I'm sure many of you have heard about Toyota's recent recall involving unintended acceleration and the effect that it has had on Toyota sales in the last month. In order to see for ourselves how easy it would be to recover from an unintended acceleration event, my buddy Lars and I went out to Toyota's headquarters in Torrance to do a few tests of our own. Our predictions were that the car's brakes would be significantly more powerful than the engine. Have a look at the video to see for yourself.
Alan and Lars' Toyota Test Video
We completed 3 test. First, Lars put the gas pedal to the floor at about 45 mph and used his left foot to slam on the brakes. The car stopped easily. Next, he pegged the throttle to the floor and shifted into neutral. The car bounced off the rev limiter and the hand brake brought the car to a stop. Finally, Lars brought the car up to 45mph and turned the key to the off position so the column did not lock but the engine died. The brakes still worked to bring the car to a stop.
So what are our conclusions? Even if your Toyota accelerated suddenly without warning, an application of the brakes will stop the vehicle quite easily.
Disclaimer: Do not try this at home. Lars is much like the Stig. He's well trained and his heart is actually made of chocolate pudding.
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One thing to keep in mind - there is no mechanical connection between a Prius' brake pedal and the brake hydraulic system.
ReplyDeleteActually there is. The Toyota Prius does have regenerative braking on top of a conventional hydraulic brake system. What people think is unintended acceleration is actually just the regenerative brake system being turned off when the Antilock Brake System senses a slight loss of traction. Direct hydraulic or cable actuated brakes are the only road legal systems at this time.
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