Wozniak cites 'scary' 2010 Prius acceleration problem

As a Prius and Apple fanboy myself, I'm battling myself indeed.
:madgrin:

(My poor English is betraying me again).

 

huh? He clearly does not know how to operate his car, and he latest interview confirmed that... what he did was stupid, irresponsible and pretty idiotic.

only thing that could happen from that is that toyota could remove adaptive cruise control from the market, because fools like steve dont realize how it works. Yes, once the car in front of you moves, ACC will speed up the vehicle to preset speed.

he caused damage to toyota, toyota dealers AND toyota owners with resale value.

just because he is an idiot that wanted to get on news. now he is all cutesy trying to get out of it, saying he wasnt implying what news media said and that he never claimed it to be an acceleration issue, or important issue, etc, etc.

Danny's opinion was posted when he thought there might be some real issue... and not adaptive cruise control working the way it should.

 

p.s. In case you missed new article on steves media spree:
Steve Wozniak Admits He Doesn't Know How To Use Cruise Control... Kind of | PriusChat

 

Ahhh..don't worry. If you wanted to sell right now, well maybe...but that's not Wozniaks fault.

One thing I'd apply generally to The Prius crowd is they aren't a casual or uneducated group. So I'd expect the value of The Prius won't tank, unless there is a real reason for the value to tank. But assuming someday Toyota is able to move on from this whole regrettable debacle the value will return.

Hopefully a year from now the reality that is "constant" and remembered is that Toyota FIXED the problem. Whatever comes out of this reality will be Toyotas not Wozniaks fault. So yes, I still say Thanks Wozniak.

 

Seconded in spades!

 

LOL! Yes I've read the new post and within it Danny says: "Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, made a comment during Discovery Forum 2010 that he was having trouble getting Toyota and the NHTSA to pay attention to his complaint about a problem he perceived he was having with his 2010 Prius' cruise control. The comment was made to highlight how hard it can be to get organizations to pay attention to you sometimes."

It's not my "job" to defend Wozniak, I have enough trouble defending myself. But I agree with the above. I don't think Wozniak was acting to get on TV or get some media attention, I think he perceived a problem and really wanted to to bring it to the proper peoples attention. It's all timing. Of course now his comments cause a flaming domino's of fire affect.

But if I say, I think the problem is probably mostly user error I get flamed for not supporting Wozniak and giving credence to the idea that it might be a software problem. If I say I think it's a software glitch that perhaps now maybe Toyota can improve? Then I get flamed by the heavenly choir of Prius Purists that don't want to believe there might be a problem with the software...damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Basicly, I don't think Wozniak is an idiot, I also don't think he made the comments with self promotion in mind. If he's that desperate for 15 minutes of fame, all he has to do is ride his Segway naked to Wal-Mart.

From what I can tell he kind of got drawn into comment through the backdoor...and of course the media took off with it. That's not Wozniaks fault.

As far as the reality of the problem....battle it out...I don't own a Prius so I recuse myself from comment.

When you say "He" caused damage to Toyota and Toyota dealers and Owners, I say, no...the media used him to try to create sensation. In every interview I've seen and read, he has tried to explain that it wasn't connected to the latest recalls.

 

yes, this Blue Box freak who got to where he is today by BREAKING THE LAW and then being worshiped for it, is at it again. He has absolutely no conscience or he is dismally stupid. Sadly, people listen to him. He does not have a clue how cruise control is supposed to work, and he is unsafe at any speed.

I am honestly not an apologist for any car company. I own two Toyotas, not because I worship that company, but because of the endless trouble I had with my 1998 Honda Accord. Prior to that point, I was a believer in Honda cars. However, recently, I found myself in a situation where both of our cars were worthless and we needed two new cars. We have a Corolla and a Prius. I have been worried sick about these stories, and now we find Woz getting all the attention. This is really a nightmare.

Do not press the up arrow or whatever the equivalent to that is on the cruise control lever and then expect for the car to slow down! Every press means something. This isn't an underpowered computer with its hourglass icon turned on requesting for you to wait until it responds. This cruise control function adds the presses and does what you tell it to do If you don't want that to happen, stop asking for it!!!

I am just beside myself over how this fool can commandeer this story and possibly put human life at risk by distracting all of us from the possible, real problems. Woz didn't know what he was doing in 1980 and he doesn't know what he is doing now. Getting rich doesn't always mean that you have any skill, intelligence or ethics at all.

 

i wonder if you have some kind of reading disorder :welcome:


Steve thinks he is of sufficient stature not having to visit dealership to get educated about his car, but should be able to do it over the phone (which is quite impossible as his iPhone dropped his calls 2 times when he tried to call Toyota).:rockon::cheer2:

Imagine me sending an fax to ATT and Apple about dropped calls, explaining them the issue... thats equiualent of what he tried to do.

oh dealers can be ignoring the issue thats for sure, they can be dismissing and annoying, but in his case they were not, so i am not sure how is he trying to prove anything but his ignorance.

 

Right...accuse me of having a reading disorder. Real mature discussion.

Listen, I don't care if you "like" Wozniak or not, think he's a genius or idiot or anything inbetween. How he personally handled his attempt to reach Toyota or the NHTSA is also pretty inmaterial to me as well.

My contention is Prius Owners are upset at him because they are attaching an agenda of attack to his actions. I do not think his intentions were ever to cause trouble for Toyota or even besmirch the reputation of The Prius.

Very simply if his name wasn't Wozniak, you'd just have a new owner that discovered something that happens in the operation of the vehicle that they did not understand fully or correctly. Is that an unforgiveable sin? I'm sure it happens all the time.

I'm NOT an owner so I haven't tested the reality of the actions or responses he claims. But it's also my contention that if his statements get anything improved in how the software works? Then that would be a good thing....if it was a simple misunderstanding or non-issue....that's not a bad thing.

The amount of debate over Wozniak has IMO been ridiculous.

You want to use these events as a platform to call the man an idiot? You want to dislike him? Go ahead...I can't stop you.

 

I think this is a case where the design of cruise control could be improved. The problem is that there is no indication of the cruise control set speed (perhaps this exists in the 2010 Prius or other vehicles, but I have not seen an implementation with a separate set speed indicator). Most of the time, this isn't a problem as the actual speed and set speed are the same, but when changing speeds for whatever reasons (going up/downhill, changing set speed, adaptive cruise control, etc.) this is no longer true. If the set speed were a separate indicator, then this wouldn't be an issue and how the cruise control is behaving would be much more apparent.

 

I believe the ATP Prius has the separate set-speed indicator. I know they have it on the European models.

Tom

 

Indeed, ACC has separate indicator, worldwide.

 

I have previously reported something similar to the above description. Here is the sequence of events.
The vehicle slows to follow a slower moving vehicle (dynamic cruise engages)
Push the lever up to increase speed and nothing happens, except the set point on the display changes. If you hold the lever up the speed setting will increase very quickly, to 95 or more!
You pass the slower moving vehicle or it moves out from in front of you.
Prius rapidly accelerates to new set point on the cruise.
Pressing the brake disengages the cruise and the vehicle slows down.
This happened to me twice before I recognized what had happened.
The display does show the set point for the cruise and I have gotten used to looking at it when I change the settings.
One thing Toyota could do is to slow down the rate of change when you hold the stem up or down.
The Prius will accelerate very quickly from 55 to 90 or 95 on the highway, this is not a wimpy vehicle!
Bob

 

A great idea but I doubt it would help existing USA cars.

 

there is already indicator for ACC on US models ;-).

apperantly this has to be stickied on the screen at all times.

 

I'm sorry but as I understand the suggestion :
"I think this is a case where the design of cruise control could be improved. The problem is that there is no indication of the cruise control set speed (perhaps this exists in the 2010 Prius or other vehicles, but I have not seen an implementation with a separate set speed indicator)."
I assume this means that a numeral would be posted on the dash indicating speed that the cruise is set to...and as the acc is moved the numeral would change to show the desired new speed.....
Still a good idea to me.

 

The driver is asking for a lot of acceleration when there are more than say 3 requests made quickly (up taps), this is why the car hammers down to accelerate after 15 up taps are inputted by the driver. Why would Toyota build a car with cruise control set to accelerate the cars aggressively after 1 or 2 up taps on the stick? The car will get there people, just not aggresively, which would surely cause more problems.
If you are on cruise control and you wish to pass a car, just use the accelerator to pass and then return to a set speed after your action is done.

 

Hell, I'd give Wozniak some kudos for bringing to light that you can drive a Prius at 80, or 90 mph...most people unintiated with Prius don't believe you can drive the car any faster than 45mph.

If Wozniak is routinely driving his Prius with the cruise control set in the 80's? Then I suggest Toyota create a "Special Wozniak Editon" of The Prius. The Driving Mode Buttons could be labeled, ECO, EV, and WOZ.

 

Why? Heck, Al Gore III. got a G2 Prius past 100mph in July 2007. And that was certified by Orange County Sheriff's Department.

 

Well there was quite nice article (for a change) about the issue, and suggesting that Steve might want to take an look at manual.

It is even from FOX NEWS!

Is Wozniak Wrong About Prius? - Leisure - FOXNews.com