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Hybrid Vehicles Toyota Prius Prius Owners w/50K - What We Think Now
198 messages, Last post on Nov 14, 2009 at 10:01 PM
You are in the Toyota Prius Forum. Your Host is pf_flyer
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Replying to: antonyhsu (Aug 23, 2007 8:04 am) |
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After owing the Prius for 13 months and having driven over 40,000 km I have to say this car has been a great car. Recently we took our second long trip with the car over 3000 km. with 2 adults, 2 larger teenagers and an 8 yr old. With the hatch back full of luggage including smaller cooler. After driving 2 days at 120 - 130 km/h and passing many other cars with cruise up and down hills we averaged 55 mpg! (acutal calculation). Also I am using Mobil 1 changing every 10,000 kms and this is only vehicle in 20 yrs of ownership where the oil is unbelievably clear after each change. Even my wife really enjoys riding and we both hate the days we need to take our second vehicle out (Ford Explorer). The CVT trans is so smooth a even that every time I am amazed at the technology. My only drawn back with this car for driving is the higher road/tire noisy present when driving down highways... but around town I don't think there is a better car anywhere!! 
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| I have an 05 prius and I change my own oil . The "maint reqd" light comes on How do I get that to go off what do I do every oil change? | |
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According to ConsumerAffairs.com some Prius owners are reporting problems with unintended acceleration. Personally, I think something like this is either a result of stepping on a wrong pedal in a brief moment of stress/confusion, or related to an issue like the Toyota floor mat recall with a floor mat geting onto the accelerator. if your car suddnely makes a move you don't expect, I think a lot of folks might have a hard time thinking about a rational explanation instead of jumping to the conclusion that something must have been wrong with the car. But since this is a topic about long term Prius owners, this would be the place to ask if anyone has experienced this or knows someone who has.
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Replying to: pf_flyer (Sep 27, 2007 7:52 am) Trust the validity of anything posted there on your own peril. |
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...and claim of unintended acceleration would always seem, at least to me, to have a relatively simple explanation other than a "defect'. This isn't about pro/anti hybrid. just trying to get to the root of something that SOME Prius owners are bringing up.
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Replying to: pf_flyer (Sep 27, 2007 8:05 am) As you say, almost all historical instances of "self-acceleration" have been proven to be "driver error" and not a system problem on a vehicle. If there is an issue with the Prius accelerator system having a problem I would be highly surprised. As I would with ANY car accused of having a "system problem" which causes "unexplained acceleration." There was an issue in the past 3 years with a Civic hybrid owner who claimed this and it was proven to be a hoax (at least in my mind) with the intent of discrediting "hybrids" by saying that they "randomly accelerate on their VERY OWN!!!" I take all these reports with the required grain of salt until the day that scientific testing can reveal that any car can "randomly accelerate" on it's own.
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Replying to: larsb (Sep 27, 2007 9:24 am) Consumer Affairs may be the only place besides the ODI that a person can complain about a problem with a hybrid. I have witnessed on this site many cases of people having a problem with a hybrid and their integrity was questioned. You have shown yourself to be much less tolerant of those that are not happy with their hybrids than those that are. Speaking of randomly accelerating. I drove a new Mercedes GL yesterday. I did not like the way the transmission downshifted when you let off the gas. And it was not very linear in its acceleration when you took off. It would surge with a slight touch of the accelerator. I don't think I would get used to that. So if it happens on $70k dollar vehicles it can happen on hybrids. |
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Replying to: gagrice (Sep 27, 2007 10:33 am) Here's a perfect explanation for that sentiment: If people are telling "the truth" and actually "stating something that is REALLY WRONG with the hybrids that is wrong BECAUSE IT IS A HYBRID" then I don't have a particular logical complaint with it. I might not like hearing it, and I will challenge them in the effort to get to the TRUTH and real cause of the problem - but if it is a REAL PROBLEM which is indeed caused by the hybrid technology in the car, then I will grudgingly accept that fact. The problem is this: those type of defects are FEW and far between. My problems with the complainers come about when many times people "blame" something which they perceive as a default in their car on the hybrid technology in the car, when in the REALITY in which I reside, there really is nothing wrong with car which is caused by the "hybrid technology" in their car at ALL. A firmware bug which needs to be re-programmed in any car is not a "hybrid issue" but a problem created by the person and the team which programmed the hardware in the first place. All modern cars have computers and those computers are programmed by humans, who sometimes, even after all the testing done before the cars are sent into production, miss a problem that only becomes known to them later. The Honda Insight, being a revolutionary car and a "testbed for hybrid cars in the general population" did have some "hybridization-related problem issues" which were caused by the very primitive hybrid system in that car - the "re-calc" issue. That's one of the only "hybrid problems which are caused by the fact that the car is a hybrid" that I have ever seen or heard of and KNOW FOR A FACT that it is a REAL PROBLEM which can in fact be blamed on hybridization. Many times owners will file a complaint and incorrectly in their own mind and in the complaint BLAME the problem on the hybridization of their car. Those people and their complaints DO cause me a problem, because they are putting a false black eye on hybrids when it is not deserved. Gary says, "Consumer Affairs may be the only place besides the ODI that a person can complain about a problem with a hybrid." Did you forget about the NHTSA complaint site? Gary says, "And it was not very linear in its acceleration when you took off. It would surge with a slight touch of the accelerator. I don't think I would get used to that. So if it happens on $70k dollar vehicles it can happen on hybrids." That's NOT the exact same sort of thing we are talking about with the Prius, at all. Slight surges due to downshifting would not be an issue in the Prius because of the CVT. |
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