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Cruise Control

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Technical Discussion' started by mickwill, Jan 9, 2008.

  1. mickwill

    mickwill New Member

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    Evening All,

    I am having a small problem with the cruise control on my new T-Spirit.

    I use the cruise control a lot (particularly to stop being zapped by gatso speed camera's), and I'm not sure whether it's me or the car.

    The scenario is that I accelerate up to 30 MPH for example, drop into stealth mode then set the cruise speed and then take my foot off the accelerator. What is annoying though is the car will drop to 29 MPH, then the cruise will cut in, engage the ICE, and then accelerate back to 30 MPH. This happens no matter how slowly I take my foot off the accelerator.

    Is it me, the car or am I expecting it to do something other than what was intended?

    Best Regards

    Mick
     
    #1 mickwill, Jan 9, 2008
  2. firepa63

    firepa63 Former Prius Owner

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    It sounds like it's acting normal to me. When I first engage CC, regardless of speed, the car slows momentarily until the CC picks up control and then it maintains a steady speed. My other cars (non-hybrid) all did the same thing.
     
    #2 firepa63, Jan 9, 2008
  3. mickwill

    mickwill New Member

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    Hi firepa63,

    Ah now, on the old car (Vauxhall Vectra), when I set the speed and engage the CC, it picked up straight off.

    The Prius on the other hand does not do this. What I am trying to do is get the CC to control the speed when in stealth mode.

    But when the CC cuts in, even on a level road, the ICE is engaged, thus defeating all my care of getting up to speed using the ICE and then blipping the accelerator to drop into stealth mode.

    TTFN

    Mick
     
    #3 mickwill, Jan 9, 2008
  4. passnthru

    passnthru Average Member

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    2005 Prius
    I noticed this, too. I had a chance to play around with the cruise on a long trip last weekend and discovered that, more often than not, the cruise control maintained the set speed if I manually maintained that speed while holding down the CC lever for about three or so seconds.

    I have no idea whether or not this might work for you.

    Nick
     
    #4 passnthru, Jan 9, 2008
  5. mickwill

    mickwill New Member

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    Hi Nick,

    I'll give it a try tomorrow.

    Best Regards

    Mick
     
    #5 mickwill, Jan 9, 2008
  6. Northbend08

    Northbend08 Arrrgh!

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    The momentary drop in speed is normal toyota cruise control behavior. I think (though my recollection is hazy) that turning on the cc disables EV mode, which is why the ice starts.
     
    #6 Northbend08, Jan 9, 2008
  7. JimboK

    JimboK One owner, low mileage

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    You can't control whether stealth is sustained with CC on. The ICE will turn on or shut down, often in short intervals, based on what the car's computer determines the power needs to be at the time. Terrain and battery state of charge have a lot to do with it.
     
    #7 JimboK, Jan 9, 2008
  8. KAR IDEA

    KAR IDEA Member

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    Three Touring
    I'm with JimboK on this one. If you're stealthing and then arm the cruise control, you will lose the stealth, because the computer then controls the cars accelerator, and it will detect deceleration. So it will fire up the ICE to make up for the loss.

    Now, already armed CC at speeds less than 40mph, on a nice and flat surface, or on a downhill, will enter the car into stealth and remain there as long as the road remains flat, or as long as the downhill lasts. Once the computer detects an incline, it will fire up the ICE to give the car a push.

    Around here the terrain changes a lot, but I have experienced a couple of miles once, completely stealth, on CC at 37 MPH. It was awesome...I could hear birds chirping as I was just rolling along...

    Get me?
     
    #8 KAR IDEA, Jan 9, 2008
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