1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

Prius creeps forward with emergency brake engaged

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by loughrey101, Jan 12, 2016.

  1. loughrey101

    loughrey101 New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 12, 2016
    5
    1
    0
    Location:
    Ireland
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    I bought a 2007 Prius 2 months ago and I noticed that when I stop at a stop light and engage the parking/emergency brake while keeping it in Drive gear the car creeps forward. I have more experience with manual cars where when you pull the emergency brake it locks the car and prevents it from rolling forward or back despite the car being still in gear, so I'm curious to know whether this is a normal thing with a Prius and pushing the P button in addition to the emergency brake at a stop light with a slight incline is necessary. I find that this two step process of disengaging the E break and putting the car back in Drive makes you slow to take off. But what I want to know if this normal with a Prius? Thanks
     
  2. Kramah313

    Kramah313 Active Member

    Joined:
    Oct 3, 2015
    408
    321
    0
    Location:
    Dallas, TX
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    The emergency brake has different degrees of holding the car based on the number of "clicks" when you push it in (at least this seems to be the case in my 3rd gen). How hard are you pushing the emergency brake pedal? Generally I find it easier just to hold my foot on the foot brake in D when stopped at a light or something like that, much as you would with any automatic transmission, then trying to put it in P or N and hold with the E brake
     
  3. loughrey101

    loughrey101 New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 12, 2016
    5
    1
    0
    Location:
    Ireland
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    I push it in as far as it goes. It doesn't matter how hard I push it the car creeps forward if I don't hold the foot brake or put it in N or P, although it seems to hold the car from rolling back. I'm not sure if this is a normal thing with a Prius in Drive when the E brake is engaged or not. I find that when you hold your foot on the food break, if it's on an incline, it cause the engine to run hard and burn a lot of gas.
     
  4. Kramah313

    Kramah313 Active Member

    Joined:
    Oct 3, 2015
    408
    321
    0
    Location:
    Dallas, TX
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    Hmm actually I don't know either. I know my emergency brake wouldn't be strong enough to hold against any kind of throttle (gas or battery), but I guess it might not be strong enough even to hold against the 9 or 10 amps the car pulls from the battery to simulate the engine idle creep of a regular car either
     
    loughrey101 likes this.
  5. loughrey101

    loughrey101 New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 12, 2016
    5
    1
    0
    Location:
    Ireland
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Yeah, that seems to be what I'm noticing. The E brake doesn't seem to be powerful enough to overcome the idle creep of the Prius making the use of the foot brake or Park/Neutral gears necessary to use in addition. I'm not really sure how different this is to normal automatics as my only experience is with manuals which have seriously good emergency brake holds that prevents the car from moving even with the gas pedal engaged.
     
  6. Kramah313

    Kramah313 Active Member

    Joined:
    Oct 3, 2015
    408
    321
    0
    Location:
    Dallas, TX
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    Oh I didn't know that you had zero experience with automatics. I have almost zero experience with manuals haha. In an auto transmission car you always hold your foot on the foot brake while keeping in D at a stop light. Some people like to put a regular gas car in N so the car isn't fighting the drivetrain, but with the Prius I wouldn't recommend that because the engine won't turn on in N to charge the battery and you don't want that getting too low or you will have big problems.

    In summary, the Prius behavior is pretty much the same as any automatic transmission I have ever had, and they designed it that way so that the average driver won't have to learn any new behavior. Unlike an auto transmission there is no reason it would have to creep forward at "idle" with the engine off, but they made it simulate this because that's what average joe is used to. I also don't think I have ever had an automatic that can hold itself under power with the E brake. Didn't know that was common in manuals, that is interesting.
     
    #6 Kramah313, Jan 12, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 12, 2016
  7. loughrey101

    loughrey101 New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 12, 2016
    5
    1
    0
    Location:
    Ireland
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    LOL no, automatics are new to me. Here in Europe manuals are the main cars and I switched to a Prius because I got tired of the manual stick/clutch shifting. I wasn't sure of the correct procedure with stopping a Prius in stop lights, and my automatic instructor hadn't a clue either. I enjoyed the manual's solid emergency brake mechanism that fully locks the car, but it seems from what you say that with automatics the emergency brake isn't enough to lock the car because of the idle creep forward of the Prius. I generally never use the neutral, when I'm on an incline I tend to stick on the emergency brake and then put it into park as I find that on inclines using the foot brake causes a lot of gas and battery burning, which I suppose is the Prius' auto creep kicking in on thee incline that is fighting the foot brake.
     
    Kramah313 likes this.
  8. Kramah313

    Kramah313 Active Member

    Joined:
    Oct 3, 2015
    408
    321
    0
    Location:
    Dallas, TX
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    The good news is that the car won't use more battery to hold itself still on an incline (it isn't smart enough to know it is about to roll backwards and adjust), it will instead roll backwards if the incline is steep enough for the creep to hold it.
     
    loughrey101 likes this.
  9. JimboPalmer

    JimboPalmer Tsar of all the Rushers

    Joined:
    Apr 14, 2009
    12,470
    6,862
    2
    Location:
    Greenwood MS USA
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius v wagon
    Model:
    Three
    Does your Prius have rear drums or rear discs? North American Gen 2 Prius have drums but I seem to recall that European Gen 2 Prius have discs.
     
    loughrey101 likes this.
  10. loughrey101

    loughrey101 New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 12, 2016
    5
    1
    0
    Location:
    Ireland
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Yeah, I notice that, the one thing though I find is that using the foot brake on an incline in drive has the engine over working sometimes at 99litres/100km, which seems to be burning a lot of fuel, the only way to shut it off is put the car in P. This doesn't happen if there is no incline though.

    I believe it uses rear discs. It's a European model.
     
    #10 loughrey101, Jan 12, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 12, 2016
  11. Kramah313

    Kramah313 Active Member

    Joined:
    Oct 3, 2015
    408
    321
    0
    Location:
    Dallas, TX
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    I haven't noticed the incline behavior you described, but I have a gen 3 and that might be different. That is interesting - any gen 2 owners that also notice this behavior?
     
  12. mmmodem

    mmmodem Senior Taste Tester

    Joined:
    Nov 17, 2011
    2,732
    1,703
    0
    Location:
    Bay Area, CA
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    You're wasting gas and prematurely aging your parking brake if you engage it and stay in D. This is true of all automatics. I liken it to a manual in gear with just enough throttle to not stall the engine. The car would creep slowly forward. You wouldn't want to pull up the parking brake while your foot is on the accelerator.

    When new, the parking brake may have enough power to stop the creep in D but as it ages, it will be less effective just as in a manual.
     
  13. vskid3

    vskid3 Active Member

    Joined:
    Jun 23, 2013
    773
    228
    0
    Location:
    Texas
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    In a manual car you're not really in gear when stopped, you're either in gear with the clutch pushed in or in neutral. Using the parking brake to hold the car at a stop is a bad habit, in my opinion. Your brake lights aren't turned on and it takes an extra moment for you to release the parking brake. Just holding the brake while stopped is fine for any car. Your parking brake could probably use some adjustment, though.
     
    xpcman and Stevewoods like this.
  14. Stevewoods

    Stevewoods Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jun 10, 2014
    647
    983
    0
    Location:
    Seattle, WA
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    II
    What vskid3 says....(y)

    First, your parking/emergency brake needs adjusting -- if it did not before you engaged in this behavior it does now. It's an easy process.

    Second -- stop doing this -- as said by more than one previous poster.

    Third -- you do not hold a manual transmission car at a stop with it in gear and parking brake on -- unless you have the clutch engaged -- and -- if so, you are sending the clutch to an early grave.:(
     
  15. HansC

    HansC New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 14, 2016
    3
    0
    0
    Location:
    Sweden
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    It fairly easy and cheap if you want someone else to do it. THere's a wire somewhere just like on a normal car that needs to be fixed. Supposedly can be done with just a wrench.

    In large parts of Europe your car would fail the safety inspection though. They test the emergency brake by applying it and then pushing down on the accelerator a bit. It's supposed to keep the car from rolling when the throttle is depressed moderately. And a well functioning emergency brake will do just that. My old car failed the test unfortunately but it was an easy fix so just get it done.