Toyota's runaway-car worries may not stop at floor mats-LA TIMES

that's odd, it's immediate in my 2008, and with the drive by wire, you don't even feel the disengagement of the transmission as you would in a typical automatic or standard shift

shifting to N or P in my Prius is sudden, immediate and intuitive

of course, i've had the car for 16 months, so i know where the gear shift is ... earlier in my ownership i could see reaching for the center console or the tree instead of the dash, as that's where the transmission controls had been in my prior 25 year of driving

i'm going to take a ride in a 2010 and check it out; thanks for the heads-up

 

I would prefer that the shifter knob would 'stick' in place corresponding to the specific gear to provide tactile feel for the driver. I would also like "Park" to be a depress and shift. This would more closely emulate the old mechanical shifter operation, which my wife would more easily identify.

I would also prefer that when the last of the gas is gone, the "check engine light" would come on. This allows us to use the remaining traction battery energy to find a safe place to park or 'try' for a gas station if close enough ... like the NHW11 and NHW20 do. But I can handle this mod.

Bob Wilson

 

Do you mean shifting to N while in drive mode and accelerating? I believe it is instant when the car is stopped but not when the car is moving, that makes it even more confusing in an emergency (I will double-check this).

 

read my posts, not only while driving, but even at WOT with the accelerator fully floored

i tried it at 10 MPH increments beginning at 30 through 80
it's instantaneous, you can shift to and from neutral with ease, instantly, and shifting to neutral at WOT not only disengages the transmission, but the EFI as well

same with Park, which instantaneously shifts to neutral at 3 MPH and above

instantaneous ... immediate

 

Ok, I will give it a try. With the 2010 you need to move the shifter in Neutral and keep it there a bit (one second or two) while the car is moving. If you just ‘click it’ and let go, it doesn’t shift in Neutral while the car is moving.

 

I just stumbled across this thread about Gen II, sounds similar to Gen III.
http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-prius-technical-discussion/51274-shift-neutral-takes-second-why.html

 

I tried the Park button and also the Reverse position and they do instantaneously shift the car in Neutral while moving - I just have to train my wife about it, thanks a lot for mentioning this.

 

terrific :thumb:

 

For obidubi's 2010, RTFM page 171, center of page:

Keep the shift lever in "N" for a while after you shift it to that position.

Other threads have suggested a 1 second delay, which roughly matches my experience, but I don't see a specific delay time in the manual right now.

 

I'm telling the folks at work to use "Neutral" and practice it with their cars. "Neutral" is universal but "Park" and "Reverse" are unique to our Prius. They are much more likely to practice with "Neutral" even if we have to hold it for a second.

Bob Wilson

 

:thumb:

 

That is most likely. Consumer reports put up a video of them testing the scenarios.

On a Toyota Venza, the brakes were not strong enough to stop the car at WOT @ 60mph. (Though it slowed.) If you pump the brakes, without assist the car would accelerate past 60mph.

Their solution: Simply push the brakes, shift the neutral and car will come to a very quick stop. They demo it on the video.

Also, they do the test on a VW and sure enough, the throttle is canceled, just as your said.

How to stop a runaway car: Don?t pump the brakes: Consumer Reports Cars Blog

They make the observation that the problem is most likely many people do not understand what neutral does or how to get to it and they advise trying it out in a safe location.

Again... lack of driver training. Really too bad.... It seems like anyone in the US can get a driver's license. The California test is a joke ... you don't even have to know how to parallel park!

 

Just wanted to point out from the article that even consumer reports says it's not a good idea to turn off the ignition because:

"We tried this with our Toyota Venza—as Toyota suggests—by holding down the start/stop button for three seconds. While this also allowed us to stop, we lost power steering and had trouble maneuvering the vehicle due to the extremely heavy steering."

Similar to my experience with the Dodge Caravan.

 

ABC and GMA can get away with their shows and 'reports' by simply taking the neutral position that they are reporting what others are saying. It's the others making the reports that have to be vetted for truth and accuracy.

Toyota has no recourse. It's somewhat slimy but it's not wrong.

 

If you saw such a 'report' then the writer is wrong. There is no such report. There is a lot of supposition by a lot of people who know nothing about the subject.

In all the 'reports' up until this point no one has identified anything to do with any computer. It's all supposition. The details are in the 'black boxes' stored in every vehicle.

 

Reality check.

This issue is gaining widespread attention. Good.

This site is the largest and most dedicated of several sites on the Prius which since Oct 2003 has had DBW technology throughout the vehicle. AFAIK there are zero reputable reports on this the largest site of its kind. Isn't that strange. Why does this afflict only those not posting on this site? Hmmmm

I also watch the postings over at Edmunds as well. ZERO reports there either. Edmunds is very big and well known. Why are there no postings there either? Hmmmmm

Reality check. When some neutral investigative body comes up with real solid data....then I'll believe that the problem is something other than the floormats.

 

I'm sure that this is coming ..double time now.

 

What do you know about these reported 2000+ instances? Other than that they are 'reports' we know nothing.
VINs?
Black box data?
Where do these 2000 'reports' exist? Who's collecting them?
Who has inspected the issues and where are the written reports of those inspections?

 

If you have a lot of time, use this web site to look for incidents:

ODI - Office of Defects Investigation
​

You can find as many complaints as you have time to read. For fun, look at:

• 2001 - Prius accelerator complaints
• 2008 - Prius accelerator complaints
• complaint numbers: 10275949, 1028465, 10268827

Bob Wilson

 

it sounds to me like runaway acceleration of media-driven hysteria.