Them's the brakes?

Electronic Brake Assist.

If it decides you're trying to do a panic stop, it takes over and stops you RIGHT NOW.

Only place I've ever activated it is in a Parking Garage for some reason. Maybe it's more sensitive at lower speeds.

 

That is probably true. They wouldn't want you going 80mph on the freeway and stomp on the brakes and end up stopping way too early and most likely getting rear ended. I haven't triggered min yet, though.

 

I had a panic stop on ice once. Not only did it stop me a lot quicker than I expected (under the conditions) but it never swerved a millimeter.

On dry pavement it always stops me quickly, but always in proportion to the pressure I apply to the pedal.

I think it has to do with the pedal characteristics you are used to. Oddly, the brake pedal on the Prius feels a lot like the brake pedal on my old Civic, except that the Civic did not have the assist, so at the hardest applied pressure the Prius stops faster.

And while it may be true (as I've read) that regenerative braking is more efficient when applied gently, I've seen the most green regen leaves when I've been in a hurry and driving aggressively, with hard acceleration and hard braking.

 

To elaborate on htmlspnnr's above comment, I've heard reported that the Regenerative Braking System recovers 33% of the kinetic energy. There is alway loss in converting one form of energy to another. Simple thermodynamics. Therefore, the more anticipation one can do, the less regen one can do, and the more one can minimize the transferring of energy in whatever form from one system to another short directly to the drive train itself, the more efficient a car will be. The beauty of the Prius is that it attempts to recover as much of the otherwise wasted energy. However, no system is 100% efficient in recover; a thermodynamically impossible condition.

 

My point was that even aggressive braking does use the regenerative braking, and the large number of green leaves suggests to me that it's still the primary stopping method. This in contrast to suggestions that hard braking uses the brake pads rather than the regen.

I am aware that gentle driving (both acceleration and braking) is safer and better for the car. But there are those times when you are in a hurry.

Incidentally, driving style seems to have far less of an effect on mileage than ambient temperature and length of trip do.

 

Can you tell by the feel or via the monitor if you have engaged the regular mechanical brakes? I would imagine a set of pads lasts a long time. Has anyone replaced pads on a classic? If how often?
Henry Drygas

 

I "thought" I recalled seeing a figure of around 70,000km for classics, but I could be wrong.

The mechanical brakes will only engage at high-speed if you press the brake pedal quite firmly.

They'll also engage at low speed when the car is moving too slowly to regen-brake effectively.

There's a slight inverter-whine you can hear with the car window open that signals when the regen-braking is active, and you can feel a very subtle difference in the "free rolling" of the vehicle when between mechanical and regen.

Dave.

 

A Honda Civet?

 

[/quote]A Honda Civet?[/quote]



OH GREAT. Isn't that the animal that SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) started in in China??? :?

 

I've tried and tried. I cannot tell. Supposedly, regen does not work below 8 mph. So I've looked at the speedo as I slow down for a stop sign, trying to feel or hear a difference somewhere between 10 and 5 mph. I cannot detect anything. The problem with trying to tell by the energy-flow monitor is that there is a fairly long lag time. It continues to show regen for a second ot two after I've come to a complete stop.

To the limits of my ability to feel/hear, it is absolutely seamless.

On the other hand, I can tell when ABS engages, which happened a lot in winter with our icy streets.

 

You will not get the 'panic stop' effect if you pause briefly between letting off the accelerator and getting on the brake. If you jump off the go pedal onto the brake there is a computer that drops the anchor!