Anyone notice their speedometer is off?

Question- why do manufacturers intentionally make their speedometers inaccurate? And you guys are joking when you say 2 mph is going to make a difference in a road rage incident?

 

maybe in l.a.?

 

Some of the reasons are given at Speedometer Scandal! - Feature - Car and Driver (from 2002). http://www.caranddriver.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/original/application/1e1b33f85f31df61e4830f32f82a5a71.pdf is also interesting.

Also see Speedometer Error about 1 MPH?--Some evidence | PriusChat.

 

Your speedometer is not a legal measurement of speed. The only legal measurement is the police radar with recent documented calibration. All the judge wants to know about.

 

There is nothing unusual about this. You will find readings being correct to high in all cars. I believe manufacturers are required to insure the speedometer never, never reads low. Hence, variations in design/manufacturing will cause 0 to plus error in the speed reading. This is true for all cars. My 2004 Highlander was dead on. (So was my 49 Ford but that's another story.) My 2012 Prius was 1 mph high. My Prius Plug-in is about 1.5 mph high.

 

What about the odometer? I know that Toyota always understates speed and overstates mileage. Do they lie about distance, too?

 

They are usually quite close to correct.

 

Overstating mileage, causing warranties to expire prematurely, would roll out the red carpet for class action product liability lawyers. Two of my previous brands got hit, and settled for $million$ in fee$ for the lawyers, and 2% warranty extensions for car owners. But neither of my covered cars had any significant error, nor any problems that came anywhere near the warranty.

The few times I've checked my past and present Prii odometers, they understated miles by 0.2 to 0.3%. That is small enough that if checked again in the future, I should also measure tread depth to correlate this error with tire wear.

 

I'm not joking, they are riding my nice person if go 2MPH below the speed limit (prius drivers have a bad reputation to begin with, especially in rural country). If I'm doing the speed limit, I don't have to worry about it as much, and in most cases, they leave me alone.

 

In Southern California people ride your rear if you DRIVE the speed limit much less go under it. In fact riding your rear is a method of intimidating people to go faster. I take my foot off the accelerator and laugh at them when they drive around honking and swerving in a psychotic aggressive manner.


iPad ? HD

 

Oh I know, they do that here as well, it's just that Toyota is adding to this problem. Prius drivers have a bad rep to begin with, and this isn't helping.

 

And what about the reputation of the folks that are doing the tail gating?