Stuck in "P"

holy crap

Not sure what your pad spec is in NSW, but in the US, 2010 rear pads and hardware are the subject of a TSB for noise after a cold soak. A property of defective pads that cause them to bond to the rotors when wet?

 

I had a similar problem (but not as bad as the OP) with my 2011 Prius after washing it...pulling it into the garage and putting the emergency brake on over night. Next day I released the brake put it in reverse but the car wouldn't roll back. Had to give it a lot of gas when I heard a load metal"clank" noise. I took it to the dealer mentioned the problem and the TSB but they said when they inspected it they thought it was just some rust that had formed. I'm not an expert about rust forming...but rust forming over night enough to cause the brake to get stuck seems extremely quick.

Now whenever my brakes might be wet from rain or washing I just use the Park button and no emergency brake.

 

This is the same dealer that keeps hassling you for the cold start knocking TSB? They suck.

 

My 2006 has been "stuck" like that before, but I was familiar with the problem since I live in a cold wet climate with plenty of road salt. I've had brake pads rust to the rotors, brake pads freeze to the rotors, and tires freeze to the ground. It happens with all cars, but it is more noticeable with a Prius. Power application in a Prius is slower and smoother, so you are less likely to quickly break loose any stuck parts. It takes considerable application of the skinny pedal to get it to move.

Unrelated, but somewhat similar, is what cold weather does to transmission oil. In really cold weather I have to leave the manual transmission in my Jeep in reverse, so I can back out after starting. The shifter lever won't move until the oil loosens up a bit.

Tom

 

Yep...same dealership Been going there for over 10 years, but since getting the Prius I get a lot of push-back on any problems/concerns I have. My other Toyota vehicles they have no issue fixing/diagnosing correctly.

 

This is an interesting observation. DC motors produce their maximum torque at zero RPM. If the traction battery were simple strapped to MG2 at zero speed you might actually be able to over-torque gears, axles or CV joints. So the reduced torque at zero speed is apparently a control phenomenon. I feel like my 2010 Prius has excellent off-the-line performance and I attribute this to the DC motor characteristic.

 

The Prius control system allows for a very smooth application of torque, and the mapping is not overly aggressive. Many (most?) normal cars map the throttle response to be heavily front weighted. This gives the illusion of power and high performance. It also makes the accelerator pedal touchy. It's just a marketing ploy.

Tom

 

Off-topic reply, but this seems like a situation that could be addressed by a change to something like Redline synthetic gear lubricant, or a synthetic ATF if that is what is specified.

 

I came here to say this.

I've had similar experiences with the emergency break fusing on most of my cars at one point or another. Usually it 'pops' off when the car starts moving.

 

I would say that the great majority of drivers back out of their overnight parking space, be it indoors or outdoors. So, I'm now wondering if the Prius mapping provides less torque in reverse than forward?

 

It's not the mapping, but the inherent physics of the PSD that provides less torque in reverse. In reverse, all torque is applied by MG2. If the ICE comes on in reverse it actually subtracts from the available torque, since MG2 must fight it.

Tom

 

Well, it's a manual transmission, so it wouldn't be ATF, but there are synthetic lubricants for manual transmissions that would solve this issue.

Mostly, however, the recent change in climate has rendered this a non-issue. We don't get the cold weather that we used to, at least not on a regular basis. For my transmission to stick in R, it had to be so cold that I could snap a half-inch steel rod in my (gloved) hands. I did this one morning when I woke to a flat tire. The big T bar tire iron snapped in my hands.

Tom

 

I am so American. I was wondering for a second or two why you were showing us a photo from May 2...

 

Quite a number of Fords and Chrysler vehicles actually specify ATF for their manual transmissions. Mustang is a notable example. ATF's a light oil and it apparently works well with syncros, bearings and gears. But a Jeep? Could be a Chrysler, Aisin, New Venture or even a Peugeot transmission. This suggests that manual transmissions are essentially commodities that require little else that gear-ratio selection to be fitted to a vehicle. The controller is of course human and self programming.

OK, I'll get back on topic!

 

More trivia: ATF is also considered acceptable for some motorcycle forks.

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