Parking brake pedal - in the way?

Yup.. I wish it was more towards the edge of the car but its not

 

It hasn't been in the way for me, I had to look for it because I didn't realize it was there.

 

is it further right than gen 3?

 

It's farther towards the middle than my 05, but it doesn't bother me and i got used to it. If it hits your leg, just put the seat father back so your knees are lower.

 

I read somewhere that some people felt that the parking brake pedal in the gen 3 was in the way of the dead pedal, where you rest your left foot. You can't please everybody. I never noticed that in my 2010 and have not tried the gen 4.

 

I took a look at parking brake. No, it didn't seem in the way. It might actually be safer since it's not inline with the left shin like in the gen3.. You know, major front collision, kaboom.

 

I recall seeing a photo after a IIHS tested (frontal crashed) gen3 and amazingly the parking brake was not pushed into the dummy's left leg.

 

Being a skeptical sort, I'm more concerned with "better" than "more modern". The advantages of the electric parking brake escape me, and a couple of possible disadvantages come to mind.

If there is an electrical failure, depending on where it is an electric parking brake might not work whereas a mechanical one always will.

Where to put the actuation? The pedal is in a familiar, standardized location which is both far from other controls and in easy reach of the driver. I suppose one could put a button on the lower left side of the dash, but would people find it as quickly when they need it quickly (like in an emergency to stop the vehicle from rolling)?

I briefly drove a Land Rover Discovery, which has an electric parking brake. I couldn't find it. Eventually I discovered it: a square button labeled "P" just to the left of the base of the shift lever, which seemed a really stupid location. Consider the following scenario: around here some people leave their vehicles running when they go into a store, perhaps to keep the heat or AC on (for someone staying behind in the car, or so the car is comfy when they get back in) or just because they're too lazy to shut it off. Sometimes they leave kids in the car (which they should not do). If the kids start messing around and inadvertently or intentionally shift the transmission into "D", it's nice to have some other control, preferably far away, keeping the car from moving.

Another option of electric parking brakes is incorporation of anti-rollback on hills. But the Prius already has this feature built into the HSD.

While reading the manual (the new me!), I discovered that Toyota recommends not using the parking brake during the winter because it can freeze up in the cold. Good to know.

 

My mom has a Volt, which has a pushbutton electric parking brake.

I was incredulous. In the Prius we've already been stuck with an electrically actuated park pawl since Gen 2, which is a dead doorstop in case of no power or an ECU fault, and if it dies parked you can't move the car.

Then, GM thinks the parking brake also needs to be 'improved' from a simple mechanical cable that works because it can't not work, to some electrical computerized motor driven servo feedback idle engineer's wet dream that maybe solved some design problem somewhere, and probably costs the customer more to repair by a factor of ten. Maybe that's pessimistic, and I'm overlooking some really good reason for doing it, but at first blush it baffles me.

-Chap

 

Fabulous. I have to save your comment somewhere.

 

If the 2016 Civic has an electronic parking brake, the Prius should have one as the Prius is thousands of dollars more expensive. It might be because Toyota wants their cars to be more reliable, so they don't put in new technology.

 

Isn't the use of iPods declining due to the popularity of streaming services, and to people keeping their purchased music on their iPhones rather than having a separate iPod? This fix may be a bit late.