Worry Or Not To Worry

[RNS]

hello there

Does this sort of news bother any of you guys

http://www.whatcar.com/car-news/toyota-us-death-toll-is-increased/250001

[Sagitar]

hello there

Does this sort of news bother any of you guys

http://www.whatcar.com/car-news/toyota-us-death-toll-is-increased/250001

Absolutely not.

I have read what I can of the hard evidence and mostly the connections are very tenuous.

An increase in the number of claims following a recall is not surprising and in context (nearly 34,000 vehicle accident related deaths in the USA in 2009) the numbers are still very small.

I think the odds of any of us actually experiencing a life threatening event because of this phenomenon is very, very small.

[kithmo]

I'm not worried as the 2010 Prius is not affected by this anyway. I think some of these unexplained acceleration situations were down to floor mats and the accidents are down to driver error or inexperience. I mean how hard is it to turn off the ignition or knock it out of gear to stop a runaway car ?

What you have to remember is the USA mindset of, if it's not made in USA then its substandard and suspect. Also the blame and claim culture over there.

[cheetah1]

What I can't understand is, how on earth is it possible for the engine to overpower the brakes? The brakes develop thousands of horsepower/kilowatts of power when applied fully, there is not a chance on earth that the driver wouldn't be able to stop the car with the brakes when the throttle is fully open. Go ahead and try, I dare you.

[kithmo]

What I can't understand is, how on earth is it possible for the engine to overpower the brakes? The brakes develop thousands of horsepower/kilowatts of power when applied fully, there is not a chance on earth that the driver wouldn't be able to stop the car with the brakes when the throttle is fully open. Go ahead and try, I dare you.

It is possible, travelling at 60-70 mph with full throttle, to overheat the brakes and hence create brake fade and possibly fluid boil.

[cheetah1]

What I can't understand is, how on earth is it possible for the engine to overpower the brakes? The brakes develop thousands of horsepower/kilowatts of power when applied fully, there is not a chance on earth that the driver wouldn't be able to stop the car with the brakes when the throttle is fully open. Go ahead and try, I dare you.

It is possible, travelling at 60-70 mph with full throttle, to overheat the brakes and hence create brake fade and possibly fluid boil.

It is if you ride them, but a sudden burst will stop the car. I've tried several times, even several times in a row, it just isn't possible that these accusations that "USA" makes are in any way true.

[Parts-King]

It is possible, travelling at 60-70 mph with full throttle, to overheat the brakes and hence create brake fade and possibly fluid boil.

If you travelled with your foot partly on the pedal for a long while you would get brake fade and possibly boil the fluid, but as mentioned above, there is absolutly NO WAY the engine could pull away if you were standing on the brakes, and by that I mean keeping your foot depressed on the pedal until you came to a standstill which would be very quick indeed, you could then switch the engine off and walk away

Kingo

[Grumpy Cabbie]

Everyone else has pretty much covered it. 89 deaths out of a population of 300 million. Most if not all are due to mats getting stuck under the accellerator pedal. You can floor the accelerator and then brake with your left foot (becareful if you try this! seriously!) and the car will come to a stop, even at 60 mph. If you want to test this, don't do it on a public road and be very very careful. You could also switch the car off (on the Prius hold the Power button for 3 seconds) or slip the car into Neutral or press Park which on the gen3 Prius puts it into Neutral.

America is the land of big lawsuits with a blame anyone but yourself culture. I'm sure some of these deaths are unexplained and could be caused by a faulty car, but one wonders what the odds of this are against being hit by lightening. Any actuaries out there?

[Seamaster73]

...you guys

Troll much?

[Doesn'tExist]

...you guys

Troll much?

Why call him a troll? He's got his Prius on order for delivery in September...

[Seamaster73]

In that case, apologies to RNS.

Read too many similar threads started in exactly the same way on a number of Prius-related forums that were kicked off with the sole intent of trolling.

FWIW, the issue has surely been put to bed now?

[RNS]

do you think you should have read my past post ? before commenting ?

[timberwolf]

do you think you should have read my past post ? before commenting ?

I haven't been posting much recently, but I have been trying to keep up with my reading, and I'll admit it has crossed my mind that some of your posts do seem to have a troll-like quality. Against that, I think it was you(?) that posted about the bizarre licensing rules of your local council and not licensing hybrids as taxis, so hypothetically if you were a troll at least you've been interesting.

[Doesn'tExist]

Unbelievable!?

I must admit that between here and priuschat, the prius community seems to be one of the most unfriendly and prejudiced communities I've been part in...So quick to accuse people of all sorts....

[timberwolf]

Unbelievable!?

I must admit that between here and priuschat, the prius community seems to be one of the most unfriendly and prejudiced communities I've been part in...So quick to accuse people of all sorts....

Mmmm, it is ironic that you have collectively labeled this whole community, with your prejudice, that all of the members here are being unfriendly and prejudiced when only two individuals may have posted what in your opinion is unfriendly - out of how many members?

[Grumpy Cabbie]

Unbelievable!?

I must admit that between here and priuschat, the prius community seems to be one of the most unfriendly and prejudiced communities I've been part in...So quick to accuse people of all sorts....

In some ways I agree with you in that we can be a little over sensitive, but I have been members of other motoring forums in the past and none of them had the high prevalence of trolls that the Prius forums seem to attract. If you were a member of the MR2 club forum, you'd just have MR2 owners discuss the pro's and con's of the car and yes these got heated sometimes. What you didn't get were owners of other vehicle manufacturers joining up and slagging off MR2's or making fun out of the owners, which seems to occur with all the Prius forums I'm a member of.

Perhaps this is why we are prone to over react?

[Doesn'tExist]

Unbelievable!?

I must admit that between here and priuschat, the prius community seems to be one of the most unfriendly and prejudiced communities I've been part in...So quick to accuse people of all sorts....

Mmmm, it is ironic that you have collectively labeled this whole community, with your prejudice, that all of the members here are being unfriendly and prejudiced when only two individuals may have posted what in your opinion is unfriendly - out of how many members?

Well yes you have got a point here indeed...But it isn't that busy on here at all and it was related to the prius section, starting to accuse new members when they ask questions of troller is not a very nice warm welcome...And yes my apologies, it is even more so on priuschat where there really seem to be a chip on members shoulders...

I think people better get used to newbies asking lots of questions from an innocent perspective, as there will be lots more people interested in these type of cars....

[Doesn'tExist]

Unbelievable!?

I must admit that between here and priuschat, the prius community seems to be one of the most unfriendly and prejudiced communities I've been part in...So quick to accuse people of all sorts....

In some ways I agree with you in that we can be a little over sensitive, but I have been members of other motoring forums in the past and none of them had the high prevalence of trolls that the Prius forums seem to attract. If you were a member of the MR2 club forum, you'd just have MR2 owners discuss the pro's and con's of the car and yes these got heated sometimes. What you didn't get were owners of other vehicle manufacturers joining up and slagging off MR2's or making fun out of the owners, which seems to occur with all the Prius forums I'm a member of.

Perhaps this is why we are prone to over react?

Fair enough....Got to say on the Navara forum we get our fair share of mainly L200 owners who are quickly uncovered but never accused...And you wouldn't believe on the Mac forums the number of 'haters' are there who just come to post about how bad the iPad is ;-) I just laugh at trolls as apparently they must like something about the subject in order to be bothered to register etc... But come on, this is nothing and just a genuine question...

[Grumpy Cabbie]

Indeed this is. RNS is a genuine member. I was just giving an explanation of why some members are a little overly sensitive.