Harsh acceleration

[itstherightfoot]

Hi, I'm new here having recently bought a Yaris Excel, which I love. Owned my last Yaris (Diesel) for 15 years. Anyway, I wanted to ask about the Hybrid Coaching app. So far it's been ok, but I notice that when accelerating  (what I would regard as normal on a slip road of a motorway - not even flooring it) it flags up 'Harsh Acceleration ' on the trip details afterward. It seems really sensitive as often I'm only getting up to 50 ish and not really staying long in the power area on the speedo. It does it in all 3 modes Eco, Normal and Power. I'm starting to feel I can't accelerate normally anymore. Should I just ignore it and get on with driving or should I be concerned? 

[anchorman]

14 minutes ago, itstherightfoot said:

Hi, I'm new here having recently bought a Yaris Excel, which I love. Owned my last Yaris (Diesel) for 15 years. Anyway, I wanted to ask about the Hybrid Coaching app. So far it's been ok, but I notice that when accelerating  (what I would regard as normal on a slip road of a motorway - not even flooring it) it flags up 'Harsh Acceleration ' on the trip details afterward. It seems really sensitive as often I'm only getting up to 50 ish and not really staying long in the power area on the speedo. It does it in all 3 modes Eco, Normal and Power. I'm starting to feel I can't accelerate normally anymore. Should I just ignore it and get on with driving or should I be concerned? 

Love your forum name 😂.  Yes, ignore it.  The graphics are just aids to help get the best efficiency from the car and all it’s saying is, if you continue to drive like that it will be counter efficient.  It doesn’t affect the car in any way.  

[Roy124]

Certainly,  if you employ very gentle acceleration, slower than cruise control does,  you may eventually reach your desired speed.

Annoyingly my wife does not accelerate as gently as I would wish, and does not use cruise control, achieves better scores and consumption. 

[itstherightfoot]

Thank you @anchormanand @Roy124 I shall just get on with driving 😄....I usually achieve a score of 80/81 highest being 96 so far and 63.9/69.3mph, but it's my first hybrid so I suppose  getting used to it still. BTW 'its the right foot' is what I usually say when stuck behind very slow drivers.....of which I I'm starting to become in 'eco mode' 😁

[anchorman]

My Mrs would come from the supermarket half a mile away all smug with a score in the 90s.  I just used to say wow! and not ask her to drive over the hills to my place of work!  She is a very gentle driver to be fair.  

[ninanina]

9 minutes ago, itstherightfoot said:

Thank you @anchormanand @Roy124 I shall just get on with driving 😄....I usually achieve a score of 80/81 highest being 96 so far and 63.9/69.3mph, but it's my first hybrid so I suppose  getting used to it still. BTW 'its the right foot' is what I usually say when stuck behind very slow drivers.....of which I I'm starting to become in 'eco mode' 😁

Best score I’ve seen in the Prius is 92…. today I scored 85 and I wasn’t hanging around round town 

The Prius score seems very dependant on the A/C settings so if it’s going full blast on a hot day it suffers but it kinda equals out over time so I wouldn’t worry about it too much just drive your Yaris and enjoy it 

[itstherightfoot]

Yes shorter journeys score high! Then I do a long trip and it ruins my average 😞....I need to let go of the stats me thinks 🤔 

[ninanina]

1 minute ago, itstherightfoot said:

Yes shorter journeys score high! Then I do a long trip and it ruins my average 😞....I need to let go of the stats me thinks 🤔 

Yes let go…😁.. if I can find a setting I’d turn off the stats but I’ve never looked for it 

[itstherightfoot]

8 minutes ago, ninanina said:

Best score I’ve seen in the Prius is 92…. today I scored 85 and I wasn’t hanging around round town 

The Prius score seems very dependant on the A/C settings so if it’s going full blast on a hot day it suffers but it kinda equals out over time so I wouldn’t worry about it too much just drive your Yaris and enjoy it 

That's true, the A/C does affect the score. You're right I should just get on and drive.... Although my hubby makes me laugh when riding shotgun coming on to a motorway by saying "harsh acceleration!" as I join the fast moving traffic. 🙄😄

[ninanina]

🤣🤣🤣

[CPN]

Getting obsessed with the stats kind of takes away from the enjoyment of driving a Toyota Hybrid to be honest. (and when I mention the word "Hybrid" from now on, I mean specifically a Toyota. There's a reason... see later...)

I also fundamentally disagree with the notion that "harsh acceleration=bad"; especially in a Hybrid.

If a person stops to think about it for a few seconds, when you accelerate gently to get to your desired cruising speed, initially there is almost an equal split between drawing power from the traction motor and the ICE with the bias towards the ICE eventually (using a certain amount of fuel).

In our Hybrids, as long as the SoC is >50%, when you floor the throttle (harsh acceleration) to get to your desired cruising speed, the split in power is biased towards the traction motor's use of the HV Battery initially and thereby drawing less power, proportionately, from the ICE which actually uses less fuel and gets you there in less time allowing you to back off the loud pedal sooner.

Ergo: you get to your desired speed sooner and use less fuel in the process.

All of this principle can be observed in real time using the excellent Android app, Hybrid Assistant which displays the power in Kw being drawn from the ICE and MG2 (The traction motor/generator).

Why do I specify "Toyota" Hybrid particularly? Simply because in terms of Hybrid technology and the brilliant power split device that Toyota have refined over the last 30 years, they are the cream of the Hybrid genre in my opinion. All hybrids are not equal IMNSHO!!

[MikeSh]

I record my fuel use and mileage from fill to fill to get average mpg.

Never look at the car stats. Doing it while driving would be dangerous and looking afterwards would be boring. 

The cold never bothered me anyway. Sorry, wrong line 😚

[Jimota]

Just remember you can get a lower score even if you’ve been fully alert and aware of your surroundings.  For example, I had to stamp on the brakes to avoid a collision with a car that exited from a give way junction.  The Toyota spy told me to be more gentle with my braking actions when approaching junctions.  If I’d been more gentle I would have hit the other car.  I also get that dreaded beeping sound on a local road, warning me that I’ve crossed the white line road marking.  I’m nowhere near the white line but the camera seems activate a previously repaired thin line of shiny tarmacadam.  

 

[ninanina]

2 hours ago, itstherightfoot said:

Thank you @anchormanand @Roy124 I shall just get on with driving 😄....I usually achieve a score of 80/81 highest being 96 so far and 63.9/69.3mph, but it's my first hybrid so I suppose  getting used to it still. BTW 'its the right foot' is what I usually say when stuck behind very slow drivers.....of which I I'm starting to become in 'eco mode' 😁

I never use eco mode or sport/power mode in the Prius so just leave it in normal mode 

[Primus1]

I like the Toyota app, with all that’s going on in the world, just seeing “ everything’s fine” brings a warm fuzzy feeling…

[Cyker]

I'm quite contrarian with things like this and get a perverse pleasure out of subverting the scoring system to make it look as stupid as possible.

My current record is a score of 38 with acceleration and braking scores of 1, coasting 5. The mpg for that run? 77  

 

It turns out that you can accelerate as 'harshly' as you want - As long as you conserve all that momentum as long as possible and not immediately have to dump it all into the brakes, you can still get surprisingly good mpg!

 

[Big_D]

Personally, I've given up with the Hybrid Coaching in the app. I get better fuel consumption when I ignore it. 

[MardyMarvin]

I have found the hole coaching thing something to ignore. Sometimes I get a really high score but the mpg is rubbish and the other times get a really low score but the mpg is high. So I just ignore it and think there is some stupid algorithm that does not work. The only real thing that effects me cost wise is how many mpg I get so thats what I go on and ignore the score.

Also i cant remember if I read this in the manual or on toyotas site somewhere but the 3 modes from what I can remember

Power - if you need a quick response to get out in gaps etc (not to use all the time) just alters how quick the car reacts to you hitting the accelerator

Normal - Speaks for itself and to use for every day use makes the accelerator react more but not as much as sport

Eco - Designed for when cruising on the motorway as it lowers the accelerator response as its generally not needed to react instantly or fully.

 

 

[hind]

19 minutes ago, MardyMarvin said:

Eco - Designed for when cruising on the motorway as it lowers the accelerator response as its generally not needed to react instantly or fully.

Also changes the A/C power, I use it solely because of this. 

[itstherightfoot]

3 hours ago, CPN said:

Getting obsessed with the stats kind of takes away from the enjoyment of driving a Toyota Hybrid to be honest. (and when I mention the word "Hybrid" from now on, I mean specifically a Toyota. There's a reason... see later...)

I also fundamentally disagree with the notion that "harsh acceleration=bad"; especially in a Hybrid.

If a person stops to think about it for a few seconds, when you accelerate gently to get to your desired cruising speed, initially there is almost an equal split between drawing power from the traction motor and the ICE with the bias towards the ICE eventually (using a certain amount of fuel).

In our Hybrids, as long as the SoC is >50%, when you floor the throttle (harsh acceleration) to get to your desired cruising speed, the split in power is biased towards the traction motor's use of the HV battery initially and thereby drawing less power, proportionately, from the ICE which actually uses less fuel and gets you there in less time allowing you to back off the loud pedal sooner.

Ergo: you get to your desired speed sooner and use less fuel in the process.

All of this principle can be observed in real time using the excellent Android app, Hybrid Assistant which displays the power in Kw being drawn from the ICE and MG2 (The traction motor/generator).

Why do I specify "Toyota" Hybrid particularly? Simply because in terms of Hybrid technology and the brilliant power split device that Toyota have refined over the last 30 years, they are the cream of the Hybrid genre in my opinion. All hybrids are not equal IMNSHO!!

Thanks so much for that detailed and comprehensive response. Makes total sense in the power spilt and ultimate fuel consumption. And that Harsh Acceleration does not = bad! Great stuff 👍 

[itstherightfoot]

59 minutes ago, Cyker said:

I'm quite contrarian with things like this and get a perverse pleasure out of subverting the scoring system to make it look as stupid as possible.

My current record is a score of 38 with acceleration and braking scores of 1, coasting 5. The mpg for that run? 77  

 

It turns out that you can accelerate as 'harshly' as you want - As long as you conserve all that momentum as long as possible and not immediately have to dump it all into the brakes, you can still get surprisingly good mpg!

 

Good advice 👍 

[itstherightfoot]

1 hour ago, MardyMarvin said:

I have found the hole coaching thing something to ignore. Sometimes I get a really high score but the mpg is rubbish and the other times get a really low score but the mpg is high. So I just ignore it and think there is some stupid algorithm that does not work. The only real thing that effects me cost wise is how many mpg I get so thats what I go on and ignore the score.

Also i cant remember if I read this in the manual or on toyotas site somewhere but the 3 modes from what I can remember

Power - if you need a quick response to get out in gaps etc (not to use all the time) just alters how quick the car reacts to you hitting the accelerator

Normal - Speaks for itself and to use for every day use makes the accelerator react more but not as much as sport

Eco - Designed for when cruising on the motorway as it lowers the accelerator response as its generally not needed to react instantly or fully.

 

 

Helpful video. I have been using Power mode to join motorways and dropping back in to Eco. Just going to ignore the app from now on and watch the mpg instead. Thanks 🙏 

[Roy124]

19 minutes ago, itstherightfoot said:

Thanks so much for that detailed and comprehensive response. Makes total sense in the power spilt and ultimate fuel consumption. And that Harsh Acceleration does not = bad! Great stuff 👍 

Probably explains my wife getting better mpg

[MikeSh]

51 minutes ago, itstherightfoot said:

I have been using Power mode to join motorways and dropping back in to Eco.

But you can achieve the same with your right foot. Aside from messing with the a/c power, which climate control should achieve anyway, and maybe prettying the displays, these modes just alter the pedal response. Needing to select a mode to get more power when just pushing harder/faster to get the the same is modern think - gotta have an app.

But your username tells me you already know this.

[Cyker]

2 hours ago, hind said:

Also changes the A/C power, I use it solely because of this. 

Just FYI you can put the HVAC into Eco mode independently of the drive mode; There's a button specifically for that on the HVAC panel labelled Eco/Fast