I was told by a mechanic that the Prius vehicles actually learns your driving habits in the first few days, and adjusts its performance accordingly? Does anyone know if this is true, as I have not read or heard this from anyone else but from him?
I'm not sure. I know several vehicles have these intelligent transmissions that adapt their shift pattern to your driving style but the Prius doesn't have a transmission and it doesn't shift so I'm not sure. Could the dealer be talking about the navigation system?
Hard to tell if it is the car or the owner (or a combination of both). You do learn from your car. When the MFD puts information in front of your face that shows you what happens when you drive in a certain way, you adapt in order to maximize results from the vehicle.
all automatic transmission cars learn their driver's style of driving. while the prius doesn't have a classical transmission to modify shift points like a regular car would, it can probably adjust short term fuel trim (percent change in fuel use.) one of the ECUs collects driver patterns, but we don't know how much of a role that plays.
ok the large majority. based on driving patterns the shift points can be adjusted to match the performance needed. can't tell you how many cars he's had taken in to the shop because "the kids took the car out for the weekend and now it drives different, did they break something?" and it was just because the kids drove it harder.
There are references to the car learning in the Prius New Car Features. The ECM (engine control module) definatly does. Several have described the the car relearning after a ECU flash.
On my last car (1990 Ford Probe) it took about 75 miles for the car to "relearn" if the battery was disconnected. IIRC it said so in the car's manual.
