The Flip Side Of The Perfect Prius

[♦ nivek ♦]

Top end snip to lengthy article at URL, klicka da linka for rest:

 

http://www.seattleweekly.com/2009-04-22/news/the-flip-side-of-the-perfect-prius/

 

 

The Flip Side of the Perfect Prius

Sometimes the cars accelerate on their own. Sometimes they stop dead. Drivers of the hybrid Prius have discovered they can be an unexpected adventure.

By Paul Knight

published: April 22, 2009

 

 

Bobette Riner publishes an electricity index used to promote renewable energy, and she bought a brand-new Prius last year to shoot the bird at the oil companies.

 

"I felt so smug for a while," she says. "Especially being in Houston."

 

She had been lucky to score the car from a dealership on Houston's south side, because for nearly a year there had been a three-month wait to get a Prius. The dealership couldn't even keep a model for the showroom.

 

The car had a "cute little body" that Riner loved, and she reveled in driving like a "nerdy Prius owner," watching the energy-usage display on the car's center console, trying to drain every possible mile from a gallon of gasoline. When she hit 2,000 miles, she could count her trips to a gas station on one hand.

 

On a rainy night last fall, a couple of months after Riner bought her Prius, she was driving toward the Houston Galleria for a sales meeting. She hated driving in the rain because a car wreck in college catapulted her through the windshield, and doctors almost had to amputate her leg.

 

Traffic near the mall was congested but moving, and Riner kept the Prius pegged at 60 mph, constantly looking at the console to manage her fuel consumption.

 

Suddenly she felt the car hydroplaning out of control, and when she glanced at the speedometer she realized the car had shot up to 84 mph. Riner wasn't hydroplaning; quite simply, her Prius had accelerated on its own.

 

She pushed on the brakes but they were dead. Then just as suddenly as the car had taken off, it shut down. The console lit up with warning lights, leaving Riner fighting a stiff steering wheel as she coasted across four lanes of traffic and down an exit ramp.

 

The car stopped near a PetSmart parking lot, and Riner sat in disbelief, listening to fat raindrops pelt the Prius, wondering if her new car had actually gone crazy.

[Guest QuidEstCaritas?]

lol

 

"A Liberal Gal and A Liberal Guy drive Huuuuugooooooo!!!!!"

 

Oh Jesus this article made me crack up something fierce, when will people just realize green tech is perfectly ok.

[mwc]

Reminds of problems with automatic transmissions slipping into gear and running over people.

 

This sounds like it's a firmware problem and something that could probably be fixed pretty easily with a little investigation but it seems that Toyota would rather take the path of simply denying things. I would imagine they're getting the car data and whenever they're ready they'll do some recall, get the cars in, and back door the fix for this while taking care of the other problem. That way they can avoid admitting to anything. Anyone who knows how to hack these cars should keep copies of the firmware on file "just in case."

 

mwc

[OpheliaGinger]

Reminds me of this:

 

Maybe needs more waterproofing.

[florduh]

Early reports claimed that the manufacturing is so complex and uses so much energy that the Prius stomps out a troublingly deep carbon footprint.

 

That seems to be a common theme in the story of the green scam.

 

Green is simply big business and has nothing to do with actually improving the environment. A phony market has been created for phony products. If you think the corporations have any altruistic motives, think again. It's still all about creating a perceived need and then filling it. Business has learned to use fear as a motivator, much like religion.

[PaulQ]

The problem with the concept of the Prius, and all hybrid cars, is winter. The cold really cuts down on how much electricity the battery can hold, then they're also charged with running a heater; a double-whammy. With a regular internal combustion engine, the waste heat is used to heat the vehicle, making the engine more efficient.

 

Whatever happened to the 3 cylinder engine Geo Metros and the like?

 

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/05/20/geo.metro/

[Ouroboros]

The car stopped near a PetSmart parking lot, and Riner sat in disbelief, listening to fat raindrops pelt the Prius, wondering if her new car had actually gone crazy.

Oh, no. The answer is that it was possessed! In the NAME of JESUS I compel you. Car Demon ye be gone! In the Name of Jeeeeeezuz. Ok. Now the car works again... no?

[doomguarder]

Interesting article Nivik.

 

Sounds like the Prius was rushed to market to fill the void left by the American automakers. Look at the state of GM and Chrysler, both in bankruptcy. The market is there for an inexpensive fuel efficient car, look at the SmartCar which has a 3 month waiting list in my area.

It is lack of forethought on the part of the American automakers that left the hole open for the Prius and accelerated its production.

 

florduh-

I tend to agree that fear sells all sorts of products, from cars to wars. Just look at the purchases of duct tape and plastic sheeting in the months after 911, or the current upsurge in gun /ammunition purchases after the election. What about religion, talk about a product sold on fear, you even get to choose which 'flavor' and how much fear and guilt you can take.

Unfortunately, fear remains the most successfully sales tactic in history and will continue its rein as the main motivator of human action. Too often instinct overrides intellect.