A visitor to my website sent me the following e-mail. My response would be that nothing is wrong, because my Prius seems to do the same things with the exception of the EV mode. What do you think? -------------- Have had an 07 Prius for 18 months now. Drive conservatively and it is town driving, very rarely on the freeway. Main issue I think is that most of the trips are short. This probably affects consumption as the Prius likes to get the catalytic converter warmed up as I understand it. For the first 6 months I was getting 5.2 to the 100 and the battery would fluctuate, not wildly but it would. Now it never does and spends loads of time green as well. Other weird things I notice: 1. If you accelerate hard, the engine calls on the battery for 'help'. Mine does this for a split second or so but stops when it uses the energy up to the second line above the middle. Previously it would only stop if the battery went into purple. Try this yourself, I am sure on a hard acceleration yours will call on the battery for an extended period of time. It is almost like the engine management system doesn't believe the rest of the battery is available 2. Recently when fully stopped with no aircon on, the consumption is 0.0 (ie engine not on) but the arrows are still moving from the battery towards the wheels, ie battery is draining, why? Previously, it just used to stop. 3. The move from engine to battery and vice versa sometimes feels a bit jerky as well. 4. If you are driving in stealth mode, with no change to the accelerator, the minute I get to 1 line above middle, the engine kicks in. Previously, it would continue to use the battery all the way to purple. Perhaps I am being over analytical but like you, I absolutely love my Prius and I think you pick these things up. My wife who also drives it thinks nothing is wrong. --------------------
For point 2, the most likely cause is that the brake pedal is not being press down firmly enough when stopped. Press the brake pedal down firmly and after a short time the arrows will stop. There is probably nothing wrong but what if we assume the author's other observation are correct. What would prevent both the accelerator and brake pedal from being pressed down far enough? Either the seat has been moved back or there is something underneath both pedals preventing the full pedal range of movement. (Where's the wild stab in dark emoticon when you need one?).
I diagnose the issue as "sbject does, in fact, drive a prius." I see all of those behaviors from time to time.
