Prius Rolls Back When Parked On Incline!

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mystery Squid\";p=\"96988)</div>

Thats normal. The mechanical lock has to engage. It a lever that engages in a cog. Of course, you could/should put on the foot parking break esp. on a hill, then you wont get the roll.

 

The 3MPH electric 'creep' isn't enough to act as a hill-holder.

Annoying, but I can live with it...

 

Do you have to? Probably not. I will say that I ALWAYS use the parking brake if I'm parked, whether I'm on an incline or not. I've always done with any car I've every driven. It was only after there was a discussion about it here a month or two ago that I realized that other people didn't always use it.

 

When someone (oil change guy, etc.) parks my car and I find the parking brake wasn't set, I'm always worried that the Park mechanism was strained when I opened the door and got in. The car moves slightly, and I prefer it doesn't...

 

Sorry to offend anyone, but I think it's moronic to not use the parking brake. Is it that hard to use? It saves wear on a typically fragile part of a VERY expensive transmission unit. Do you parallel park? All it will take is another to "park by the braille method" and bump your car, and you can break the parking pawl in the tranny.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mystery Squid\";p=\"97006)</div>

The Prius is no different from any other automatic transmission vehicle in this respect. Shifting to "Park" engages a mechanical pawl (or similar mechanism) designed to lock the transmission. This pawl - in a Prius or an Expedition - is much less robust than the brakes, which are obviously designed exactly for the immobilization application.

Foot brakes (or pull-style left-hand brakes) are the norm for automatic transmissions. Hand brakes are much more common for manual transmissions. I've heard tell that this was originally for performance purposes - using the hand brake to control slides in sharp curves - but I'm just parroting conjecture.

Personally, I'd rather have an armrest than a hand brake.

Also, when parking on an incline, turn your wheels so that the car will roll immediately into the curb in the event of brake failure. It's sad how few people follow this simple precaution.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mystery Squid\";p=\"96988)</div>

How do you PARK in D? My prius came equipped with a nice large button with a P on it and when I come to a stop on an incline I just press P and it will not roll.

 

On level ground or on a slight incline there's no need to use the parking brake, which is a carry over from the days when all cars had standard transmissions. When the incline is steep I always use the parking brake.

 

in a year and a half of owning my Prius I can count on one hand the number of times I've used the parking brake. The chances of breaking the park prawl by having your car bumped will result in probably several thousand dollars damage to the car, before the prawl breaks. The tires will skid long before you break a park prawl in a modern auto tranny.

 

You should try out my old Ford Explorer. It rolls back a long way before the transmission locks up even with the parking brake set!!!

 

No one in my family uses the e-brake unless parking in a hilly area like SF. Have rarely found a reason to use it otherwise - like parking next to a cliff or something. Don't do that every day. I live on a hill - not a terrific incline - and have never needed to use it there, either.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius\";p=\"97036)</div>

Ditto. But every conventional automatic transmission car/truck I have ever owned had nothing more than minimal "creep" certainly not enough to hold the vehicle.

I live in flatlander country so no real hills to contend with. However, steep ramps in/out of underground parking garages is another story. At my condo the ramp up to the door is rather steep.

With a manual transmission, I used to always stop right at the bottom, wait for the door to fully open, then quickly zip up. If there were a line of cars waiting to get to work first thing in the morning, then I had to heel/toe and use the parking brake. With an automatic, one foot on the gas and one foot on the brake.

At work it's much worse: always a line of cars at the card reader getting up to the street. And the ramp is *very* steep. So far I haven't had anybody roll back and bump me, but that happened a few times with my GMC Sierra. No damage to either.

A big problem with my Sierra was I ordered it with 4.10 gears. It was *very* difficult to modulate the gas pedal to "hold" the truck on the ramp. Sometimes even with my foot on the brake the rear tires would suddenly break free and start squealing, especially with an empty box.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(KTPhil\";p=\"97044)</div>

Yep I noticed it IS called the "parking" brake.

Another thing: if you live in an area with frequent road salt application in winter, and you rarely use the "parking" brake, after 2-3 years if you for some reason really DO need the "parking" brake, you're SOL.

It may engage, but it will never disengage. With a pickup, that means you have to crawl under to where the parking brake cables attach to the frame bracket, and try to manually push the cables back in. Good luck.