Feb
04
2010
I bought a new Toyota Prius in July, 2009, and while I really like the car, I have also found a number of signficant problems:
When I pull out of my garage in reverse, the brakes are extremely sensitive, grabbing quickly rather than smoothly. For some reason, the system reacts differently in this situation. When I put the Prius in “forward,” things go back to normal.
When I am slowing to a stop, about 3-5 mph, and the car hits a bump, the car surges slightly, as if I’ve lifted my foot off the brake pedal for a split second. I can repeat this behavior routinely at the bottom of my driveway. This is a little disconcerting, as I might be stopping for a pedestrian and the car surges forward.
The car behaves weirdly on wet surfaces at freeway speeds. We don’t get much rain in San Diego, but during recent rain storms, I noticed car acting strangely above 55 mph. Perhaps it was hydroplaning, but it seemed to be a strange yawing motion that wasn’t directly related to hydroplaning. Its as if the system was making some strange corrections to the wheels when it hits rain. If I stay below 55 mph, I don’t notice the problem.
The car sometimes “boots up” into a strange state. The navigation system doesn’t connect properly to the bluetooth on my iPhone, playing only a few seconds of a song before disconnecting. I had to pull over, shut the car down and restart it to fix the problem. This might just be the entertainment system, but it certainly makes one wonder what other software bugs there are in the system.
The on/off switch is confusing to me. I’m a pretty hard-core geek, but even after driving it for 6 months, I don’t have much confidence in how the switch works. Depending on the state of the car, its motion, your foot on the brake pedal, and various timing issues, a button press can 1) start the car, 2) stop the car, 3) put it in accessory mode, 4) go from accessory mode to “started”, 5) do nothing, 6) put it into auto park mode, or 7) shutdown the engine and power accessories (but not put it in Park). There is no positive feedback for any of these mode switches – you have to look at the display to read a variety of lights to figure out what happened. After 6 months driving the car, I can’t say that I really understand all the on/off activities of the car…Unlike a normal ignition switch with a positive “off” position, and the requirement that you shift to Park, the Prius requires a button press synchronized with the brake pedal press. It shuts off silently, and you have to look at the display panel to confirm that it actually worked… there isn’t even a click or other confirmation. Three times now, I’ve stopped for mail at my mailbox, and missed the sequence. When I open the door to get my mail, I find that the car is creeping forward under power. The Park button and the On/Off are very near to each other… this reminds me of Boeing putting the 767 fuel shut off switches near the landing gear controls. The on/off system is amazingly complicated and subject to lots of mistakes… in the old days, we had a physical switch in Off, Accessory, On, and Starter modes. You had a strong physical feedback sensation as you put the gear shift into “Park” mode, and an unmistakable “click” as the ignition switch went to “off.” Now, if you press the “Park” button instead of the “Off” button (near each other, both about the same size) you could find your Prius starting the engine unexpectedly in a closed garage. The engine is not running when you leave the car, but it is actually in an operational mode, and will kick on the engine at some point if the battery discharges. This could lead to some pretty nasty carbon monoxide surprises the next morning.
All in all, I think Toyota has a lot of work ahead of itself…
