Should there be a sticky thread of what to do in case of sudden acceleration?

Proposed Sticky: "The brake is on the left - The gas is on the right"

Nuf said.

-Brad

 

Seriously folks there are several threads on this subject herein on PriusChat already. Several drivers have already done the 'shift to Neutral' at normal driving speeds. Nothing bad happens...JUST DO IT!!

I've done it in two different vehicles at speeds of 55 and 65 mph.

 

The gas pedal sticks in my Prius. I have no floor mats in the car. It sticks if I accelerate hard - like jamming the gas pedal hard to the floor when I enter the freeway. The brakes will override this issue, and the key is not to panic. But don't let people tell you otherwise - this is a REAL ISSUE - and you need to be prepared for it, or you run the risk of panicking and getting in a serious accident. This has nothing to do with floor mats!

 

Have you taken your car in to check for the usual suspects like a gummed up throttle blade, lumpy carpet etc.? None of your 6 posts state that you have so how can you be sure this is manufacturing problem and not a maintenance problem with your particular vehicle?

 

If you can make it happen repeatedly under a certain set of conditions, then take it to the dealer and demonstrate it for them.

 

Don't feed the troll, please.

 

Do you mean the pedal sticks mechanically as in you need to physically pull the pedal up, or electrically?

 

Sorry, I agree.

 

NO.

Brake and Slap it into neutral. Thats it. Thats what you need to know how to do and is very very easy. You don't have to go 100 miles an hour to test it either. When the car is moving it will not allow it to go into park if you mistakenly hit the park button. It will not allow you to enter reverse if your moving. You can only enter N if your moving or you can go back to D if your moving.

Its electronic. Its smarter then me & you.

I slap the car into neutral all the time. All the time. Just slap it over to the left. Whack. Its easy. Its fast. You can't hurt anything. I do it all the time to clean the brakes. I do it at every light. I don't like to sit at a light in gear. I do that with all my cars. When the light changes I put it in D. You don't have to put your foot on the brake to enter D.

Get used to doing this neutral slap. It may save your life. Its very very easy
and becomes muscle memory second nature.

Just be aware if your new to it and its your first time doing it while rolling don't do it if your coming to a stop sign or light or anyone is in front of you as the first time it might surprise you as you no longer have regenerative assist which is alot of assist. When you push on the brake the drivetrain is coupled to MG2. The drive train..the tires rolling...are then turning MG#2 which then becomes a generator to charge the battery. That coupling causes quite alot of load on forward inertiaa and an excellent byproduct of that is its easy to stop the car. Very easy. Worlds best brakes on a grocery getter. So easy the front disc brakes hardly engage and rust soon forms on the disc. Rust is hard on the pads and really hurts braking function. So quite frequently I slap in nuetral while rolling and gently apply the brakes. The brakes then fully engage and clean the rotors. Take a peek at your front discs and you'll notice there rusty. Another fantastic byproduct is the brake pads and rotors last 3 times longer than a normal car.

Anyway, in neutral the drivetrain disconnects from MG2. No load. Its free wheeling. Then its just the cars normal brakes. And it takes a little bit more foot pressure on the brake pedal than your used to and will surprise you a little the first time.

Your brain is very used to the very good brakes on this car and all of a sudden its a regular car's brakes. Quite different the first time!
Excellent brakes nonetheless but not the super brakes your used to. Try it and see.

But, do it all the time. Get used to it. It can be done at any speed. Its very very easy. And if at speed just put it back in D and away you go.

Don't shut the car off. Don't spend one second messing with the power button. Don't make that part of your emergency procedure because you won't have that one second to deal with it. You'll panic and have a reflex only. Make that first reflex to disengage the drivetrain/motor and stop a runaway. Neutral slap and brake. One motion.



The second you slap into neutral the gas motor shuts off but not the car. The engine cannot run in this car in neutral. But the car is still on with full battery power and you have full control. Don't defeat that.

Why in an emergency would I want to shut the car off and lose power steeering? I just want to stop forward motion and putting it in N will do that and shut the motor off in an instant. Allowing me full power steering control and stopping power.

Thats all you have to do. Slap into neutral.

And as far as it not "catching" all the time for you I suspect your new to the car or unsure and not shifting with authority. I notice that when my wife drives it too. Like she's afraid she's going to hurt it if she moves the lever to hard. It won't bite you and you won't hurt it. Smack it.

Good Luck!!

 

You need to hold the N position for about 1 sec - if it isn't shifting, you didn't hold it there long enough.

 

An awful lot of slapping and smacking going on there. I feel the anger!

But it's good to know that shifiting to neutral will not hurt the car, that the engine is turned off and that all the accesory power stays on for power steering and power brakes.

A last resort would still be puting a finger on the Power Button for 3 seconds.

Noted some folks talking about reaching down and pulling on the mat to get it out. Even at the jet like acceleration levels that a Prius is totally uncapable of, a driver should never try to mess around with things on the floor. You need to be steering the car, and safely braking... because there are possibly going to be a lot of other drivers around you.

 

Yeah sounds like....but really its not that hard of a hit. One quick decisive motion and it might save my life. Whatever's going on with the pedal or the engine running away slapping the car in neutral will...well..neutralize the whole experience. So to speak.

 

Every car ... not just hybrids, will likely soon have a nice little "Cauton" sticker inside, for folks who either don't know how to put a car in neutral, or to hold down the power button ... just like the yellow warnings on the sun visor regarding air bag safety ... just like coffee cups that say "carefull ... it's hot" ... just like everything else under the sun, where people simpy DO, rather than learn, first.

Remember a couple decades back, where every 10th car had a sign in the back, "Caution, Baby on Board" ... to the point where you no longer notice the abundance of signs? That's how it's getting to be again ... hard to notice the caution signs, for all the caution signs.

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