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Slip indicator comes on when at a full stop

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Main Forum' started by ratpack, Aug 10, 2009.

  1. ratpack

    ratpack New Member

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    So it has happened to be twice. I am at a full stop with the brake depressed and the slip indicator light comes on. I searched and saw this posted by Tideland Prius back in March

    "Hill-Start Assist. This feature is also found on the Highlander Hybrid but I haven't heard anyone talk about it. It is activated by pressing the brake pedal completely past a threshold. The car will beep and the “Slip Indicator†will blink. Release the pedal and the brakes will continue to hold for 1 second. Before H-SA releases the brake, it will beep twice and the slip indicator will stop blinking. I usually depress the brake pedal fully after I've come to a complete stop and no one could tell me why there was a beep and why the VSC Slip Indicator was blinking. Kudos to Miss Mei (I hope I got the name right) at the LA event who informed me of this feature"

    I am not sure if I am unknowingly activating the hill start feature.

    Any thoughts?
     
  2. MikeDS

    MikeDS Member

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    If you're pushing the brake down pretty far it will turn on the hill assist. Let go and press again and it will turn off...
     
  3. Paradox

    Paradox Prius Enthusiast / Moderator
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    Sounds like you are to me. I can't imagine why the slip indicator would light if you are at a stop.

    Try stopping without pressing so hard on the brakes and see if it doesn't happen. Then, stop and push down hard and make the hill start come on. That should tell you if it is the hill start you are enabling.
     
  4. DetPrius

    DetPrius Active Member

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    The car beeps when hill start assist engages. I find it takes quite a bit of pedal press after stopped to engage it. It should be difficult to accidentally engage it without knowing it.
     
  5. quantumslip

    quantumslip Member

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    yep I've done the same thing too, even on a perfectly flat road
     
  6. accordingly

    accordingly Member

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    Happens to me every once in a while. No beeps or hills to be seen, and the indicator light comes on and stays on solid. This is not the hill assist.

    I talked to my salesman and he said other Toyota models have the same issue and nobody can figure it out.
     
  7. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Thanks for using the search function!


    Yeah if you come to a stop and press the brake pedal all the way down (past a click), you've activated HSA. The Slip Indicator will blink while it's activated.

    So how do you test it? let go of the brake pedal (but don't press the accelerator yet). If it still blinks and your car isn't moving forward, HSA has been activated. After 2 seconds, you'll hear two beeps and the car will start moving forward. If all of that happens, you can be pretty sure you've engaged HSA all this time.

    (try it in an empty parking lot first)
     
  8. ratpack

    ratpack New Member

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    So I tried the hill assist and that seems to work fine.

    What I experienced was not hill assist. There was no beep and the slip indicator did not blink. The brake did chatter a little. Very small vibrations in the pedal. I have had this on other cars too, where the friction is just giving way to forward motion.

    I will see if it happens again, then contact my dealer.

    Thanks
     
  9. eglmainz

    eglmainz New Member

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    The Hill Start Assist should only be able to be activated when you are at a full stop. It is the same indicator light on the dashboard as the 'traction control' light, but with "Hill Start Assist", it will beep once when set (and if you un-set it), as an audio warning. Then, once you remove your foot from the brake, it will keep your brakes applied (and the brake lights on), until the first of two things occur. a 2 second delay from the time you lift your foot off the brake, or you accelerate sufficiently to push against the brakes, which will cause them to release, and you start going.

    As I have posted on another post here regarding the Hill Brake Assist, it is also very useful when stuck in traffic, as I will simply activate the Hill Start Assist, and then only apply minimal pressure to the brake pedal to keep the car from creeping forward. This allows me to use a lot less pressure on the brake pedal for the duration of that stop, and until it is time to roll again, if only for a few feet. I have found it to greatly reduce fatigue when you are stuck in st and go traffic, where you have to be at a stop for almost as much as you creep along. (I just wish that the BRIGHT FLASHING LIGHT, especially at night, was not so DAMN BRIGHT, that every car near me must thing a warning indicator is flashing impending doom.)
     
  10. meannotgreen

    meannotgreen New Member

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    I don't know if there's any reason why you shouldn't do this, but in a stop and creep situation if the road is flat I just flick the shift between D and N and hardly touch the brake at all if I judge the amount of D correctly.
     
  11. montesalpha

    montesalpha New Member

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    I wouldn't put it in neutral if I were you.

    I've had an unexpected stall in the middle of an intersection while NOT playing with ANY of the gears.

    In addition, I've experienced the skid indicator coming on totally flat, dry surfaces and *never* coming on while on a steep hill.
     
  12. Manolo1

    Manolo1 New Member

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    Why is this showing as pending if it appears to not be an issue? :confused:

    Hill-start assist control [FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman] [/FONT][/FONT]
    [FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]Hill-start assist control operating conditions [/FONT][/FONT]
    [FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial][/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]The system operates in the following situations: [/FONT][/FONT]
    [FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]• The shift position is in other than "P". [/FONT][/FONT]
    [FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]• The parking brake is not applied. [/FONT][/FONT]
    [FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]• The accelerator pedal is not depressed. [/FONT][/FONT]

    [FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]Hill-start assist control [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman] [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]While hill-start assist control is operating, the brakes remain automati-cally applied after the driver releases the brake pedal. The stop lights and the high mounted stoplight turn on. [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]Hill-start assist control operates for about 2 seconds after the brake pedal is released. [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]If the slip indicator does not flash and the buzzer does not sound when the brake pedal is further depressed, slightly reduce the pressure on the brake pedal (do not allow the vehicle to roll backward) and then firmly depress it again. If the system still does not operate, check that the oper-ating conditions explained above have been met. [/FONT][/FONT]

    [FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]Hill-start assist control helps to prevent the vehicle from rolling backwards when starting on incline or slippery slope. [/FONT][/FONT]
    [FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial][/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]To engage hill-start assist con-trol, further depress the brake pedal when the vehicle is stopped completely. [/FONT][/FONT]
    [FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]A buzzer will sound once to indicate the system is acti-vated. [/FONT][/FONT]
    [FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]The slip indicator will also start flashing[/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]
    [/FONT]
    [/FONT]
     
  13. dbz

    dbz New Member

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    This feature doesn't make sense when you have to press the break beyond the threshold to activate it. How can you do this when you are driving and then here comes a HILL, you pull over to the side, press the brake, :) ... If it is truly a HILL START ASSIST, should it not automatically detects it like my other German cars or have a button you can press which allows you to activate the HILL START ASSIST to go up the HILL? Like the 'B' button to go down a HILL.
     
  14. eglmainz

    eglmainz New Member

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    You can get a German car with a button, or simply keep it simple, and logical like it is in the Prius.

    First of all, the only time that you will really need Hill Start Assist is when you are starting from a stopped position, say at the bottom of an incline. The Hill Start Assist is designed to simply hold the car’s position, while you get your foot off the brake, and onto the accelerator, and can overcome gravity to start moving forward, and not inch backwards into the car behind you.

    In order to make that happen, all you need to do, when stopped, it press slightly harder on the brake pedal to activate Hill Start Assist. Then, as you let go of the brake pedal, and move your foot over to the accelerator when the light changes to green, the car will not move an inch backwards.

    If you would prefer to let go of the steering wheel to locate a button to push, and have that hold your brakes for you, then you should own a German car. Otherwise, I think that Toyota’s implementation of this feature makes a lot more sense then a button.

    Additionally, you do not need to use the "B" mode at all for going down a hill, any more than you would need to downshift a 'traditional' car when going downhill. It is there only for those times when a long downhill grade would otherwise overheat and compromise regular braking to maintain speed. Think of it as you do the "2" gear in a automatic transmission.
     
  15. dbz

    dbz New Member

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    Then its wrong terminology, it should be START Assist not HILL Assist, then the Prius as implementation is correct. Just like the incorrect terminology they used on the Prius V, Auto LED lights, AUTO means it goes on and off by itself, not manually turn on and auto off. My 2 cents, :)!
     
  16. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    how is it wrong terminology? It helps you start on a hill. You press the brake pedal past the thresold so that it'll hold the brakes for you for 2 seconds while you move your foot to the accelerator.

    They never said Auto LED lights. They said auto-levelling LED lights. One word makes a difference :)

    So how is pressing a button with your finger different from pressing a "button" (the pedal) with your foot? You don't activate it while you're driving (why do you need to?). It's basically to help you so that you don't roll backwards when you're starting uphill. You can have it automatic (like my smart) but then there's always a delay when you're trying to creep along in traffic. I have to remember to let go earlier so that by the time the car in front moves, my hill-start assist disengages and my car moves forward.
     
  17. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    I have to agree: the terminology is fine. I have owned other cars with hill holders, and they all work in a similar fashion.

    As for auto headlamps, there are many forms of auto: fully auto, auto on, auto off, and so forth. A modifier might help avoid misunderstandings.

    Tom
     
  18. eglmainz

    eglmainz New Member

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    In the US the term that Toyota uses for these headlights is 'Auto-Levelling LED Headlights". I would say that this term is perfect for what they do.
     
  19. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    I don't know about the US but in Canada, they use a completely different phrase

    Auto OFF = automatic headlamp cancel function
    Full AUTO = Light Control System


    I don't believe there are any that turn on but don't turn off lol. Most manufacturers would use Auto-OFF headlamps in their brochure if it's not a full automatic function. Oddly enough, the Corolla has:

    Daylight Running Lights with Auto On/Off Feature.

    That makes NO sense to me because DRLs are auto anyway and the Corolla exhibits the automatic headlight function (i.e. it turns on and off automatically depending on lighting conditions). The only difference is that it doesn't have an AUTO position on the headlight stalk. The "o" position (i.e. OFF) doubles as the auto function. (Similar to the one found on the Gen 4 Camry. THey didn't have an AUTO position either but they had automatic headlights)
     
  20. thaotonic

    thaotonic New Member

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    You are pressing too hard on the brakes once the vehicle is at a complete stop. No need to press hard once the vehicle is already at a stop.