xcel
03-14-2010, 10:27 AM
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/2/AmericanFlag.jpg Education at a grass Roots level (cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?p=257699)
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/2005_Prius_Shut_Down.jpg Jesse Rudavsky - CleanMPG (cleanmpg.com) - Mar. 14, 2010
Shutting down a Prius at 91 mph… One man’s perspective.
I was driving a tractor-trailer yesterday when I decided to pull into a Dunkin Donuts to grab a bagel. The TV was on and a news story caught my attention. A driver of a 2008 Prius on I-8 in California had a case of sudden acceleration. As a long time Prius owner, I was fully aware of the situation with Toyota but this was the first situation of its kind that occurred in a Gen 2 Prius that I heard about first hand. I haven't been very concerned about my car at least as of yet since I have nearly 216k miles on my 2005 Prius and nothing has happened yet. I also had no problems with my Gen one up to 350k when that idiot went through a red light and totaled it. I know how to shift the car into neutral and I know how to shut the car down by holding the power button down for 5 seconds or so. My girlfriend knows how to do this as well.
I got to thinking when I heard about the guy on I-8 the other day who did not know what to do in this situation and his car all of a sudden rocketed to 94 mph. He was fortunate that a highway patrol car was able to get in front of him in time to slow him down and bring his car to a stop. Otherwise he could have been killed as have many other people have been killed or injured in these incidents. Most likely because they did not know how to shift into neutral or hold down the power button. It made me think as many people with these new push-button start cars have not been educated on what to do in an emergency. Toyota is not the only company to go this route as Nissan and other brands have started to go this way.
Taking it to the Streets
I decided to start a safety campaign on my own because I do not think there is any reason people have to get injured or killed over this.
Today I pulled into Herb Chambers Toyota in Auburn, MA. I introduced myself as a Prius owner and mentioned CleanMPG and that I wanted to test the Gen 3 Prius to determine if there was still a problem with the brakes on a bumpy road. I also said that I wanted to go a long with a sales person to go over emergency procedures in case of sudden acceleration. A few minutes later I was on the road with a sales guy and we hopped on I-395 south in MA. The first test I did was to accelerate the car to over 80 mph and at full throttle shift into neutral. Everything went as planned as the engine cut right out down to 1000 rpm or so and acceleration ceased. Sadly many people apparently do not know how to shift into neutral. The next test was to hold down the power button as I was getting off the highway at 45 mph and the car shut down like I predicted. Most people with push-button start do not know how to do this. I then did a braking test on a bumpy road to determine what was going on with the supposed braking problem. The Prius I drove had only 112 miles on it and likely already been reprogrammed. However Wayne’s mom has a Gen three and has done the recall fix but still reports problems so I figured it would be a good test. In every case, the Gen 3 I drove showed no lapse in deceleration, even when shifting to neutral during deceleration to simulate the switch from regen to mechanical brakes.
I did the exact same tests with a Camry Hybrid with 7,600 miles on it and a Gen 2 Highlander Hybrid with 23,000 miles on it and got the same results. In the Highlander Hybrid’s case, it should be noted that with the neutral test, I had the needle to 100 mph and full throttle when shifting into neutral and it still worked as it should! The engine kicked out right away. Another test I did exclusively in the Gen 3 Prius was to take it to full throttle at 80-85 mph with the gas pedal to the floor. I depressed the brake with my left foot and within a few seconds the car was down to 50 mph. This is very different than some of the stories when the brakes supposedly did not work. The other car I took out was a conventional Rav4 V6 with a push button start. I did the same tests with neutral and emergency shut down and that vehicle also passed with flying colors. For the HiHy and the Rav 4, a sales consultant went with me instead of a sales person. Both agreed that something is going on here and Toyota can no longer hide it. They also agreed that education is the best tool to prevent more people from getting hurt or killed regardless of what Toyota can and or will do in the intermediate and longer term. My hope is that the two people who I took out in these cars with educate the other sales people on what to teach potential buyers. I plan to visit other dealerships in the area as well as time goes on and hope to get this on the radio and on camera, maybe getting TV stations involved so more people will know what to do.
With just under 216k miles on my Prius-II, so far so good and the same batteries. I am hoping this whole thing with Toyota does not mess up the hybrid movement.
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/2005_Prius_Shut_Down.jpg Jesse Rudavsky - CleanMPG (cleanmpg.com) - Mar. 14, 2010
Shutting down a Prius at 91 mph… One man’s perspective.
I was driving a tractor-trailer yesterday when I decided to pull into a Dunkin Donuts to grab a bagel. The TV was on and a news story caught my attention. A driver of a 2008 Prius on I-8 in California had a case of sudden acceleration. As a long time Prius owner, I was fully aware of the situation with Toyota but this was the first situation of its kind that occurred in a Gen 2 Prius that I heard about first hand. I haven't been very concerned about my car at least as of yet since I have nearly 216k miles on my 2005 Prius and nothing has happened yet. I also had no problems with my Gen one up to 350k when that idiot went through a red light and totaled it. I know how to shift the car into neutral and I know how to shut the car down by holding the power button down for 5 seconds or so. My girlfriend knows how to do this as well.
I got to thinking when I heard about the guy on I-8 the other day who did not know what to do in this situation and his car all of a sudden rocketed to 94 mph. He was fortunate that a highway patrol car was able to get in front of him in time to slow him down and bring his car to a stop. Otherwise he could have been killed as have many other people have been killed or injured in these incidents. Most likely because they did not know how to shift into neutral or hold down the power button. It made me think as many people with these new push-button start cars have not been educated on what to do in an emergency. Toyota is not the only company to go this route as Nissan and other brands have started to go this way.
Taking it to the Streets
I decided to start a safety campaign on my own because I do not think there is any reason people have to get injured or killed over this.
Today I pulled into Herb Chambers Toyota in Auburn, MA. I introduced myself as a Prius owner and mentioned CleanMPG and that I wanted to test the Gen 3 Prius to determine if there was still a problem with the brakes on a bumpy road. I also said that I wanted to go a long with a sales person to go over emergency procedures in case of sudden acceleration. A few minutes later I was on the road with a sales guy and we hopped on I-395 south in MA. The first test I did was to accelerate the car to over 80 mph and at full throttle shift into neutral. Everything went as planned as the engine cut right out down to 1000 rpm or so and acceleration ceased. Sadly many people apparently do not know how to shift into neutral. The next test was to hold down the power button as I was getting off the highway at 45 mph and the car shut down like I predicted. Most people with push-button start do not know how to do this. I then did a braking test on a bumpy road to determine what was going on with the supposed braking problem. The Prius I drove had only 112 miles on it and likely already been reprogrammed. However Wayne’s mom has a Gen three and has done the recall fix but still reports problems so I figured it would be a good test. In every case, the Gen 3 I drove showed no lapse in deceleration, even when shifting to neutral during deceleration to simulate the switch from regen to mechanical brakes.
I did the exact same tests with a Camry Hybrid with 7,600 miles on it and a Gen 2 Highlander Hybrid with 23,000 miles on it and got the same results. In the Highlander Hybrid’s case, it should be noted that with the neutral test, I had the needle to 100 mph and full throttle when shifting into neutral and it still worked as it should! The engine kicked out right away. Another test I did exclusively in the Gen 3 Prius was to take it to full throttle at 80-85 mph with the gas pedal to the floor. I depressed the brake with my left foot and within a few seconds the car was down to 50 mph. This is very different than some of the stories when the brakes supposedly did not work. The other car I took out was a conventional Rav4 V6 with a push button start. I did the same tests with neutral and emergency shut down and that vehicle also passed with flying colors. For the HiHy and the Rav 4, a sales consultant went with me instead of a sales person. Both agreed that something is going on here and Toyota can no longer hide it. They also agreed that education is the best tool to prevent more people from getting hurt or killed regardless of what Toyota can and or will do in the intermediate and longer term. My hope is that the two people who I took out in these cars with educate the other sales people on what to teach potential buyers. I plan to visit other dealerships in the area as well as time goes on and hope to get this on the radio and on camera, maybe getting TV stations involved so more people will know what to do.
With just under 216k miles on my Prius-II, so far so good and the same batteries. I am hoping this whole thing with Toyota does not mess up the hybrid movement.