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2010 Prius engine braking down very, very steep slope!

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Technical Discussion' started by Daddy Dave, Jul 29, 2011.

  1. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    Mine allows shifting to R while moving forward, below a certain forward speed (10 km/h or so). Above that speed, it goes to neutral instead.

    It is not something I do very often, but I definitely do as part of my dragging brake test, as a way to come to a complete stop without any heating of the brakes.

    As covered in some of Qamar Fahim Khan's threads already, the car is computer controlled, and generally will not let you do things that would harm it. Of course, you can drive it into trees or off cliffs or the like, but it will not overrev the engine or motors or overpower its components in response to your inputs. It will just do what it can and no more.

    So, the basic facts of its design place limits on what you can accomplish by doing that, and you'll just sort of find out what those are.
     
  2. CR94

    CR94 Senior Member

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    Specifically how steep and how long is the downhill in question, and how fast can it safely be negotiated? Depending on the answers to those questions, some people may be overthinking and overcomplicating a trivial issue. Descending in a Prius is not radically different from doing so in a non-hybrid, as far as the potential problems and ways of dealing with them. The main difference is that SOME of the energy can go into charging the battery.
     
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  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    'some people' being the person asking the same question all over the internet and not engaging in the discussion
     
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  4. Doug McC

    Doug McC Senior Member

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    I have to admit that putting a vehicle in reverse while driving forward is just one of those things that makes me ask “Do real people REALLY DO THAT???????”.
    Apparently so, but it sure boggles my poor pea pickin’ brain (to plagiarize T E Ford). ;)
     
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  5. Qamar Fahim Khan

    Qamar Fahim Khan New Member

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    Yes car doesn't allow to switch to reverse while moving forward but what i did was i slowed down car using brake and then applied reverse, as slope of downhill was high so car started moving forward while car was still in reverse, car engine showed much noise initially and speed was in control but then after a while engine breaking vanished and car started gaining speed, i was woundering that can i apply go pedal then to reduce speed but i was afraid of damage to car as it was in reverse so i didn't apllied throtle.
    I applied brake and then applied d and then b, i also wana ask is there any way so i can apply full regen continuously without engaging friction brake in such a situation.