Cruise Control Observations

[miimura]

I have been using the cruise control on the RAV4 EV more than my previous cars. Here are my observations about it.

1. Cruise will not enable in B mode, only D.
2. When the cruise is enabled and the vehicle is traveling downhill, it will use more regeneration than lifting completely off the accelerator pedal in D, if necessary to maintain the set speed. I have not tried to determine if it will regenerate more than completely lifting in B mode.
3. When the brake pedal is used to cancel the cruise control, the regeneration is limited to approximately the amount available when lifting completely off the accelerator pedal, requiring most of the braking to be done by the friction brakes.
4. If you tap and release the brake pedal to cancel the cruise control, normal braking regeneration will be allowed when the brake pedal is re-applied.

 

[cwerdna]

#1 is probably carryover from Prius behavior. That's what it does on Gen 2 Prius (refuses to acknowledge/keep set speed while in B) and IIRC, it's by design and in the Prius manual.

 

[TonyWilliams]

#1 is probably carryover from Prius behavior. That's what it does on Gen 2 Prius (refuses to acknowledge/keep set speed while in B) and IIRC, it's by design and in the Prius manual.

Is the insane beeping in the car while in reverse also from the Prius?

 

[BSki]

Is the insane beeping in the car while in reverse also from the Prius?

Yes it is, I had to have that turned off at the dealer on my Prius Plug In as well.

Your dealer can disable that beep. Now when I enter reverse, it only beeps one single time.

 

[TonyWilliams]

I heard the pedestrian noise maker the other day, and looked up to see a Prius instead of a Rav4. Another carryover.

 

[cwerdna]

#1 is probably carryover from Prius behavior. That's what it does on Gen 2 Prius (refuses to acknowledge/keep set speed while in B) and IIRC, it's by design and in the Prius manual.

Is the insane beeping in the car while in reverse also from the Prius?

Yes. On Gen 2 Prius, one can change from the continual beeping to no beep via a "dance" (http://priuschat.com/threads/disabling-the-reverse-beep.37380/).

On Gen 3 Prius, AFAIK, no "dance" will work and you have to use Toyota Techstream or something that sends the right messages over the CAN bus (some people have gotten a ScanGauge II to do it) to change to a single beep.

I heard the pedestrian noise maker the other day, and looked up to see a Prius instead of a Rav4. Another carryover.

Yeah, their noisemaker (VPNS in Toyota parlance: http://priuschat.com/threads/2012-prius-vehicle-proximity-notification-system-vpns-video.104980/) started coming on I believe all Toyota hybrids starting w/model year 2012. Makes sense to include it on '12+ EVs. Prior to MY 2012, no Toyota hybrids had any such noisemaker.

 

[AvLegends]

I heard the pedestrian noise maker the other day, and looked up to see a Prius instead of a Rav4. Another carryover.

The Avalon hybrid has it as well.

 

[cwerdna]

^^^
Not surprising. I'd guess that all '12+ model year Toyota (and its sub-brands) hybrids and EVs have it. Googling for vpns site:toyota.com should turn up more info...

 

[miimura]

One more observation. When you go downhill with the cruise control on, the max regen is the same as B mode.

I verified this by setting the cruise control to 32mph before a steep downhill section of road. As the car started down the hill, the power meter transitioned from the green through zero to the purple bars. The car started gaining speed and when it reached 35mph I moved the shifter to B. There was no change to the purple bars on the power meter, which leads me to conclude that the the regen limit with the Cruise enabled in D is the same as the regen limit in B with your foot off the accelerator pedal. The only way to get more regen is to gently apply the brake pedal. It will increase the regen further before the friction brakes engage.

 

[smkettner]

I tend to use B mode to cancel the cruise control.
Of course this requires shifting back to drive before you hit resume.

 

[smkettner]

I believe I have found a sequence that causes cruise control error.

Using cruise control, then stop and put in park (still running), then back onto the freeway and hit Resume.
System errors out and will not engage until the vehicle is turned off and back on.

 

[miimura]

I have not gone back to verify this, but I think another "Check Cruise Control" trigger is to start pushing the accelerator just as you hit cancel. The reason I did this was to blend the accel to zero torque instead of it going to full regen upon cancel. I believe the car thinks there is a problem with the pedal linkage or something because it did not return to the zero position.