Left Foot Bumped E-Brake While Driving Down Highway

nothing to worry about.

 

Pretty much - you have absolutely nothing to worry about. All the beep meant was that the parking break was engaged and you were also driving. Don't worry about it one bit. Park in your garage, depress the parking break, and try to push your car or get it to "roll". It's not gonna happen. Parking break is fine.

 

Wait a minute. You're saying that you're afraid you might -accidentally- press down hard on the -PARKING BRAKE- (it's not an e-brake people!) and actuate the rear brakes?
What, you're a moron?
Sorry. Having a hard time this morning being nice.

 

Let me guess...
You either don't drive the Gen III, or your left leg's much shorter than your right!

Sorry, having a hard time being nice myself too this morning...must be the air in NJ :focus:

 

I have not crawled under there yet, but I imagine that the parking brake on the Prius is like other cars in that it is a mechanical linkage to the rear brakes. Personally I much prefer the hand parking brake that can be modulated and backed off off from any position. If you accidently step on the Prius ebrake I am not sure how you would release it at speed, without fully engaging it. Anyone know how it really works?

 

Wouldn't very lightly touching the parking brake (which won't actually engage it) while driving cause it to beep? This is nothing to worry about.

I don't see how you can accidentally depress it. You basically have to lift your foot to a pretty high, uncomfortable position in order to hit it. Way too uncomfortable to mistake it for a foot rest.

 

I accidently hit the parking brake with my foot a while back, with the car in motion, and yes, the car will beep at you. I thanked the car and continued driving.

Here's another good one - I used the hatch button to unlock all of the doors so my wife and daughter could get into the car. After driving for a few minutes the dreaded "Master Warning Light" as well as a few others came on, AND the personal (map) lights started flashing on and off. The car continued to run as normal. I stopped, scratched my head for a second, turned the car off and back on, and continued driving. Well, the same thing happened again. And again. After sufficient head scratching I realized I hadn't opened the hatch, just hit the button to unlock the doors, which also unlocked the hatch. After opening and closing the hatch the world was a happy place again...

A simple "Door Ajar" light would have been sufficient, at least to help narrow down the problem. All of the dashboard lights and flashing map lights didn't really help, they just served to spook me out a bit until I realized what a dumba** I was.

Live and learn...

 

That has been my observation.

 

If your Fuel economy remained good, the e-brake was not engaged.

 

what the hell is an e-brake anyway?

 

Stop thinking digitally and its simple. An e-brake is what people who are spelling challenged or lazy type instead of emergency brake.

 

Then I change my question, what the hell is an emergency brake?

 

Same thing as parking brake or hand brake (except in the Prius it's a foot brake).

 

Well, perhaps I can make up for my snippy remark earlier and explain.

The -parking brake- (I won't call it an e-brake because you can't use it as a brake when moving as you can't modulate it) actuates the rear calipers in direct proportion to how hard you press down the pedal.
You can release it from any depth of depression by hitting it again with your foot.
There is a switch on the arm the pedal is connected to. That switch is used in the logic that is the Prius to warn you that you are moving faster than about 15 km/hr (guess here as I've only done it once) with the parking brake engaged. The car doesn't know how much it is engaged.

Now, with the car stopped on a level surface!, try engaging the parking brake lightly. Put the car in "N" (it will complain, ignore it). Get out and try pushing the car. You will find you can move the car against the parking brake unless you depress it very hard. Keep this in mind when you are parking on a hill.

So, with this knowledge, now know that if you "touch" the parking brake pedal whilst moving it won't do much (other than beep at you).

Also, until the brakes are fully "seated" (the pads worn to match the rotors) you will do even less. It takes a long time to "seat" the rear pads as they aren't used very much. Regeneration takes a lot of braking away from the friction brakes, and the fact that the rear brakes on the Prius do about 10% of the braking removes even more. Driving a short distance with the parking brake on would probably do more good than harm!

 

My single biggest complaint about a Prius (and I DO like my Prius) is that it DOESN'T have an emergency brake. I'll take a good ol' hand brake from my Matrix or Corolla any day over the ^%$%#&* US automaker-style footbrake in the Prius.

Prius team, are you listening?