Rosher.Net

I gave a small sigh of relief as I scanned the list of Toyota’s affected by the ‘accelerator recall’. The Prius wasn’t on it. And then I saw the link to a separate story about Prius brake issues!

The accelerator thing appears to be about floormats riding up under the accelerator pedal bedding into the floormat, rather than any fly-by-wire failure. I’ve had that same thing happen to me on my old Rover 45 and my Peugeot 307 SW SE… The Prius actually has clips to hold the mat in place, so perhaps that why it’s not on the list. [update link to FAQ]

The braking issue… I’ve had that, although of course my Prius is the previous generation. It’s all about potholes, ABS and bad driving. If you hit a pothole while braking hard, the ABS releases the wheel that hit the hole – very briefly – and then reapplies the brake. The ‘skid warning’ lights on the dash to let you know. If you’re not braking like crazy that’s all there is to it. The Prius isn’t really much use if you tend to brake like crazy…

As for the rubbish mileage I’m getting right now – I think we’ve tracked it down to an ‘all four’ tyre replacement, which the Toyota garage carried out using high, or at least normal, traction Bridgestone Turanza ER300’s. Not good, not happy. I guestimate these tyres have to date cost me a conservative minimum of five miles per gallon for the last 150 gallons. In cost terms that’s about three pence per mile for the last 5000, or about £150. At least.