Knee locks up in Pulse and Glide
 

Started Pulse and Glide last week and really happy with the dramatic improvement in mileage. However, I find that in order to keep the accelerator down at just the right tiny amount to "glide" my knee feels like it is locking up, and when I get out of the car the right knee hurts for a few hours. Anyone else have this problem or a suggestion in how to avoid this trouble? If not then I'll probably have to leave it at "pulse and coast" if this helps mileage at all, or go back to regular driving. Thanks.

Re: Knee locks up in Pulse and Glide
 

Have you tried repositioning your seat. Maybe move it back a 1/2 inch or so to let your leg extend.

Re: Knee locks up in Pulse and Glide
 

Drink more water, cut down on the salt.

Re: Knee locks up in Pulse and Glide
 

Save the knee; just hold shift lever to the left will activate neutral doing the exact same thing u are trying to accomplish with the light foot feed position. Of course it will stay in neutral until u pull lever down n to the left for regular dirve position.
Give it a try n see if u like it. :lightbulb

Re: Knee locks up in Pulse and Glide
 

Thanks for the suggestions. Moving the seat back all the way seemed to help. I prefer sitting closer up so that I can see better, but guess I overdid it (the Prius steering wheel is too low, even tilted up as much as possible). I'll see how it goes the next few days. I'll pass on the suggestion of using neutral though, because there is a fair bit of traffic and the terrain is often hilly, so I need to be able to react quickly to these two things.

Re: Knee locks up in Pulse and Glide
 

If you use neutral, you loose potential regenerative forces along with placing the vehicle in a power vulnerable state. The vehicle is not designed to be run in N and the ability for the vehicle to self maintain the battery is prevented in N. P, R, D, B are the only modes which the vehicle can charge the HV battery if it needs to.

Pulse and glide is overrated anyway. Just drive the car normally and conservatively and you will get wonderful economy without knee cramps and other orthopedic problems.

Re: Knee locks up in Pulse and Glide
 

Oooh them's fighin' words. P&G in the right situtations is very good. I would be careful calling it over rated. Maybe its not useful to you in your situation but don't knock it.

Re: Knee locks up in Pulse and Glide
 

If the new sitting style doesn't help then I'll certainly quit pulse & glide, as my knee is more important. However, as for fuel economy, if you believe the Prius display then my street mileage has gone from around 40mpg to around 65+mpg. For the first 5 minutes while the engine warms up it doesn't seem to matter much, but I spend 30 minutes each way off the highway and it appears to be raising mileage over 50%. However, I won't totally believe it until I fill the tank and calculate the actual mileage.

Re: Knee locks up in Pulse and Glide
 

Hi JeromeP:

___Overrated? As Tbaleno mentioned, “dem der are fightin werds”! Or you may have been stuck in a bomb shelter without access to GreenHybrid over the last 3 months ;)

___Kuroyama, I have the feeling that your feet, leg, and knee are struggling to maintain a particular pedal angle during both the pulse and the glide. Place both your hands together as if you are clapping and push hard against one another. There is no movement but you are exerting a large but opposite force against each hand and your arms and shoulders will tire in very short order. This may be happening in your P&G attempts. You may be tensing to maintain what you deem to be the exact right accelerator pedal angle and in doing so, your knees and legs may be getting fatigued in short order. Try to relax behind the wheel. It sounds as if you already very familiar with the technique and a few days of sporadic use, you will master it without even thinking about it.

___I was very tense during my first 30 miles of using the technique last August and I found my right leg a little fatigued afterwards. Once the first RT segment was completed however, I relaxed a bit and it became just another movement of the accelerator pedal … Just relax and it will come as naturally as stepping on and maintaining the accelerator pedal at a steady cruise or the brake for light regen coast down to a stop.

___I hope this helps. I may be completely wrong but I know what fighting for every oz. of fuel is like and tense would be an understatement during my few hours behind the wheel of Krousdb’s Prius II ;)

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net