Has anyone experienced full car shutdown during an extreme vehicle maneuver?

A co-worker of mine with a '04 Package 7 was cut-off in traffic by a dump truck while traveling ~50MPH. After standing on the brakes with both feet she got to experience what her dealer called an "Emergency Battery Cutoff". The explanation was that the Prius uses the airbag pre-crash inertial sensors (the ones that determine whether you get a 1 stage or 2 stage airbag deployment upon impact) to disconnect the HV battery pack and accessory battery in anticipation of a crash. This caused the ICE to stop and all power to the vehicle to be cut (other than possibly headlights/taillights). She pulled to the side of the road with an apparently completely dead Prius. After 30-45 seconds the Prius came back to life as if nothing had happened.

Anyone else experience this shutdown or have a more detailed explanation of the mechanics of the safety system?

 

http://techinfo.toyota.com/public/main/2ndprius.pdf

There's only a very brief mention of the Emergency Cut-off in the Emergency Response Guide (link above). See the bottom of Page 13:

"The HV battery pack relays will automatically open to stop electricity flow in a collision sufficient to activate the SRS airbags.

I read that as only in event of collision, but it's entirely possible that the cut-off occurs via a seperate trigger than that which deploys the airbags.

 

I find it hard to imagine that just hitting the brakes could trigger any such thing. Every weekend there's autocrosses and track events all around the country attended by supposedly around 500,000 people a year. Never in all my years of autocrossing and track events have I heard of anyone's car shutting itself off even from pounding over rough sections of track while in full ABS braking on R-compound (super sticky) tires. I'm not saying it isn't possible; after all the Prius has such high voltage that they may have made such a cutoff super sensitive, but it seems unlikely. The only hybrid I've ever seen autocross was an Insight, and he appeared to have no troubles.

 

My post has nothing to do with braking,
but I have been in a serious crash in my '94 Dodge on the rear quarter which spun us around almost 360 degree, basically a front wheel becoming the pivot point and rotating around.

I was suprised to find the engine had stopped running.

Also, our previous Grand Caravan was T-boned on the passenger side sliding door and we rotated about 180 degreese and pushed us about 20 feet. It was a real hard impact and the van was totalled.

Once again I was suprised that the engine stopped running. (And everyone was OK)

I guess crash sensors shuts the engine off in those situations.

 

Hi Hot_Georgia_2004:

___Most modern automobiles Fuel Pumps are S/D automatically in a severe accident. As for the pack and other related Prius HW, this thread was the first I have heard about it?

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net