Toyota Prius Speeds Out of Control on SoCal FWY

Ummm. Isn't the Prius a Toyota? What about Lexus? Isn't that a re-badged Toyota?

 

Re: Run Away Prius

You know, that kind of driving is just TERRIBLE on a Prius' gas mileage! Wonder what he got going 90 mph up a mountain?

 

Re: Run Away Prius

You might be on to something there, carz.... What if the car's engine were to run out of gas and the traction motor continued to try to accelerate the car until like maybe the battery pack exploded?

 

Many people don't know to hold down the button for 3 seconds. The driver of the family that crashed and died in their Lexus didn't know either.

 

A 2008 wouldn't have the adaptive CC, just regular CC.

I don't really know what the issue was, but hopefully someone will figure it out.

However, the driver could have handled it better if he knew what to expect by shifting into N or pressing the Power button for 3 sec. Shifting to N was the best option here, you could always shift back to D if you need to.

 

It wasn't their Lexus, it was a loaner car from the dealer which explains why they were not familiar with it.

 

Since the shifting in a Prius is under total electronic control (no mechanical linkage), what if the car does not respond to shift input?

 

This particular guy might be a scammer, but some of this Toyota's fault because they chose to make unconventional choices for the gear shifter to be quirky and unique instead of making it more conventional and intuitive. They should have just made a standard PRNDL selector. No push button Park. No weird procedure to get Neutral and the 3 second hold should probably be on a sticker and/or first pages of the owners manual in giant print.

 

Being a loaner car makes it worse, but many owners don't know this either. The majority of people do not read the owners manual and you shouldn't have to for something as basic as shutting off the car.

 

Or the only way to turn it off ... always.

Bob Wilson

 

It keeps on accelerating?

 

That would certainly reinforce the concept of how you turn off your car.

P.S.: I thought you had gone to bed? Is all of this debate keeping you awake?

 

Yes, that would be even better.
They really need to stop making the car so unintuitive that you have to lecture valets and car wash attendants on how to start and stop the car.
These design issues are now biting Toyota and have cost lives. Stuck accelerator pedals, floor mats in the way or not, it should have been easier to just turn off the car.

 

Re: TV Tease - CHP stops runaway Prius

So he turned the car off to slow it down? Will my 2008 Prius turn off if I hold the ON/OFF button down? Or is there another trick to turning off the car while it is moving?

 

If you can't shift to N, then press the Power button and hold (3 sec, but just keep holding it).

If that doesn't work, then slam on the brakes as hard as you can. Don't lift your foot, partial braking will heat up the brakes and cause brake fade.

If that doesn't work, look for something like a road barrier or dirt bank to scrub off speed without hitting something hard.

If that doesn't work, look for something solid to hit - get it over quickly. :madgrin:

 

Things are just getting started. Corolla's are being queued up for a steering mechanism recall.

 

Or, avoid the potential for a problem altogether - don't drive a Toyota.

 

I guess the point of the question was that the near-blind repetition of "why didn't they just put the car in neutral, it's so easy!" is relatively short sighted given that so many things in the car, including the button that controls the on/off operation, are completely electronically controlled. As a result, there really can't be any guarantees that the software had not incurred some sort of fault. I'm quite disappointed to see so many instantaneously blaming the driver when the incident hasn't even been superficially investigated.

 

More likely that they just don't know how to get neutral while in a panic because it doesn't have a regular neutral slot in the selector like they are used to in every other "automatic" they've driven.
Poor design on that part, however, I'd be surprised if the on/off button is "completely electronically controlled" and won't override any software just like a power switch on a PC will shut the computer off after holding it down for a few seconds even if the software isn't responding.

 

The driver stated that he did not try to shift to N. So we don't know that he could have, but other people have tested this under full acceleration (see video) and it works in a normal car.

The driver did finally hold the Power button (at the direction of the CHP officer) and the car shut down as normal. The shifting function and Power button are both inputs to the HV ECU, so we do know that at least the shutdown function worked normally and we know that the driver did not try to shift to N.

We can learn from this driver's experience; shifting to N is probably the best option for this type of problem, shutting down the car is also an option, standing on the brakes is also an option.

The driver stated that standing on the brakes did not work; I believe that the problem may have been that he did not use the brakes hard enough at the outset and experienced brake fade due to the brakes overheating. The important lesson: in this situation where there is unintended acceleration use the brakes hard, come to a stop with one application, don't try to slow gradually.