2023 Toyota Prius FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE

The car was being driven on US287 south from Wichita Falls, TX toward Fort Worth, Texas on an open road, in the middle of the afternoon, in clear sunshine, no clouds, no rain. On a stretch of the highway where the road dipped down into a gully, and had a normal rise afterwards, the automatic braking system activated, gave a warning of an impending collision and applied the brakes to stop the car HARD. Luckily, there was no traffic ahead or behind the vehicle at the time of the incident. The car came almost to a stop before it realized that there was no danger ahead of the vehicle and the automatic braking system released from the emergency situation at about 5 mph. If there had been cars on the highway following the vehicle, it is doubtful that they would have been able to slow down in time to prevent a rear end collision. The vehicle was slowed down in a maximum breaking action on an open highway, with an open road ahead of the vehicle. The system interpreted a hill ahead of the car as a danger to be avoided.