What does gear 'B' do?

[cmb28]

I have a toyota Vitz 2017. All the gears I have are P,R,N,D-S,B. I don't know what really the gear 'B' stands for, but i think it means 'Engine break' when going in slopes to avoid using brakes all the time.

Problem is I sometimes forget to change gear 'B' to 'D' when I am accelerating after a slope and go some distance without understanding. I only understand it when i feel the engine is not accelerating as it used to. So my questions are,

1.What is really gear 'B' stands for?

2.Did I damage my engine or gear box by accelerating for some distances in gear 'B'?

Thank you!

Edited May 2, 2019 by cmb28

[tiv]

B simulates engine braking, locks the cvt in a simulated position equal to 1st gear in a manual car so that the engine can slow / hold the car when negotiating a slope.

B is meant to work In really bad slopes, like 5-10kmph not your average downhill route where you go like at 40kmph

by accelerating in B the outcome would be the same as driving a manual car in 1st gear for a long time, will drink fuel, and if you revved hard could  wear / overheat engine, but I think the rev cut is at 6500rpm, so nothing major.

also B can be used to climb large inclines, not like Kadugannawa, somewhere you would climb at 10kmph or so, typical Kandy driveway sorta thing. 

I would suggest to read the owners manual via google translator or to download the Yaris manual as it is similar and read it up before you make a novice mistake somewhere  (except engine).

I guess you used the B gear like a manual quite often and the ecu and gearbox controls learnt it and is now running that way. Best thing reset the learnt stuff in the ecu by removing the battery and turning on a light or something to drain all the caps, reconnect and drive normally. Don’t use B unless you really need it. I live up a 30-40 degree incline and I haven’t used B Mode once in any car I’ve got up / down that. 

It is less likely you did any permanent damage.

cheers

Edited May 2, 2019 by tiv

[matroska]

  On 5/2/2019 at 8:36 AM, tiv said:

typical Kandy driveway sorta thing. 

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Kandy Driveways  give me the heebie-jeebies... I think if i had to drive our old datsun up on one of them i'd shit myself. 

Edited May 2, 2019 by matroska

[tiv]

  On 5/2/2019 at 9:53 AM, matroska said:

Kandy Driveways  give me the heebie-jeebies... I think if i had to drive our old datsun up on one of them i'd shit myself. 

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Lol yea, the Mira and the Hustler both have hill assist, so they don’t roll back, but whereas the vitz and monteros roll back in D making it a bit interesting. 

I used to drive a defender with that heavy clutch, good times

the clutch and the gearbox was so difficult to engage that it sometimes rolled back and rested on nearby trees and walls lol 

this was when they were a handful and V*P wannabes hadn’t screwed them up. Crude was the word

Edited May 2, 2019 by tiv