These runaway Toyotas
 

Another report this morning. Guy in CA goes 90mph for TWENTY MINUTES standing on the brakes till they're metal on metal. Cop gets up along side him and uses his PA to tell the guy to turn it off. Duhhh....What am I missing here? Don't Toyotas have "neutral" like every other car on the planet? Do they LOCK themselves in drive? Seems to me like the little man named Common Sense would be jumping up and down inside your brain screaming GET THE EFFING THING OUT OF DRIVE AND SHUT IT DOWN, NOW!!!

The hybrid car in this instance has a start stop button rather than a traditional system. It requires holding the button for several seconds to turn it off, kind of like when your computer locks up.

Since its counter intuitive people panic and don't hold the button down.

can't the driver put it in neutral?

News reports indicate that the policeman told the Prius driver to simultaneously apply his service and parking brakes, which slowed him down to just 50 mph. He was then able to get it out of Drive. I think that the Prius electric driving controls may not be quite as intuitive as those on a '66 Ford...

Same problem. Takes several seconds of holding it there when you're in motion, and a counter intuitive system that can get confusing in a panic situation.

http://www.automotiveaddicts.com/wp-...ter01small.jpg

BTW, the Prius was averaging 43 MPG during this event, so it wasn't all bad news...

I have to say, if cars were more designed like aircraft, with failsafes and somewhat standardized controls, that would help...

Ok, I'll confess - I have no clue what the "B" is for......

Good luck convincing Japan to build the level of redundancy and jack up the level of quality control necessary to meet that goal. Toyota has become production-number hungry, and is becoming General Motors circa-1974 in regard to design and production quality.

Buy another Brand.

Well thats how Mercedes builds them, but not every manufacture seems to value things like that.


Still these people all panic and become useless, if they thought for 2 seconds they would take it out of gear.

I don’t get the counterintuitive thing if they know (and they should by now if they’ve been paying any attention at all) that holding the button for 5 seconds will stop the madness. Or shall we say: Put an end to the “panic situation”.

Seems a little like me being in a “panic situation” while flying along and the engine dies because a fuel tank ran dry. I don’t think switching the fuel selector to a tank with fuel in it would be counterintuitive at all.

But then... Maybe that's just me. :rolleyes:
Thank God, these people aren't pilots. ;)

The "B gear" is most closely related to a jake brake on a truck. B is similar to a Low gear in a regular automatic. You should only use it when descending a long/steep hill where you'd be concerned about brake wear/fade. The B gear forces the gasoline engine to spin to bleed off some excess energy and to help slow you down.

B is for engine "Braking" and no, it does NOT mean "battery." (under most circumstances, you'll have less battery charging in B mode compared to D, just as you'd have lowered fuel economy in B mode compared to D because of the energy drain from spinning the gasoline engine.)

For most driving, you should stay in the conventional "D gear" (drive).

If the newer hatchback style of Prius, note that the use of the "B gear" will cancel cruise control if you have it turned on.

More info on the "B gear" can be found at:
http://prius.ecrostech.com/QandA/BMode.h…
http://www.techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/car…

absolutely right.....

engine Braking, as in going down a mountain.