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Dynamic Cruise Control Surprise

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Technical Discussion' started by skilbovia, Oct 27, 2010.

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  1. skilbovia

    skilbovia Member

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    So today, I took my brand new 2010 Prius V to my local Toyota Service Center for what I thought was a problem with my Dynamic Cruise Control. After I set the speed, if I hold the lever up to increase the speed, my Prius accelerates madly to very high speeds. Conversely if I hold the lever down to slow down, my Prius brakes very quickly.

    After a few minutes, the service manager came out and told me that he could find no problems with the DCC and asked if we could go for a ride to show him the problem.

    We got on the highway and I set the DCC for 62 as I usually do and then held the lever up to increase my speed. Sure enough, my Prius accelerated wildly. It was then that the service manager told me that when the lever is held in the up position, the cruise control setting in the DCC window is what is affected, NOT the speedometer. It turns out that when the lever is held up, only the cruise control setting is increased, and it increases very quickly, very much faster than the speedometer can follow. So, in actuality, I was holding up the lever and watching the speedometer (like I have done with every car I have ever owned with cruise control), not the speed in the DCC window. The speed indicator in the DCC window went very quickly to 80 MPH so the car accelerated as fast as it could to get to that speed.

    In my opinion, this is a very bad feature. The DCC should either increase the speed indication more slowly or, even better, be locked to the speedometer so they increase together. Sure, I can tick up the speed by pushing up the lever one tick at a time to get from say 62-72 MPH, but the speed indication jumps much too quickly if you hold the lever in the up position.

    Has anyone else shared my experience?
     
    #1 skilbovia, Oct 27, 2010
  2. ggood

    ggood Senior Member

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    #2 ggood, Oct 27, 2010
  3. Arnold

    Arnold +AT+SR

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    I am only surprised that you are surprised. This is a computer-controlled car, so you set your target and the system does the rest. Forget your pre-hybrid vehicles.
     
    #3 Arnold, Oct 27, 2010
  4. firepa63

    firepa63 Former Prius Owner

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    Read your Owner's Manual...
     
    #4 firepa63, Oct 27, 2010
  5. Codyroo

    Codyroo Senior Member

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    OK, so you have found that you will need to adjust your behavior when using this cruise control (compared to previous cruise control systems).

    On the BIG PLUS SIDE

    If you tap the bar up once, you will increase your MPH by 1 MPH. Tap it up twice and you will increase your speed by 2 MPH. I find this level of control to be very nice and convenient. It works the same on the downside as well. So if you are cruising along at 58 mph, and decide that you want to speed up to 62 mph, you can tap the bar 4 times and Voila! you will settle out at 62 mph.
     
    #5 Codyroo, Oct 27, 2010
  6. V8Cobrakid

    V8Cobrakid Green Handyman

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    maybe toyota needs to make the cruise control set speed a dominate number up by the speedometer or something. (not on a screen or visible function)

    this would allow people who are used to older cars adjust by being forced to see their selected number. (it should be almost the same size as the speedometer numbers... seeing a few people have a hard enough time reading that)

    just an idea....

    i know it's there somewhere.. i've never tried it... people refer to it as it's own screen.. i'm just saying a standard should be set for visible re-assurance.
     
    #6 V8Cobrakid, Oct 27, 2010
  7. Paradox

    Paradox Prius Enthusiast / Moderator
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    OP, you have a thread about this already which ggood referenced. Let's keep posts in that one, this one is hereby closed.
     
    #7 Paradox, Oct 27, 2010
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