Problems With Prius?

[Eddles]

Originally Posted by MaxxMPG

You forgot that Americans need SUVs because they "need the space" of a sport utility.
Compare 2009 Prius II to 2009 Tahoe:
Rear legroom - Prius 38.6, Tahoe 2nd row 39.0
Rear headroom - Prius 37.1, Tahoe 2nd row 39.2
Cargo area - Prius 16 cu ft, Tahoe 16.9 cu ft

People need the extra 3/8" of rear legroom, 2" of rear headroom, and a gallon of milk worth of extra cargo space.

Heh that reminds me of a documentary my friend watched recently. He said that the presenter went up to a SUV owner and asked why that she had a SUV. "For the space of course, I have 3 kids, and I have to shift a lot of stuff". Presenter asked "What about an estate car?" (station wagon). Lady scoffed and said "They're much smaller than a SUV, wouldn't fit all the stuff I need in there - look at what I have in here!" and waves over all the stuff she has in her SUV. Presenter said "OK then, we've got an estate car parked over there, how about trying to put your stuff in there, just see if you can fit everything in there - just try it ok?" Lady agreed. They moved their car next to the SUV and the lady loaded up the car - at first she had a "Yeah right dream on!" face on, but as she loaded it up, her face progressively changed into amazement. After loading it up, she said "Wow, this car actually have LOTS more space than my SUV! How is this possible?!"

[Right Lane Cruiser]

I had a similar reaction from my wife when I finally got her to actually compare the volume inside a Prius to what she has in the Escape, Eddles. The Escape can take taller items in the cargo area, but that's about it.

[Eddles]

RLC - Going off topic. Trying not to offend, and certainly not being nasty, and probably just me, but every time I look at the pic of your baby, I always get reminded of the actor in CSI Miami for some strange reason, I don't know why... I'm pretty sure your baby don't look anything like him, but to me, the picture makes her look like him!

[Right Lane Cruiser]

LOL! I need to get a more updated picture in there.

[MaxxMPG]

Originally Posted by Right Lane Cruiser

LOL! I need to get a more updated picture in there.

Get one with sunglasses to complete the CSI look!

[JimboK]

I figured I'd help you guys get back on topic here ....

There's been an interesting discussion going on PriusChat about this subject. The OP reports firsthand and multiple experiences with unintended acceleration. Some feathers flew early on in the discussion as he was accused of trolling; his original thread title (later edited), "My Prius tried to kill me!" didn't help. But the conversation has settled down into a reasoned attempt to get to the truth. The OP comes across as very credible, rational (now) and accepting of feedback and suggestions from others.

It's easy to blame the floor mat or the driver (and I tend to do the same when I hear these reports), but after reading that thread I can't help but think, "Suppose he's telling the truth?"

[Earthling]

Originally Posted by Kurz

Does the older Gen Prius even have an E-brake?
I know the Newer ones don't.

I interpret "E-brake" to mean emergency brake. The newer Prius does have a parking brake, foot operated, which could be used as an emergency brake.

Harry

[SageBrush]

G2 Prius has a hand brake too.

[phoebeisis]

Hmm, I read the report on the other forum. It seems very credible.Most are probably driver error, maybe some aren't.
Charlie

[Eddles]

Why can't he be telling the truth? My 2001 diesel Astra (75BHP) has an electronic "drive-by-wire" throttle and I have found I rarely, if ever, needed to use the accelerator to get the car to start moving - I just lift up the clutch pedal and the car would move forward quite quickly comparatively - while in my old 2001 Civic (120BHP) with a mechanical throttle, I could only move up the clutch pedal extremely slowly and the car would move forward really slowly with the engine vibrating really badly. I originally attributed this to the fact that I had a diesel, so it's stronger, but after doing exactly the same *up* an *steep* hill - I suspect my car ECU finds the engine is struggling, and automatically increases the throttle just slightly to prevent the engine from stalling - when I started up the hill with just the clutch, the car moved very slowly for a split second then the engine revved up slightly and smoothly (not jerking) and then the car moved as if it wasn't on a hill. I wouldn't say this is unsafe as it only increases the throttle just very slightly and the car is doing what I expect - move forward as I'm lifting up on the clutch. Also, I have recently looked back in my time of owning the car in 2.5 months, I have only stalled the car once and that was last week and I slipped on the clutch pedal. I stall the Honda very often but that's due to the ultra-sensitive accelerator. I usually stall cars a couple times the first week I get them as I'm not used to the accelerator then rarely stall them.

But I disgress - my point is that it might be possible that a faulty sensor is making the ECU think the car's struggling and applying the throttle? I know some cars has a "Hill Start Assist" - does the Pirus have it? Maybe it's turning on accidentally? I mean, there are a lot of possible reasons why this is happening to the Pirus - don't just dismiss things out of hand just because it's "not possible" and that the Pirus is "perfect". It might be, but it's not 100% reliable. Nothing can be. Ever.

Labouring my point - *anything* can happen on cars - there are hundred thousands copies of one model and increasing complexity means strange faults can occur and it could occur to any model. My 1993 Nova occasionally turns on the "Check Engine" light on the highway and then turn it off after 10 seconds - the manual says that this is perfectly normal and don't need to be reported to the dealer. A kludge fix I believe. Even my Civic did this once - it turned the "Check Engine" light on solid for 3 days straight and turned it off just before I was going to take it to a dealer.

Keep in mind, imagine if the reliability of every part of a car has a 0.00001% chance of failing in a year, and there's 100,000 parts, then the reliability of the car will have a 1% chance of failing in a year.

Remember, no company have *ever* made *anything* that *never* had breakdowns, ever. My Civic had a intermittment starting problem costing me $1000 and it took Honda 2 months to diagnose and the car was off road for that time - one Honda dealer even accused me of lying. Despite the fact that I only brought it for Honda's reputation for reliability and that got a bad knock - even then I still think Hondas are the most reliable cars around. I just got a bad one.