Throttle Response

[paulbuck]

Has anyone noticed that there is a slight delay in response when 'flooring' the throttle, as in from a standing start or trying to merge onto an expressway.

I love my Hybrid, but this is sometimes disconcerting.

[GreenBlackFFH]

Has anyone noticed that there is a slight delay in response when 'flooring' the throttle, as in from a standing start or trying to merge onto an expressway.

I love my Hybrid, but this is sometimes disconcerting.

 

I have noticed this on both the FFH and the Camry hybrid I owned previously. I believe it is an inrush current protection mechanism which keeps the electronics within safe limits. The new railroad locomotives with electronic traction motor controls have a similar issue, and the engineers often complain about it on the railroad forums.

[rfruth]

I notice the delay, thought it was a combination of drive-by-wire thing & the Atkinson cycle - are the Toyota hybrids better or worse ? http://www.roadandtrack.com/auto-news/tech/video-the-real-atkinson-cycle

[lolder]

Has anyone noticed that there is a slight delay in response when 'flooring' the throttle, as in from a standing start or trying to merge onto an expressway.

I love my Hybrid, but this is sometimes disconcerting.

There is a delay but it's not as much as it appears. From a standing start with the ICE off, it must start which takes a fraction of a second. You don't hear it right away and the electric assist is mostly silent. When merging, the electrics give a transient assist but the ICE must increase it's RPM before it gives more power, it is already working at near wide open throttle before you step on the pedal more. The electrics could add a bigger "kick" but I suspect they want to keep peak transient voltages and currents under rein. All the Atkinson eCVTs are the same. The trains have no batteries so increasing the RPM of the generator is the only method there.

Edited November 25, 2010 by lolder

[MrMikeL]

I traded in a 2004 Toyota Solara V6 for the 2010 FFH. The Toyota had a very noticeable 2 second throttle delay when "flooring it". This was very troublesome, especially when I almost got rear ended by a city bus because I merged into the next lane thinking I could accelerate. A software fix corrected the problem.

 

Yeah, I notice the throttle delay on the 2010 FFH, but it's maybe a half a second. I was told that it's supposed to mimic the delay we all used to have in older cars that were not drive-by-wire. Not sure we still need that.

[paulbuck]

Thanks for all the comments....I still feel that the 'delay' is too long and can be dangerous. Maybe since I've always had manual transmissions I am used to more immediate response when hitting the gas. It's when you need the power immediately (such as merging onto the expressway) that it can be scary.