Summary of problems reported on Prius 2010

must be a tire
Woz have up to 97 mph and no shaking reported LOL

 

I suggest you create a new topic in the . . . .maintenance and troubleshooting forum. Your question will get a lot more exposure there and more likely get some good answers. Buried way back here in this topic a lot of people who may have an answer might not even see the question. Airbalancer above may be correct I've seen tires act that way also, could be in balance but out of round or whatever they call it when they aren't round any more.

 

I'd like to ad this to the list of problems. In summary, when using the bluetooth mic on a phone call I sound like I'm talkin through a long PVC pipe to the person on the other end of the call. I have tried all sorts of solutions and none of them made a difference at all. I am not the only person having this issue. I think it's related to the way the foam is packed in the microphone area but I'm not sure yet.
http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...cs/72878-low-microphone-volume-gen-iii-5.html

 

Re: Shaking Prius 2010

Is this the problem you're having?
http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii-2010-prius-main-forum/66084-weird-handling-problem.html

 

Prius 2010 handling

I've got a new 2010, and have just done my first 1,000 miles. I like it. There's tons of options for driving it. I'm getting used to the slow lane...and drivers overtaking in a hurry. And 50+ mpg. Driving is a very relaxing affair, as opposed to my previous tight-hand-grip down the fast lane.

One thing I do notice: I'm not blown away with the handling around corners. There's little or no wheel response when taking corners a little quicker. I don't feel in control of the process. It feels more like "I wonder if I'll exit the corner on the wrong side if I keep going at this speed". It doesn't feel like a car with good self-centering, or where you can accelerate nicely out of corners in a well-balanced way. This is the only car I've ever had with what appears to be a solid rear axle: my wife's Ford Focus goes amazingly well around corners - it's on rails. That's the only area I would question. The rest is just one amazing journey of discovery.

 

Re: Prius 2010 handling

Sounds like you might need an alignment, you should get one free because it obviously had the problem when you got the car. Live rear axle might cause the rear end to skip a little if your in a hard corner on a rough patch of pavement but it won't cause what you are feeling. A lot of the early British sports cars had live rear axles, Triumph, Austin Healey, MG, etc and they were more fun to drive than anything you can buy today, great steering and handling considering the tires.

Steering on my Prius V is as good as any car I have owned recently, good feedback and self centering. It's as good as my E46 BMW and your Prius should be also. Another thought - make sure your tire pressures are up, factory recommended pressures are to low. I usually inflate mine to 45 lbs, some go to 51 the max on the sidewall. (The Michelins are 44 max the Toyos and Bridgestones are 51.) Of course that's assuming you get the same tires in the UK that we do over here in the colonies.

 

This thread is a great idea. Strongly suggest keeping it a permanent sticky, and investing in maintaining it over time. A single ongoing list of known shared problems and their state of solution is a bulls eye, and should remain easy to find. Almost makes you remember why we have the internet...

 

2010 Prius rolls backward in D gear , drive, on a mildly sloped driveway, foot off brake pedal.

That's right folks. I'm driving a rental tonight with about 9,500 miles on ODO. I pulled into my driveway in D gear, took foot off brake and the car rolls, albeit slowly, .. backward.

This makes me think the car could be a pain driving in a hilly city like San Francisco. This seems a lot like a problem to me - if you don't get on the gas quickly up a steep hill, light turns green, would roll backward into car that's too close behind.

I did the same thing with my 2009 Prius, and it will slightly creep backward in D, foot off brake pedal, mildly inclined driveway, but nowhere near as 'fast' as the 2010.

If you want the VIN #, let me know tonight.

Otherwise the car drives fine.

 

The Australian Gen 3 Prius has a neat way of stopping it rolling backwards - once stopped press firmly on the brake pedal and then move your foot to the accelerator pedal. The brakes will stay on for 2 seconds or until you press the accelerator, which ever comes first.
I do not know if this feature is on all Gen 3s.

 

Yes we have it also, standard equipment on all versions. Page 243 of the Canadian and U.S. owner's manual.

 

No confirmed problems

Date: 2/26/10
2010 Prius III
VIN: JTDKN3DU1A0046012
Miles: 9,500 total
Rental from Toyota dealer

Note - There is a Hill Assist feature to keep car from rolling backwards.

Non-issue-------------------------------------------------
1) Car rolls backward about 1 ft / sec on an incline while in drive gear, D, after releasing brake pedal, before pressing acclerator. Rollback rate 1ft/sec is about the same whether on gentle slope (typical driveway) or steep slope (up a hill).
-------------------------------------------------------------

 

Anyone still having braking problems "after" the fix?

I feel like mine still releases and speeds up when braking and hitting a rough spot at the same time.
The firmware upgrade helped but they need to tweak it about that much again.

 

No offense, but I nominate your no. 1 as one of the silliest non-problems posted in this long thread of mostly non-problems. most times you just give a little gas or use the brake. Why should it behave any differently? How much it too much or too little artificial assist? God forbid it causes any "unintended acceleration"! They put in a hill assist for when this might actually a problem. There have been other posters that had the exact opposite view, i.e., that there should be no artificial assist at all.

No. 2 is a close second. On mild grades, I have noticed there is less drag with my 2010 than there was with my 2004, such as going down my circular parking ramp at work. So what? It is really only supposed to be for long steep inclines.

 

The braking issue is no big deal to me, but I could see on icy roads it could be a very big deal!

As you have a precise measured about of braking your doing to come to a slowdown and you hit a small bump or rough spot and the brakes release tension which allows you to not so much accelerate as it really is "brake less" and then catch again.....

that releasing and catching again could cause you to go into a skid.

I slid my Prius right in the ditch about a month ago... came to a 4 way stop "no traffic" and didn't slow down quite enough for the ice I was on and just kept going right into the soft mud on the edge.. I had to go get my 4X4 to pull it out and that also slipped all over the road.

Point is, there is no room for error with ice.

The adjustment they made did help, but I estimate it still needs about a 40% more tweak to the software to finish the job.

 

I had the software update a couple of days ago and have not been able to feel any brake problems like before where it had a temporary release on rough roads. I guess unless I feel that again it may have been fixed by the update.

 

I noticed it two days ago when it was drizzly slimy wet and I was braking before a stop light.

 

Are you sure about the silliness being that you live in Houston? Pretty flat there isn't it?

IMO, the rollback was weird for an 'automatic transmission' type of car, although I did not know about, nor tried Hill Assit.

 

I keep thinking about Goldilocks for some reason. How does anyone decide how much is too much or too little assist? Do they design the car for SF or for Houston? Do they make this a customizable feature as long as anyone who buys the car is willing to sign a waiver and indemnify Toyota when it causes an accident? The reason I call it a non-problem is that like most of the items listed in this thread, it seems to be a design preference more than an actual problem. I don't like the color choices, but I don't think that constitutes a "problem". By the standards of this thread, it easily qualifies though, since there have been plenty of threads on the subject.