Unintended Acceleration -- While Parking

I am looking at purchasing a 2010/11 gen 3 prius. As part of trying to educate myself about the car, for the last few weeks i have been reading many of the posts in the gen 3 forums and the technical information forums. after reading this thread i finally felt compelled to register.. so this is my first post.

i must say that i am confused, many of your users post up concerns about strange behavior of these cars. for example in the technical section i read about a person that still doesn't know why there car wouldn't start after taking coworkers to lunch. I have read others with concerns about the car surging and now i have read this thread about what sees to be a genuine concern that someone has about a the safety of the car in low speed parking situations.

however, what is most concerning to me, is the peculiar behavior of certain gen 3 prius owners. Some on this forum seem to be way overly defensive of the prius and appear to think that the car is invincible and anything wrong MUST ALWAYS be operator error. Are you not reading the posts on your own forums? Are you not reading fellow prius owners complaints? Do your really think some people are selling there cars new prius at a loss that is 12K and only back to toyota because they don't want to live with guilt of another person being hurt by there car because they are all crazy and prone to user error?

My point in all of the above is, please let's have open communication and open dialog and not be so closed minded. I have read all of this information, and for me i am still interested in the prius. I was also looking at a volt which i was fortunate enough to drive at the santa anita launch but the consumer reports article that says mileage post electric mode, is only 30-35 miles)has me thinking that the toyota system is superior. Dont get me wrong, while i think it is superior, i don't think for a second that there isn't the possibility of glitches with it or real problems. The fact that problems with the system exist is evident by the recalls that toyota has already performed on the gen 3 prius.

With this, i fully expect some of you to call me a troll... but i surely wish you would not and we could keep the conversation at a fact based level that avoids the personal attacks.
Most important happy new years to all and your families. that is what this is all about.

 

^ Well said socaley. There are some overly sensitive and passionate members here. But there are a lot of trolls that do visit and often it is hard to discern. With that said, it is a chat forum after all. There are a few resident Toy techs here but when it boils down to it, most are just users that have spent a fairly good sum for a car.

 

Respected posters can tell you right off the bat that there are three known issues with the Prius that aren't attributable to operator error. They are as follows:
1. Regen to friction braking transition when going over road imperfections that can be unsettling at first and takes some time getting used to. It's been shortened to the Gen II's level with the Gen III brake campaign.
2. Grabbing brakes when reversing. Toyota has yet to find a cure for this but it can be temporarily halted by lifting your foot completely off the brake then reapplying it.
3. Violent shaking at start up. Very rare but it's happened to at least one moderator and a few posters (not me though).

The OP is just spreading FUD and confusing known issues with UA. Unfortunately, there's nothing to prevent nutty people from owning Prius so yes, we have to put up with the likes of Diane Whitmire's certain customers, mwok, and others crazy and paranoid enough to take a 12K loss.

 

This may be a little off topic, but I think it is highly significant to those who aren't as adept with Prius as most of us ....

B mode

An unnoticed or unwanted bump into B mode can startle anyone.

It doesn't make the car accelerate, but the engine revving on the freeway can like I say startle a driver.

I think B mode should be explained carefully to all newcomers to Prius.

 

Greetings and WELCOME ABOARD!
:welcome:

The best thing I can tell you is to rent a Prius for a full day before you pull the trigger on a purchase. A 10-minute test drive will only tell you that the particular car that you're driving is functional.
Priuses are too different from the norm not to drive at length before purchasing, and there are some ergonomical...ah....(*) things about the car that you will either learn to put up with, passionately defend, or loathe---depending on how you connect with the whole driving thing.

Unintended acceleration, high EMF in the rear seat, $12,000/3-year battery replacement costs, twitchy brakes, getting beat-up by roaming bands of Prius haters...
All fiction.

There are people who hate Priuses. They lie.
There are people who Looooove Priuses. They lie too.

Whether or not this car will be a good fit for you will depend on.....(you gotta wait for it!)........ You!

Good Luck!

 

Good call ETC.

You know, nothing beats personal experience in life. One must be careful not to rely too heavily on statistics or complaints. You can factor them in, but still, one must look at the overall picture.

I never had a problem with braking in my 2009. I think I felt a little bit of 'sliding' feeling over a bumpy surface, but it never bothered me.

If any car of mine really unintentionally accelerated, I mean, my foot was on the brake and the car lunged forward a foot or two or more on a smooth, dry surface, or took off, that would be a major issue to me. Not only would I report it to NHTSA and the mfr., I would go to the media as well. No car anywhere, anytime should truly accelerate by motive force when applying only the brake. I say this being a very experienced driver with years and over 50k miles of high performance backroads motorcycling too. Going W, backside of Mt Hamilton. Told you I have long legs.



I still trust Toyota. They've always shown great customer service in my 2 1/2 years with a 2009 Prius. They have quickly ackowledged any issues and fixed them. They do not seem shady or dismissive in any way to me.

I have driven 3rd gen Prius over 1k miles in 9 different rental cars and 15k miles in my 2009 and have never experience any, not one, abnormal behavior of any of those cars.

 

The short answer is yes.

 

Of course it dangerous! This person shouldn't be driving!!! I've heard of left-foot braking, but what in the world is this driver doing using both feet to brake? Is the ICE turned off and there's no power-brakes? Is it entirely possible that one foot was on brake and one on the accelerator?

As I've said before, we have no hard evidence other than a driver's word stating what they believed was happening. When all is said and done, why is it so easy to disprove driver's account of what they were doing, but so hard to come up with any proof the driver was doing what they said they were doing? The above driver said this happens everyday on their route. To prove their statement, how about taking a passenger with video and record this event for all to see? Even better, take a Toyota technician on the same route and have them experience this problem first hand - duhh!! Give me some hard credible evidence!

 

58 cars since march and so far they can't find anything. how long and how many studies will satisfy you? i'm not saying it doesn't exist, but it's difficult to prove a negative.

 

please don't confuse u/a with a change in rate of decelleration. when braking, if the traction control kicks in while the regen kicks in, there may be a slight decrease in decelleration which feels like accelleration to the brain but isn't. shooting through the parking spot over a curb and into another object while braking would definately be u/a.

 

No need to conflate things. These reports of UA don't sound like the momentary interruption of braking that many of us have experienced on slippery surfaces; they sound like someone stomping on the gas instead of the brake. Some will commiserate, and some will deride, but without physical evidence of mechanical or electrical failure no one is going to be convinced.

 

OK so what have I learned from 16 pages. I'm going to trade in my 2008 Prius for a 2011 Prius. My Gen II just works perfect....it's so boring to drive. I want the Gen III now because it sounds like it will be much more exciting to drive. I love a challenge.

Thank you Evpv for bringing all this fun stuff to my attention.:cheer2:

 

When I lived in San Jose I easily did well over 100 rides up Mt Hamilton with about 1/3 of them going down the backside too, sometimes up it. Great road!

 

What I've learned after 16 pages is that evpv has a point of view and/or agenda, and he/she really doesn't care what anyone else thinks.

 

I'll bet you know the junction, Mines, Del Puerto Canyon, Coral Hollow, the racetrack and Patterson for lunch too. Good stuff.

 

evpv, just to keep it real bro ...

There will likely be 140k Prius' sold this year alone. That sir is a truck load of cars. IOW, there are many, many people right this moment driving 2010/11 Prius all over the country.

Toyota Sunnyvale sold 100 3rd gen Prius in about 1 week.

My common sense tells me IF there was getting to be a problem that was affecting a number of people, word would spread like wildfire, but bad words on UA are not spreading by word of mouth. Pretty much no one goes to NHTSA to research before buying a Prius, or after wondering if they'll be next.

I think you are going to be fine with your Prius V. This is Toyota. Just about the largest car mfr. in the world. Prius is very important to them as are their customers. They've got things under control.

Don't worry.