2015 Prius v Adaptive cruise control annoyances

The standard Cruise Control works like a charm, no matter which driving mode is selected (ECON, NORMAL, or POWER).

If the behaviors you describe are typical of Prius v with ACC, I'm McLoving it that the v Five without ATP doesn't have ACC.

The only post-manufacturing firmware update I am aware of on the v was the IPM update, circa 2015.

 

Other can correct me if I'm wrong but I can't remember an instance of Toyota providing firmware updates simply to make improvements to cars already sold and on the road. I think they would only do it if they felt there was a safety problem. I suspect that to reflash most of the ECUs would require physical access to them and often partial disassembly of the car. For example, access to the ECUs behind the glove box requires partial disassembly.

The big automakers consider themselves to be in the manufacturing business and manufacturing considerations dominate their thinking. A high level engineer in GM's research group told me that in relation to a research project I was working on with them. If you look at it with through the manufacturing lens, it makes more sense. Once the car is built, they are done with it. At least they hope they are. They want to concentrate their efforts on the next model.

If you have any luck, let me know because I have a few obvious improvements to the display audio system.

 

Take a video and then supply it to a dealer. Are you under warranty? No idea what the warranty is in AU.

 

Some of these issues are similar to the behavior of our Subaru Outback with eyesight. Think of these as simply version 1.x that are somewhat crude and simple in both design and operation.

 

Maybe the Australian version of DRCC is programmed a little differently. I've found that auto-braking under DRCC on both our 2012 Prius v and 2014 Sienna (it's a van a bit larger than the Australian Tarago) is harshest in several of the OP's scenarios when the following distance is set to the shortest of the three intervals. On a downhill stretch, our Prius usually auto-brakes well enough to not creep too much above the speed limit unless the hill is exceptionally steep. Our Sienna's DRCC doesn't auto-brake so I have to use the brakes on a downhill and then use the resume function.

When a vehicle pulls in front of our vehicles such as when doing a lane change, auto-braking can be fairly harsh unless the vehicle is accelerating away at a higher speed. In this case, auto-braking and then acceleration can be substantially harsher on our Prius than on our Sienna. My assumption has been that the tolerances on the Prius are set at a higher sensitivity due to its much less powerful engine.

DRCC doesn't turn a vehicle into a semi-autonomous vehicle. I find myself frequently cancelling and resuming DRCC as conditions warrant and more so when DRCC is set at the closest following interval. I've found that DRCC generally works more smoothly when set to the longest following interval although I frequently (sometimes constantly) toggle through the three following distance intervals when conditions warrant.