Detroit Bureau: Is Toyota?s Image About to Crumble (2025 Update)

So Toyota never stops! They cheered at a pep rally. ;)

All of this reminds me of when ABS came out, and cops everywhere swore they hated it and that it was useless and that it caused them problems and even crashes.

That people are ignorant and can't figure out what's happening and/or compensate for it, is a damn shame.

What is even more of a damn shame is that you have to learn to compensate for a 'safety feature'. Yes, you can compensate for the behavior of an ABS but you shouldn't have to. It should operate unobtrusively and it should not be fooled by bumps, potholes or ripples. Compensating for unexpected behavior only slows down your reaction speed and while it may not directly cause an accident, it can be a large contributing factor toward the cause.

The only compensation a driver need do is not freak-out at the sound or pedal sensation which hardly negatively affects transient response time.

They also didn't slide and instead steered right off the road when they tried to lock the brakes for a quick sliding turn around.

I was one of the people that complained about early ABS systems, and in fact, the issues that were experienced back then sound like the issues reported with the Prius. I remember in early 90's Dodge vans if you hit a patch of ice with one wheel while braking, the brake pedal would get hard and the van would stop decelerating. Really scary, and no way to "compensate" for it, save for braking even earlier than one would in a vehicle without ABS. When a safety "feature" makes a vehicle harder to control than one without it, that's a problem.]

But anyway, it does sound from the description like an ABS software issue.

nate

This may be the case with the the 2010 Prius, I don't know, but the pedal certainly has a different feel than my 2005 Prius or any other car I've driven. No resistance for the first inch and non-linear braking (with respect to pedal pressure) thereafter. From my perspective, it's not so much the difference between friction and regenerative braking but rather the difference between two hybrids from the same manufacturer but of different model-years. The first think I had to do was revert from brushing the brake with my foot to disengage the cruise to pulling back on the lever. Old habits are hard to brake. (ha ha)

I've not experienced anything close to brake failure but I continue to notice the different feel each time I use the brakes. Eventually I'll get used to it but then every other car I drive will seem strange.

That's because many of the early implementations were piss poor. The ABS on my 93 Corsica was a joke, the car would have been better off without it, it's cycle time was WAY too slow. Some of the early ABS's were a disaster in the snow. And yes, sometimes it was just unfamiliarity. Current ones tend to be quite good. It's possible that in the case of the prius there may be some interaction going on between the regen braking and real braking and the system is suddenly just turning off the regen braking.

There is no need to compensate for the new systems. Just plant your foot if your goal is to stop and ignore the pulsations.