Prius Upgrade Progress

Good Morning folks,

I am a Health Care professional frequently on the road at 04:00 in all weathers. My latest generation Prius purchased new from a Toyota main dealer has been fine. Apart from blowing (ordinary) light bulbs with monotonous regularity it hasn't missed a beat, it has never had a problem with brakes or accelerator. Now about four months old the car has covered nearly 9,000 miles.
Last week the new software upgrade was carried out by the same Toyota main dealer. Fuel consumption increased from an average of about 60mpg (imperial gallons, not USA gallons) to about 55mpg over the same route, same driving/same driver. It snowed again the other day and guess what .. the ABS didn't work at all. Here in Northern Ireland we have had a lot of snow (for us that is) since before Christmas and the previous ABS has given me no trouble whatsoever. This time when I dabbed the brakes (gently, I am an experienced 20,000 miles a year driver) the brakes locked and the car slid. This car has never done this before and to say that it startled me would be something of an understatement. Its been at least twenty years since I locked the brakes in any car. I have spoken to the dealer and they will take a look in a month or so when the car goes in for its 10,000 mile service, but things appear to have been changed with the software upgrade that I am not mad keen upon.

 

Greetings from a Faraway Land,
I haven't tried to repeat the wheel locking under heavy braking: the snow has gone and I don't fancy needlessly subjecting my tyres to an emergency stop. What worries me is that I don't think that the brakes would have locked that day in the snow had I been driving a car not fitted with ABS: I have a Morgan V8 as comparison and that is great fun in shallow snow (limited slip diff helps of course). I have also driven 1100cc non-ABS motorcycles in snow without a problem. I simply didn't use enough pedal pressure to lock the brakes given the Prius' narrow tyres and the comparatively shallow depth of the snow; perhaps three inches.
What if there had been ice beneath the snow? Does ABS require some grip to function? The Prius lost all braking control and directional stability not responding to steering wheel input at all.

 

Indeed ... I tend to agree. The surface over which I was sliding felt glass smooth but what worries me was that I took my foot off the brake almost the instant I noticed the slide and touched the brakes a second time and was still unable to regain control. In the past when I have hit such icy surfaces they only cover a small part of the road, perhaps less than a car length, and so some control can be quickly regained. My Prius slid approximately twice its own length in complete silence and without any control, braking or steering.
A weird experience, in the words of Hill Street Blues, 'be careful out there', it might have been a large area of extremely glassy ice, or it might be a fault. It was a new experience for me, strange after more than forty years of driving under all conditions and a large range of vehicles. This took place in an urban area, the tyres are original Prius with about 9,000 miles on them, little or no apparent wear, undamaged and correctly inflated all round.

 

Good Morning,
I am really more interested in economy from the Prius than performance and tend to drive accordingly: moderation in all things, acceleration, cornering, braking. I have just checked the tyre pressures and found them low at 31psi all round (thus increasing the contact patch), but the pressures were all equal and the tyre treads still have their sharp edges on them; frankly I cannot see any wear but I will measure to be sure.
It is worth remembering that the bad weather here in Northern Ireland has persisted from before Christmas to recently though things are sunny and lovely this Sunday morning: the ABS seemed to work before and not after.
I believe that my Pruis has changed adversely in its behaviour from before to after the software upgrade (fuel consumption and braking), but its a single personal opinion. There may simply be a fault with the car, even Toyota's develop ordinary mechanical faults, there may be a fault with the driver, witness statements are notoriously unreliable, there may indeed be a problem with the software upgrade. I cannot see how fuel consumption could be affected by the upgrade, though I believe that the car is now thirstier than it was (tyres pressures though lower than they should be have been the same throughout).
Bottom line, the single problem causing driver concern is the very fault that was supposed to have been addressed by the software upgrade .. yet it wasn't there before the upgrade.

 

Sorry .. an off-thread newbie question ... the Prius online shop, where is it located geographically. If I want to buy the OBDII reader will I have to pay for shipping from the USA and extra taxation to enter the European community/UK?