“The car was jammed on full throttle, could that have prevented the shift?”

No. Did you even bother to watch the video? The guy had the pedal to the floor the whole time.

“as some people are claiming the gear can’t be changed when the RPMs are above a certain amount.”

Some people are idiots. That statement makes absolutely no sense.

It’s clear to me that the Prius uses a lot of unconventional technology which its insipid users can’t be bothered to figure out. The guy with the runaway Prius said he couldn’t get it to shift into neutral. I wonder if he realized that he had to hold it there? Pity that he didn’t bother to familiarize himself with the operation of his vehicle, since that’s the entire reason cars come with manuals. If I got into a car with a shift mechanism that looked like that, the first thing I would do is break out the book to figure out how the hell it works.

We just need to stop letting stupid people drive cars.

Besides, the point of the video is that you can shift the car into neutral while the throttle is pegged and the car will still slow down.

“Sometimes when I drive down in the valley, which has unbelievably steep, long roads, I shift my transmission into neutral and turn the car off”

When I go down a hill, I leave my car in gear, so that I don’t have to use gas OR brakes. It’s called engine braking.

“how does anyone know aside from those who have experienced this phenomenon if the transmission control is affect or if the brake control is affected by the glitch or not.”

Because they’re operating off of separate electronic systems. The ECU only controls the engine, not the brakes or transmission.

ajm11: Thanks for the kind words. I respect your opinion but unfortunately I cannot comply with your request as this is an open forum, so I will continue posting as I like, especially when I read complete misinformation attempting to be passed on as fact.

“And you do use gas because your engine is STILL on!”

You’re a moron. If the fuel injectors were firing, the engine wouldn’t be braking. Any car with a manual transmission cuts fuel above a certain RPM (on my car, it’s 1500 rpm) when throttle position is zero, for obvious reasons. You can even feel it when fuel delivery returns when you continue coasting. No fuel, that sound you hear is the engine spinning, you retard.

“Learn how to count!”

Sorry, five.

“I don’t see anything there that tells you what activates the brakes mechanical or electrical”

You understand how “disc brakes” work, right?

“I had said, what if the glitch caused a problem with the computers that control the shifting. There is no cable for the transmission, it is all computer controlled. So it is possibly that a spike in electricity or some sort of short can cause problems in multiple computers at the time.”

I understand that, but a failure causing the car to accelerate is going to be separate from a failure causing the car to be unable to shift into neutral. You’re talking about multiple failures in systems designed with redundancies; it’s quite unlikely to happen.

For more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_Synergy_Drive

“Something f’ing up and their cars having problems.”

I don’t discount that at all, I’m simply saying that I doubt the UA problem, whatever the cause, is going to affect the braking or transmission systems.

“I still can’t believe you just said your engine receives no gas when engine braking”

Holy crap, you’ve never driven a manual, have you? Have you ever looked at an ECU load map? I can take my laptop out to my car right now and datalog it for you so that you can see the injectors shut off when throttle position goes to zero and come back on as RPMs drop to 1500 rpm. Why the HELL would the engine need fuel if it’s braking?

Disc brakes are operated hydraulically. They are controlled electronically through ABS on every single car sold. There is “computer involvement” on every braking system available today.