Today I was driving to work (two lanes, I'm in the left lane) and the person in front of me decided to take a late right exit from the left lane. So they slammed on their brakes to make the exit. I had to brake very hard because I was behind them, but I don't think my wheels broke traction. One thing I noticed was a disturbing counterclockwise twist of the body of just a few degrees in combination with the normal front end drop when you brake hard. The twist was along the center axis of the car perpendicular to the road. The suspension felt very mushy also - it did not give me a great feeling that I will be able to remain in control of the car in a really hard braking emergency situation. I like the suspension to feel firm in situations like this. I do have the tires pumped up to 40lbs in the back, 42lbs in the front, and I have VSC. I did not hear the ABS kick in. New car, less than 1K miles. Has anyone else experienced this? Is it normal for the Prius?
Prius is not a sports car. However, my guess is that the CCW twist that you felt was due to your tires losing traction slightly. You may find that emergency handling response improves with different tires installed; the original equipment Goodyear Integrity tires are not known for offering great traction. Since you have snow in your area, another decision that you will face in a few months is whether to install winter tires or not.
I agree with Patrick. The OEM tires are not the most secure. The Prius suspension is soft, but it still controls well when braking. VSC is excellent for winter driving, but you will want better tires. Tom
Will have to take it out on a back road somewhere and slam on the brakes a few times to get used to the car. I have not done this yet. I'm going to hold on to the tires for a while even if they are sub-par. I think the wife's going to kill me if I start talking about new tire$ at this point...
I've done some serious braking while steering to get around large animals in the road. The Prius does remarkably well. The suspension has a soft, floaty feel, but the car goes where your steer. The automatic brake assist is startling in it's ability. It shocked me the first time I crammed on the brakes. It doesn't make the brakes hold any better, but it shortens your reaction time. Tom
