was on the accelerator and when you dropped into drive it surged forward. There's no reason to put the car in neutral at a stop like that and several good reasons to leave it in drive.
Could it be not keeping your foot on the brake at all, but on te accelerator instead? I think it will happily shift from N to D while rolling slowly without pushing the brake.
No, my foot was definitely on the brake because the car was facing up an incline and would otherwise have rolled back into the car behind me.
Check your floor mats to see if it got wedged on top of your pedals. If you hit both pedals, then it'll surge up if your not pushing the brake hard enough.
first of all, if you were on a incline why the heck did you have it in neutral. and your car surged forward, your gas pedal had to be depressed.
A friend just sent me the following link, so it looks like I'm not the first to whom this has happened. And "took off like a rocket" is just what it felt like - for all of two or three feet! - as I have never experienced that degree of acceleration in the Prius. Lemon Car: Toyota Prius may be a defective car by design :: Texas Lemon Law Blog which has links to: Runaway Acceleration Problem Plagues Prius Owners Prius Owners Report More Unintended Acceleration Incidents
Sounds like a TROLL to me. New Member driving a Classic Won't say why car was in Neutral at stop light Frend sends anti-Prius links?????
Interesting...if the floor mat is on top of the gas pedal (as has happened to me and my wife -- we have since gotten new winter floor mats), the engine will obviously rev like crazy. If you put the car in neutral, that will keep the car from revving (by design, it seems), so by switching back to drive...the pedal is still down...the engine immediately revs up and the car takes off. Sounds totally logical to me. The mat probably covered the gas pedal while at the stop on the hill. Does the poster, by any chance, have aftermarket floor mats? This problem can happen if you install them on top of the factory mats (bad idea) or install them correctly (removing the factory mats AND using the floor mat hooks).
Maybe; lets see if the OP will post photos of the damage, the car's odometer reading, and the driver's side footwell showing the pedals, the carpeted area, and any floormats used.
Yes, photos of the damage and of the floor around the pedals will help us give a good on line diagnosis. No one is saying you're lying mind you, it is just so we can make an informed diagnosis.
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Definitely sounds like a troll, or a shill for litigators, or maybe another old fart driver who can't tell where his feet are anymore and ought to surrender his license. These identical posts appear under a different name at PriusOnline.com • View topic - Prius surged forward
We have only the original floor mats which haven't been moved or cleaned in weeks (oops) and none of which was on the accelerator pedal.
Here's a question whose answer should help to explain some of what's going on here: I know that the Prius is "steer by wire", where the steering wheel is not mechanically linked to the tires. Does the go pedal work the same way? My impression was that the pedal mechanically actuates the throttle. If the pedal is mechanically linked to the throttle, there's no chance of a "false acceleration command" being the computer to the engine. The only possible command source is the pedal itself. I suppose that the "auto-creep" function of the transmission also sends commands, but the acceleration from that is not nearly on the level that the original poster is describing.
I'll ask the repairer to take photos or go there myself to take them. Our insurance company was incredibly efficient about getting us a replacement car and taking the Prius away: all done within about six hours.
I wonder about this, too. As I recall (no Prius here to test) pressing the accelerator pedal while in Park or Neutral does not cause the engine to rev, so they're not mechanically linked, right?
I've never had cause to press the accelerator while in Park or Neutral, so I'm not sure what it does.
