Emergency brake use?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Masnyd @ Dec 2 2006, 03:41 PM) [snapback]356789[/snapback]</div>

The Prius sorta holds itself on an incline (it's a feature) but I find it drifts back and forth. I would either keep my foot on the brake or shift to park (pushing P is easier than shifting to N) and put on the parking brake.

BTW, what you did w/your Cavalier or any automatic transmission car is not a good thing. ALL cars I've owned w/autos in the manual about NOT holding your position on a hill by just staying in D (and possibly using the accelerator) instead of using the brakes. Some warn of this possibly causing transmission overheating and damage.

Both my 350Z and former Maxima have this clause in the manual "When stopping the vehicle on an uphill grade, do not hold the vehicle by depressing the accelerator pedal. The foot brakes should be used for this purpose."

 

There really isn't much to damage by allowing the automatic transmission to do the holding, but it certainly isn't anything anyone will ever recommend. That's an unnecessary waste of gas (in a Prius, it wastes electricity) and it will wear out sooner. Rollback isn't completely prevented either.

In a manual transmission, that's an entirely different matter. Riding the clutch is just plain bad.

Use the regular foot brake instead.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Masnyd @ Dec 2 2006, 06:06 PM) [snapback]356818[/snapback]</div>

I think it'd be fine to do w/it a Prius except that it doesn't work that well and just wastes battery power. The Prius has no torque converter unlike an automatic transmission.

I suspect your Cavalier also had a similar warning in the manual about not using the transmission in D to hold your position on a hill.

 

Toyota lists the "Hill Holder" as a feature. I use it all the time and don 't feel it wastes electricity.
It is pretty well covered in this post.

http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=2...;hl=hill+holder

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(seasalsa @ Dec 2 2006, 07:04 PM) [snapback]356835[/snapback]</div>

You don't feel it wastes electricity or you know it doesn't? Energy has to be used in order to drive the electric motor in attempting to keep the car stationary when you use it. If you're on the brake or in P, no energy needs to go to the motor.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Masnyd @ Dec 2 2006, 08:11 PM) [snapback]356820[/snapback]</div>

Correct. The emergency brake is a last resort method of stopping the vehicle, literally an emergency, and for parking on hills.

Using the emergency brake for hill parking was a must for my 94 Taurus. That kept the car from pinching the transmission, making it extremely difficult to shift out of park afterward. In a Prius, that is a non-issue since nothing ever disengages.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(cwerdna @ Dec 2 2006, 08:34 PM) [snapback]356852[/snapback]</div>

I don’t believe it uses more energy than it does at any stop light, considering the built in creep feature. You will notice that light brake pressure at a stop light still allows some energy to flow from the battery; heavier pressure will stop the energy flow. When stopped at an up-hill light the hill holder effect uses the same amount of energy and the duration is very short. Any additional energy use would be difficult to measure.