Not common at all. It happened to me maybe 5 times in 20,000 miles and only when I start the car again shortly after it's been driven around. However, I can't reproduce this issue at will, unlike the regen to friction braking transition when braking over a pothole.
I've had this happen to me recently while backing out of a sloped driveway. Has anyone figured this out?
It's pretty clear at this point that Toyota doesn't want to believe this is a real problem and not "confused" drivers pressing too hard on the pedal. It's too difficult to replicate it in front of the technicians.
NOW!....I know what everybody is fussing about. I hit the rear brake brick wall yesterday (5029 miles into ownership, backing into parking spots several times daily....) OK...so it might have concerned me had I not read about it before hand in the forum, but I can't say I'm bothered by it. I can imagine that this 'problem' will result in a few visits to Toyota dealerships by people who aren't looking out for it. I really cannot say that I would consider this to be a reason for not buying a Prius....but if I were Toyota I think that I'd spend a little time looking into it. Do other cars with regenerative braking encounter this???? Just another small price we pay for driving green!! ( Kermit always did say that it's not easy being green!)
No, Toyota is very much aware of this problem. They just won't publicly acknowledge it because too many customers would just go ballistic at the lack of a solution. Apple is the same way also in remaining silent until they come out with a fix. In the meantime, just lift your foot completely off the brake pedal and reapply it to resolve this issue.
My biggest concern is Toyota's lack of action on a problem concerning brakes. There must be someone who works for Toyota engineering that has personally experienced it. This could be a symptom of a problem that could become more serious such as happening at highway speed instead of only in parking lots.
I'm pretty sure that this is a 'reverse-only' problem....and I don't think a Prius is capable of interstate highway speeds in reverse. (I could take a cheap shot here, but I actually like Priuses... ) There are some 200,000 G3's on the roads in just the USA, which has the least educated driving public coupled with the most sniveling bed-wetting attorneys per square foot. If just a very few of these G3's encountered brake lock-up at interstate speeds, then there would be more class-action lawsuit commercials than you see for mesothelioma (with apologies to Steve McQueen.) I wouldn't worry about it much.....unless you work for Toyota....or you own a lot of their stock.
It is not a reverse only problem. Most people almost always back out of parking spaces so it just happens to be mostly a reverse issue. However, I have occasionally had it happen pulling forward out of a parking spaces. It was rare since I also almost always back out, but it happened.
Interesting. When I first got my Prius 10 months ago it happened about 3 times in the first 1500 miles, but nothing since then and now at 11.5K miles.
Agreed and it's happened to me once. It's far more likely to happen when backing out because you typically go slower and have your foot on the brake, especially when going down an incline. However, given that lifting your foot completely off the brake cures this problem and the brake will already have been "reset" this way a number of times while getting on the highway (unlike from a standstill when starting the car) this is not a concern at highway speed and there's no reason to be paranoid about it like mwok.
Just lifting off the pedal doesn't cure it for me. I have to pump the pedal a few times before it goes back to normal. That would be seriously dangerous if it starts happening at faster speeds when the car is older.
I think the problem is due to the drum rear brakes in the US in countries where the rear brakes are disk the problem does not seam to appear.
Did you actually take your foot completely off the brake pedal for approx. one second before reapplying it, not merely lifting up then back down? That's what it takes to reset the brake. It's not going to happen at faster speeds because it only occurs from a standstill when starting up and it's not like you can get to 60 mph from a standstill in one second. That's just paranoid thinking.
If it's so predictable, then after more than a year, there should be a fix and there is not. Things are not working the way they were designed to work.
The only thing predictable about it is being able to cure it on the spot. Reproducing the problem is an entirely different matter and it works just fine 98% of the time.
I don't see why anyone is defending this and blaming drivers for not doing the workaround correctly instead.
I've said no such thing, just that Toyota is silently working on a fix just like any other manufacturers including Apple and that a workaround is available if you want to eliminate it instantly until they come out with a fix. There's also a workaround for the rough engine at startup syndrome and hopefully Toyota will come out with a fix for this sooner rather than later.
