I was called today by a reporter when the Prius recall came out. He knew that I belonged to the local (Cincinnati) Prius Club and wanted to get my reaction to the recall and if I had ever experienced the brake problem. I told him, that I had not and he still wanted to do the interview. We talked for a while and then he asked to go for a ride and I went over every bump and section of gravel I could find. Some of these were really big bumps, including some huge pot holes and parking lot bumps, and I could not get my Prius to act up in any way. Here is the video of the interview.
Hey Jud your a star!!! Now I can say i know somebody famous LOL. Seriously it was a good interview. When you went over some big bumps I thought I heard some clicking, did the ABS ever activate?
That's a great idea about video taping the problem. I'll go to the three places where I had braking failure and video what actually happens with the momentary loss of brakes. Thanks for the idea!
Make sure the audio is nice and clear so we can hear all the screaming and terror-filled shrieks like are reported in the last 2 dozen threads on the subject.
I LOVE my Prius but I think the braking system should be flawless. It's not acceptable to live with "workarounds" or braking system failure only in certain conditions.
Good to hear your experience, but truly - it's one experience. I only have 6K miles on my 7 month-old '10. But felt the "brake-loss" sensation 3 times. All occurred on slight choppy bumps when coming to a stop, perhaps 5-15MPH. I've felt anti-lock brake pulsation many many times, but this sensation was very different and quite troublesome. Thanks to PChat I was aware of the issue. Am I concerned about this? - you bet. My concern is that - it's there, and one does not know when it may occur. And worse, to a driver that may borrow my car. Is this a problem experienced by a good number of drivers worldwide. You bet. Witness the input from members of PChat. Toyota would not have made the running change in new builds beginning January if there was no problem - and one that affected a valid number of vehicles. And there's the rub. It appears they stonewalled investigators and management changed their stories. Right during the accelerator issues. Shame. And now Ford acknowledges similar issues with their Fusion Hybrids. Smaller number, but they came clean quickly - but probably on the tails of Toyota to minimize publicity. Lucky timing on their part, and sour timing on Toyota's. So - good you have not experienced the braking issue yet. Can't explain why. But - please - don't imply that if it doesn't occur in your vehicle, there's no problem and Toyota may be exonerated....it came across that way.
i can tell you from experience I've had it happen to me several times. the worst was going downhill (which i posted) half the car on wet leaves going 25ish mph. i was in regen mode when pressing on the brakes. the car would not slow down fro at least 80+- feet. it finally did when i hit the intersection where there weren't any leaves, just wet asphalt. the car made a right turn in time to miss hitting straight into the side of a car. from your video i couldn't tell if you were actually hitting the breaks just before you hit the potholes. i can create the situation every time going home from work in a spot where there are multiple small potholes. I've had many cars in my life with abs and this is the worst i experienced this problem with. no car is perfect. i just want it remedied
nice work TS. anyone got the link for the video on the website i can not find it. its a bit better i guess http://www.wlwt.com/video/index.html please send me a pm with the link can not keep following al the threads
Nice Jud...great job getting the reporter along for the ride...even they have a hard time exagerating the issue when they have first hand experience.
Agreed. My 2010 is 8 months old, and I've experienced this issue a handful of times, and even knowing of its existence, it's not a pleasant experience. Looking forward to a recall to fix it.
Jud, I watched the entire video. I do NOT think you tried to replicate the problem properly. In fact, I would call that demonstration totally ineffectual (changed from dishonest) in how it was done. The two times it has happened to me were when I was attempting to park the vehicle moving at speeds VERY slow...probably less than 3 mph. ALL of your braking seems to have been above 12 mph speeds. EVERY single instance I've seen from users is at VERY slow speeds, as in approaching an intersection/stop sign, NEVER at road speeds or speeds anywhere over 10mph. So, people, before you get too much back-patting in, please take into consideration that the demonstration to the reporter was NOT at speeds that the braking loss is found at by those of us who've experienced it!!!
Then what you've experience is TOTALLY different than the issue that's been discussed for the last 5000 posts here. Below 7mph, if you have brakes applied you're already using the hydraulic/friction brakes...the regenerative braking cut out at 7mph or above depending upon conditions. Jud's demonstration was fairly accurate to what has been described by everyone else except you and it's not fair to call it dishonest. The only thing I would have added to Jud's demo is some turning and hitting bumps simultaneously as that seems to be what triggers the issue, usually under moderate braking while turning and hitting a bump with just one tire which induces uneven wheel spin and triggers the skid control ECU to discontinue regen and start hydraulic/friction braking.
I agree with Evan. At the speeds you mentioned, bighouse, you're already using the friction brakes and regen has cut out. This "braking issue" happens when the car is transitioning from regen to friction braking and usually at low speeds (e.g. 12mph)
I think Ford was even more 'behind the scenes' with their issue. Iirc they were first notified of it by a CR test driver back in the Fall. Yes it appears that based on that input that they adjusted some 15000 vehicles or so in order to minimize the issue but they too told no one. And they weren't every going to tell anyone either....until this Toyota mess hit the news. Then I'm certain that someone at Ford said, 'Hey this wasn't an internal test and tweak that we did. We let an outsider into the circle, one from CR who has no special loyalty to Ford. If we don't tell people that we made this adjustment on the QT, on the fly 4 months ago and the CR tester feels compelled to say...Ford has had the same issues for months, I tested it. Then we're going to look worse than Toyota in sponsoring a complete coverup.' 'Get it out right away while everybody is beating on Toyota.' I'll give them credit for handling it smoother.
Evan, I've modified my post. I do not mean to imply that Jud was attempting to be dishonest. Jud, if you read this, please accept my full apology. I DO think my situation is indicative of what others are experiencing for whatever reason it is happening. If you look at their comments about WHEN the loss of braking has happened to them you will almost always see something in their story that indicates they were moving at slow speeds, like trying to come to a stop at an intersection, or slowing to go over a pothole, etc. So, from this I can take away the likely observation that they were NOT moving at 20 mph or, quite likely not even ten miles per hour. I don't know of too many people who, within a few feet of stopping at an intersection, are moving at those kinds of speeds. So, maybe we should find out from users what kind of speeds there were moving at when this happens? My hunch is that it happens more frequently with a combination of the right (slow) speed, turning the steering and the sudden introduction of driving over an irregular surface. The effect I've felt twice now is described identically to those reports I've read by others who have commented and given details of their situation. When I next pull my car into my parking space at the location this has happened at I will pay very close attention to my speed and let you know what speeds I'm at when I pull into my parking space. If, as you say, this is a totally different event from what others have experienced, then I'm hoping that the fix by Toyota takes care of it as well.
Hmm....first bit of media that seemed to angle towards maybe we (the media) have been over reacting. That's got to be a good sign.
