Just wanted to post to praise the brakes on my '09 Prius. I've got something like 8K miles on the car, and was driving about 40 mph on a divided road (2 lanes in each direction, island in the middle) at about 8 AM on Wednesday, on my way to work. So I'm in the right hand lane and I see a car start to pull out from a side street, turning left heading the same direction as me. I'm thinking, "hmmm, that seems like bad timing to turn into the left lane right next to me." I always hate it when someone turns right onto your street, pulling right up next to you, if you're in the left lane. What if I was going to pull into the right lane? Anyway, this RAV4 is turning and I figure she sees me, but I quickly realize that she's going way too fast, accelerating too hard, and taking too wide of an arc to get into the left lane. She is in fact, headed right toward my car. Unfortunately, this particular road is quite pretty, which means tree-lined. I would not have been able to hop up the curb; that would mean meeting an oak tree, which was not in my plans on the way to work. So I hit the horn and the brakes. Of course, the RAV4 'instinctively' hits the brakes as she's careening right toward me. It would have been better for her to accelerate as I was braking, but whatever. So I screech to a stop, and did in fact turn toward the curb, getting just my right front wheel up on the curb. I probably missed her by 4-6 inches with my left front bumper. So we're both stopped, my heart is kind of racing, and we paused for a moment. Since we didn't actually collide, the RAV4 decides to go on ahead. But she stops about 100 yards ahead. I'm a bit pressed for time (long story, but had a 7 AM meeting at a different location that I didn't know about, had to leave a little early to try to get to work by 8:20 or so... I wasn't really speeding, probably 40 in a 35). ANYway, she pulls over and then has the gall to glare and yell at me as I drive past her. Whatever. The point of this post is to praise the breaks. They were awesome. I didn't skid, I didn't feel I was losing control, but I was able to come to a complete stop in just enough time to not wreck my car and my morning. So, props to you, Prius breaks!
Just returned trip from CA to WA on I-5. The Brakes along with the use of B; A#1 on 6% winding grades; Some 6 miles in lenght.:rockon:
Are you the guy in the very funny Toyota Prius regen commercial ? ;-) I can certainly relate with your frustration at drivers who do not turn into the correct lanes. It is so bad in my locality I just assume it is going to happen. Another unintended consequence of SUV's. Bald humor after the near accident, courtesy of my daughter: why was Helen Keller such a bad driver ? Ans: Well obviously, it's because she is a woman.
Yesterday, on a rain-slicked street, my ABS stopped the car well before it could drift into oncoming traffic. I have the older, NHW11. Bob Wilson
The braking system will perform even better with wider and better tires than the Standard Prius' OEM 185/65/15 Integrities. For instance, Consumer Reports measured the dry 60-0 mph stopping distance of the Standard Prius as 143 feet. Although 143 feet isn't terrible, it's not good --- it places the Standard Prius' braking in only the 11th percentile of the over 100 current model sedans tested by Consumer Reports. But when Consumer Reports tested the Touring Prius with its OEM 195/55/16 Turanzas, it found that the Touring had 10 - 12 feet shorter 60 - 0 mph stopping distances than the Standard Prius.
