Driving with B shift at high speed (70mph)

[Bonny]

Coming from driving an old '90 Lexus to 2010 Prius, I got a lot of learning.

Living in the mountain with up and down hill and winding roads, I trying to take advantage of "B" shifting but I often caught myself forgot to switch off to "D" and doing 70 mph on highway after I heard the hardworking sound from engine. Is this habbit going to hurt my engine? I might need to give up the "B" or have my kids in the car to remind me.

I also experience steady beeping sound when car speed slow down with braking system. The sounds seems coming somewhere from the driver side, as it is harder to detect it sitting at the passenger side.

As new Prius driver I don't know if it is a warning of some sort to take in to dealer.

Can anyone help me out to easy my worries.

Thanks!

[JimboPalmer]

Beeping while braking is new to me, I would have that looked at.

B Mode is useful when descending long downgrades, over 600 ft vertical drop. While B mode is not hurting your engine, it always gets worse gas mileage when making the engine work as an air pump. Feel free to have your passengers remind you. I usually notice that I can't use Cruse Control in B.

[pinzvidz]

Originally Posted by Bonny

forgot to switch off to "D" and doing 70 mph on highway after I heard the hardworking sound from engine.

Your ICE is going to be running whilst maintaining 70 mph regardless of whether it's in B or D. However, when you back off, and if in B, then your ICE is going to keep running instead of shutting down. Basically you're going to get poor economy because your ICE is absorbing a lot of the momentum, instead of most of it going to regeneration to the traction battery. You need to get into the habit of shifting back to D when you finish your mountain descent.

I also experience steady beeping sound when car speed slow down with braking system. The sounds seems coming somewhere from the driver side

Hmmm... maybe the sound you're hearing is the regeneration noise from the hybrid system as it charges the battery whilst you're braking?

Need more info please, is the beeping sound constant, what does it sound similar to, how long does it go for?

[Bonny]

Thank you so much for explan the effect of ICE and B in details. I will definately have to put a sticker on dashboard to remind myself.

Originally Posted by pinzvidz

Your ICE is going to be running whilst maintaining 70 mph regardless of whether it's in B or D. However, when you back off, and if in B, then your ICE is going to keep running instead of shutting down. Basically you're going to get poor economy because your ICE is absorbing a lot of the momentum, instead of most of it going to regeneration to the traction battery. You need to get into the habit of shifting back to D when you finish your mountain descent.

I don't know if it is the battery. The beeping is very faint and going on for 5-15 seconds then goes away... Usually happens when I slow down from coming off the exit of Highway or coming to a stop-light braking and moving forward. It seems always happened at the same spots on my daily commute route.

Hmmm... maybe the sound you're hearing is the regeneration noise from the hybrid system as it charges the battery whilst you're braking?

Need more info please, is the beeping sound constant, what does it sound similar to, how long does it go for?

My brakes grabbing in reverse and can't really backing up. The only I was able to stop it is to shut down the power and turn it back on again. Any thought on this?

My 1st 5K check up in coming in a few weeks, should I wait till then to check in with dealer ?

[Blind Guy]

...My brakes grabbing in reverse and can't really backing up. The only I was able to stop it is to shut down the power and turn it back on again. Any thought on this?
* This is an ongoing Prius problem that there is currently NO resolution to. There are several Threads on this subject, if you'd care to wade through them.

The Readers Digest version is, there is NO rhyme or reason to this problem, it can happen in either forward or reverse, it's ALWAYS at LOW speeds, like backing/pulling out of a parking space or garage. NO amount of light Brake Pedal effort will aleviate the condition, however, the simplist way to overcome it is to STOP, put the car in Forward (if it's happening in Reverse) or Reverse (if it's happening in Forward) and then move the car a few feet, the problem will immediately be canceled.

My 1st 5K check up in coming in a few weeks, should I wait till then to check in with dealer ?[/QUOTE]
* Some Dealers are aware of this, others haven't a clue, we here at the Forum are hoping Toyota is looking at the Threads containing information on this subject, and this will be rectified ASAP!

David (aka Blind Guy)

[hobbit]

Is your "beeping" very high-pitched? You might just be hearing
inverter whine, which is quite a bit *louder* in the 2010 than
the second-gen cars. Not sure what's up with that.
.
_H*