Have you slammed on the brakes yet?

I've had an experience that was quite the opposite. Ok, maybe I was a bit too close to the car in front of me. The one that stopped unexpectedly to park, just as I was going over a speed bump. A bit too fast probably, because my front wheels did not make good contact with the street surface.

Traction control was kicking in (because of the speed bump) as I slammed the brakes. It felt like there was a brick under the brake pedal, nothing happened. It seemed to take forever for the weight of the car to land back on the front wheels, the computers to realize what I wanted and then finally for the brakes to kick in. Luckily the car in front of me did not stop completely but kept on moving, as I needed the space...

 

I've never had to SLAM the brakes, but I've had my fair share of having to stop uncomfortably fast. Some people are just so stupid. Sometimes it's hard to tell if someone is just slowing down a little because they are going downhill, or if they are turning. Nobody around here ever uses a turn signal, cept me.

That does remind me though. Third day I had my car, literally, some donkey decides to turn left in front of me while I'm going about 40 MPH. While that in itself made me have to slow down a bit, he did the unthinkable. STOPPED at the f**king GREEN light. I nearly f**king rear ended the dude. If I had been in my old Isuzu, which my Prius replaced because it got totaled, that guy would have been eating my driver wheel. I never would have been able to stop on time in that thing.

I've had to slow down going over some speed bumps before, and also on a patch of pine straw. Damn you slippery pine straw. Freaking ABS kicked in on the pine straw, and I lost a little bit of control on the speed bump. If I needed to brake that fast I would have just pushed the emergency brake. Hey, it's called an emergency brake for a reason you know.

 

Actually, it's the parking brake. And all it would do is attempt to lock up the rear drums. You're still better using the brake pedal (aka Service Brakes).

 

Yes indeed had to stomp on the pedal to avoid hitting a herd of deer that wanted the other side of the road.
At night on I-54 two lane highway . Brakes work fine just as they are intended to. Heart pounding faster than expected to. No lives lost and no dents to repair.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE( @ 2007 04 21, 05:16 PM) [snapback]427423[/snapback]</div>

No, that's the parking brake. The one you want in an emergency is the big one in the middle. Unless you want to create an emergency by losing control of your car. You were just kidding, right?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hyo silver @ Apr 21 2007, 06:21 PM) [snapback]427493[/snapback]</div>

Use the E brake if your regular brakes fail.then it would be an emergency


Hyo silver, I dont know how your qoute got in there???

 

I had the same experience with the stock tires. I had braced myself for impact, and was pleasantly surprised when there was no sickening "crunch." In fact, I had a foot or two to spare. I was so used to the behemoth of my Trooper and it's weight...I think the light weight of the Prius in addition to good brakes makes for good stopping power.

 

My first and only experience with slamming on the brakes in the Prius was about a week ago. I was Travelling along between 25 and 30 along a service road behind a strip mall when someone failed to look both ways before trying to come out into street.

The Prius responded great, but my speed wasn't that fast, and it was dry pavement. The breadsticks from my order I had just picked up from Pizza Hut were now on the floor, but still in the box.

The lady also stopped when she did see me (but was in the way). I could read her lips saying "I'm so sorry". No harm done. No one is perfect, go on with life and a little bit higher blood pressure.

 

I had an opportunity to test the ABS (with stock Integritys) about 3 months ago. I describe the incident in this CleanMPG post. You can skip to the third paragraph for the essence of the story.

 

From what I can tell, the parking brake (e-brake), is hooked up to both rear tires. I know it's at least those because when the e-brake is engaged the rear wheels lock up. I used it to take my rear tire off after I jacked the car up. It was hard to try to get it off with the tire spinning.

 

Yes, a deer. We have a lot of wildlife in this area. I was amazed how fast the Prius stopped.

Tom

 

DH tried out the new tires (michelin energy mxv4+) on wet pavement last week. he was quite impressed, he said, and felt very good about me driving on them.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(galaxee @ Apr 21 2007, 09:13 PM) [snapback]427632[/snapback]</div>

Actualy I am surprised. I have had these tires on another car a SAAB 95 and I would have to say these are the worst tires for traction I have ever owned. The tire design was intended to increase milage not traction.
I had a hill I would clime and I could never get up the hill with these tires. No traction drive, stop or corner.
Maybe they have changed the tires formula since I have had them but for me they were over priced and underperformed. I like Michelin's in general but not these tires.

 

I did have to sit on them pretty good once.

I didn't even have to put my foot out onto
the pavement (I had to once in my old,
beloved SuperBeetle).

All worked well, but the moron in front of
commenced to giving me nasty looks in
his side mirror . :angry:

After the third one, I started picking my nose
in an exagerrated manner. (no smilie for that!)

He did not laugh. I did. Really hard.:lol: