Felt the brake cut-out thing.....

That's good to know.

 

Imagine you are behind another car and you are both slowing down as you approach a red light.

You then run over a pothole and your brakes stop functioning for 1/2 second. But during that time, the car in front of you keeps decelerating.

What will happen next is that you may very well smash into his rear end and cause an accident.

I call that dangerous.

And, in response to the naysayers who have been claiming that this just doesn't happen (even though many people have reported it), and who apparently think everyone but themselves is stupid, it's time to apologize for your arrogance:

CTV Toronto - Toyota hit by over 100 Prius brake complaints - CTV News, Shows and Sports -- Canadian Television


If you wish to file a compliant, this is the correct URL:
https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/Complaint.cfm

 

All that proves is you were following the car in front far too closely. Understanding that is what defensive driving is all about.

 

You don't even have a 2010 so you haven't experienced it, yet you feel free to talk about defensive driving in relation to this serious problem which has already caused injuries.

Having your brakes cut out for 1/2 second while someone else is braking in front of you is not the sort of thing people should expect from their cars.

Instead of pontificating on subjects you have no real experience with (ie: a 2010 Prius), your time would be better spent confining your comments to discussions of your own model year, where you presumably have some expertise.

Will you feel foolish when the recall is announced? I'm guessing you will instead think that people were silly for demanding any changes. If so, I'm afraid I feel that it's not fruitful to have a discussion with someone who has such attitudes.

 

ronhowell,

That's another poor justification/irrationalization and yet another way to "blame the driver". Why not just leave your car parked in the garage and never take it out? That's about the safest way to 'drive' it....

Toyota needs to remedy this and it looks, from the statements they're issuing, that they are. If it were NOT an issue, they wouldn't be addressing it, now would they?

 

You know, driving itself is a dangerous activity, many tend to forget that, members of this board not withstanding.

 

There is a point at which even if you are not following too closely, a pause in the brakes can cause a collision, regardless of how much distance there is between you and the car ahead of you.

 

If the car in front of you were to suddenly stop (which functionally isn't different than your brakes cutting out for 0.5s) and you hit them, would you also argue you're not at fault?

 

In this situation you press hard and the brakes work. In a panic stop, friction braking is immediately applied, and applied hard with Brake Assist.

Tom

 

OK ... So it turns out we who have been experiencing this were correct all along. It's become the TOP news item. But!!! It turns out that not only did Toyota know about the problem, they fixed it a month ago for cars coming off their assembly line. So ... what are they going to do about Prius's manufacture prior to the fix? I'd also like an explanation of why it wasn't acknowledged by them???

 

You know I think Volvo was one of the first car companies to explain why LED brake lights were better than incandescent ones. LED lights have a very fast rise time - they go from off to on 200 milliseconds faster than incandescent. Tungsten bulbs take a brief amount of time for the filament to heat and then emit light. The human driver can actually apply the brakes more quickly because they perceieved the brake lights more quickly (more time to react). if Volvo found safety value in those few milliseconds then I think there is some (albeit perhaps small) value in eliminating this half second period of no braking in the Prius. Every millisecond counts apparently.

People who don't read Priuschat won't know that this phenomenon is not going to be dangerous in most circumstances. Those same people will become worried and afraid to drive their cars. I have experienced the effect, but I am not the primary driver of the 2010, my wife is. She will not find this a comforting experience even if I explain it to her. Toyota will and should fix this. This kind of thing is what makes the difference between a good product and a great product.

 

Whilst I am not that concerned with the braking issue as like previous people have mentioned this is the way the car is designed to work, but maybe the delay could be reduced with a s/w patch.

The thing that really bugs me is that on all the news channels over here(UK) it is only US and Japan that are being acknowledged as having an issue whereas I have experienced this on numerous occassions and so has a coleague of mine.

Guess I will just have to wait and see if we get any mods that Toyota release.

 

I have had this happen to me several times in my 2008. Heavy braking and hitting a pot hole. I knew what it was, as it felt like when you slow down to 6-7 MPH and can feel the regen let go. Brake pedal drops a bit which can be surprising if you are not used to it but never felt in danger.

John

 

I felt this for the first time yesterday, and it was textbook: moderately heavy regen braking going into a turn and hitting a bump.

And the sensation is exactly like being rear-ended, but nowhere near the same order of magnitude as a real collision. (I have been in one, so I'm not making that up) You're feeling the g-forces from slowing down, then they cut out completely for a fraction of a second so it feels like being pushed from behind - but really you're just going from decelleration g's to zero g's.

It is very brief, so I don't think it can contribute to an accident unless you were already pushing the envelope too far (or hitting multiple bumps while pushing the envelope a little bit). I didn't find it disconcerting because I knew what it was the instant it happened, but for someone who didn't know about the issue, it would be pretty freaky.

So I will get it fixed, but I'm not in a hurry. In the meantime, if I loan the car to anyone (not bloody likely), I will warn them about it so they won't be freaked if it happens.