B again

Judging by Wayne's pictures, the pads will never wear out.

Toyota says B is for LONG downhills.

I've had 2 or 3 emergency stops on ice, when I lived in Fargo. I slammed hard on the brakes. (I've always relied more on my brain than my "feelings." My "feelings" said don't; my brain told me this is what you do with ABS.) I felt that hard rapid pulsing in the pedal and came to a stop without swerving an inch. I know from experience that my old (non-ABS) Civic would have skidded all over the place.

ABS and VSC change all the rules about how to stop. It will ALWAYS take longer to stop on ice than on pavement, but any lessons learned in pre-ABS cars simply do not apply to ABS-equipped cars, and VSC is one more step up.

I trust Toyota on this one: B is ONLY for long downhills where you'd otherwise have to stand so hard on the brakes as to engage the pads, or when the battery is 8-green and the pads would engage for lack of regen headroom.

And I agree with Evan that using B reduces the amount of control you have, because you can apply more braking, but not less.

 

One of the things that lightly applying the brakes accomplishes is regenerative braking; converting kinetic energy to electricity and storing it for later use. We all know that. OK, so now someone uses B for everyday braking. What does B do? It coverts kinetic energy to waste by using the engine compression for braking. Any kinetic energy you waste in this way doesn't get converted to electricity. Make sense?

Want crappy mileage? Every time you want to decelerate throw the tranny into B. You'll do no better than low to mid 40 mpg. We found this out by talking to an older couple. They were complaining about the low mileage. It turns out they were doing this very thing. I couldn't get it through their heads that the regen brakes don't use brake pads, so feather the brakes.

As was previously written, it's for descending long steep grades where the car will generate an excess of current, so much so that you can't possibly store it all. At that time, it's OK to use B, or not. FWIW, a time after the last bar is green and you're still charging, the car will automatically revert to B. This doesn't happen immediately upon the last bar llighting, but shortly after it lights. Another way to descend a long grade and maintain regen braking is to turn the A/C to max cold, high fan, and roll the windows down (hot climate). I came down Mt. Washington on regen brakes by doing this. I basically came down the mountain by using the A/C for braking, never used a bit of brake pad. I did force the use of B at times. No problem though, there was way too much current for the battery to store.

 

Do keep in mind, though, that on ice it takes a lot longer to stop. ABS does not stop your car faster. What it does is help you maintain control in an emergency stop. Always drive slower on ice, drive very carefully, and brake gently if you can.

Only if you MUST stop as quickly as possible, press hard on the brakes. The ABS does the pumping for you much faster and better than even the most expert driver could pump them manually.

You're much safer with ABS than without, and the proper way to use them is to press firmly. But there's no substitute for careful driving and anticipating stops far enough ahead to slow gently.