Was driving a customer to the airport this morning along a very busy road when I had cause to use the Emergency Brake Assist feature. Driving along at 60 mph on a busy road to the local airport when a pet dog on the path (sidewalk?) pulled free from its leash and ran into the traffic, whilst its owner looked on in horror. All hell broke loose, cars braking hard and skidding all over the place avoiding this dog which was then running scared from all the noise. Guy in front of me slammed on his brakes to avoid a car skidding into our lane from the other direction which then required me to bang on the brakes - hard. This obviously activated the EBA which stopped the car very quickly and very hard, but smooth and progressively with hardly a chirp from the tyres. Was very impressed with the EBA. I pressed the brake hard and you could feel the EBA take over and it felt almost like someone else had pressed on the brake pedal too. Didn't see if any warning lights displayed or whether the brake lights flicked (which they're supposed to do with EBA) as I was too busy concentrating on the road ahead. I did have a scary moment when the truck (semi?) behind me started to jack knife and almost didn't manage to stop and he left a big cloud of burning rubber smoke drift past me. Escaped dog made it back to its very relieved and rather embarrassed owner safely and amazingly nobody crashed. So all ended well. It also gave me a good opportunity to test the Emergency Brake Assist, which worked very well indeed!
Wow! Glad it all ended well for all involved. The mention of "someone else pressing the brake" sounds exactly what someone told me about when their EBA engaged. As they reached for the brake, the pedal was falling away from them. Did you notice your seatbelt tightening? Was the passenger freaked out?
No I didn't and no they didn't. He was quite amazed at how well the car braked and we were quite relieved that we didn't hit anything or get hit and that all worked out well. He was a very wealthy bloke so it's just as well I didn't hit anything otherwise I'm sure a large claim would have been heading my insurers way!
These I was in/almost in an accident and survived make me more and more happy we replaced our 1995 Tracer Wagon with our Prius. I feel my family is so much safer. My five year old tells everyone about the balloons, air bags, in his Pwis.
I have had a very similar situation happen to me. The "Other Guy" can thank Prius that he is still alive. My car stopped less that a foot away from his front door He was 110% at fault, if I would have been driving my 4Runner that day, he would be DEAD! Damn, that car can STOP HARD, AND STAY IN CONTOL when it needs to! Glad it worked for you too!!
I've had the same experience twice with deer. The first time I was shocked at how fast the car stopped. Your description of feeling like someone else was pressing on the brakes is spot on. Tom
