What is the proper procedure to stop an Unintended Acceleration on 3rd generation Prius?

step on the brake, shift to neutral and press power button until engine stops, (about 3 seconds) keep in mind, if you shift to neutral you won't be able to do anything but glide until you shift back to drive and if you power down, you will have to power back up to move the car. (just in case you're on a busy road etc.)

 

Note that when shifting to Neutral, the car waits about one second before responding. This helps separate intentional shifts from accidental bumps of the knob.

But if you 'accidentally' shift to Reverse or Park while moving at any significant speed, it will instantly and safely go into Neutral, with no time delay. Just be careful testing the Park version of this, because just below the speed threshold it really will go into Park with a very severe jolt. It won't hurt the car, but you might feel sore.

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There have also been very infrequent reports of brakes not responding at all, even falling 'to the floor'. But unlike UAs, these reports have been too scarce to trace to anything. (This is different than the somewhat common momentary dropout over bumps.) If this happens to you, the things that seem to work so far include:

(1) Put your full body weight into the brake pedal, as if you have only old-fashioned manual brakes without power assist. Federal safety regulations mandate a certain level of brake effectiveness if you apply at least 112 pounds (or metric 500 newtons) in nearly any sort of power assist system failure, and flunking this requirement would force a recall;
(2) Pump the brake pedal once, this seems to have cleared the problem for some drivers;
(3) Turn ignition Off and then back On, this seems to have cleared the problem for some. It worked for me in a parking lot, but I didn't think fast enough to apply (1) and (2).

 

The official video.

Toyota Recall Videos – Stopping Procedure for Toyota Hybrid Vehicles

 

And keep in mind that using "Power off" method will cut down electric power steering and brakes power assist. It means that steering wheel will be much harder to turn (at lower speed), brakes must be applied using very high pressure and ABS/ESP functions will not work so beware of using this method on slippery road.

I accidentaly pressed brake and accelerator at the same time (wanted only accelerator) and despite HSI bar at PWR zone car was slowing down so brake override is working fine.

 

Unlike ordinary nonhybrids, the Prius brake power assist should still work normally even with ignition powered off. Haven't you noticed the 'buzz' noise when you open the driver door, long before the ignition is turned on?

The Prius steering is not all that hard to turn when its power assist is dead. Parked, it is lighter than my non-hybrid, so when moving slow it should still be reasonable. At street speed, it ought to be fine. Only people who have never ever driven a car with manual steering should feel any surprise.

 

Practice shifting into neutral is safe and easy. In my case, I use it when coasting and shift into drive as needed. But practice is important including for the less technical drivers . . . the ones most likely to 'brake on the accelerator.'

Bob Wilson

 

Put the Saint Christopher metal in the palm of your hand and say a few Hail Mary's & put the car in neutral and apply brakes.

 

I heard it and used to it but I'm not sure if it will work after emergency shut down. If I try to pump brake pedal after power off it beeps at me (maybe it's from the alarm circuit not the Prius itself). Anyway ABS/VSC should not work.

In my model if I turn power off also the headlights goes down (when set at ON position) so it is another thing to think of while driving at night on dark areas (where there are no lamps on the road).

 

Assuming over 8-10mph, the park button seems to be the fastest solution. I have practice this a few times now just in case.

 

Didn't realise the Prius HAD unintended acceleration.

Perhaps prevention is better than cure; don't stuff multiple non dealer approved floor mats under your accelerator pedal!

Just a thought

 

The answer is easy.......make sure ur stepping on thr brake & not the accelerator