[dcsastry]

What happens when these buttons are pressed while driving on the road? I assume that nothing happens...is this documented in the manuals somewhere?

I'm just a curious-soon-to-be-a-prius-owner...

 

[dgstan]

What happens when these buttons are pressed while driving on the road? I assume that nothing happens...is this documented in the manuals somewhere?

I'm just a curious-soon-to-be-a-prius-owner...

...Later I got to wondering if the Prius is smart enough to check the seat sensor before allowing the car to enter drive or reverse...

Let's try it, Melgish... reach in and do it again...

That's a valid question. I don't know the answer, but maybe Meglish can try this too after he's done with the seat-sensor investigation.

DGStan

 

[galaxee]

the car will beep at you but won't go into park or power off. kind of a stupidity-prevention thing since they're relatively easy to accidentally press while driving.

 

[mrv]

If you're going fast enough (I think the cutoff is around 5mph) and you press the Power or Park buttons, the Prius will beep at you for being silly and go into Neutral instead.

 

[Tideland Prius]

mmhmm, what Michelle said. Think about it. It's a smart car. On a regular car, turning the key turns the car off even at 100mph and shifting to park at 100mph will blow the transmission and who knows what else.

 

[hyperion]

I doubt very much that you could shift into "park" while moving and ditto about turning the ignition off as this "locks" the steering wheel and can only be done when in the "park" mode!

 

[Tideland Prius]

Umm, it is possible. We do this to simulate an engine stall during driver training. The instructor would turn the key to ACC mode and you would act calm, shift to neutral and restart the engine.

As for Park, I can't say that for sure since I've never tried and I don't intend to

 

[hyperion]

This is a new one for me. You say "in drivers training you do this while "rolling?" I would hesitate ever attempting something like this. First, if it were possible (I'm sure there is a lock-out for Park) you could tear the parking pawl out of the transmission if you slipped one notch past N and into P. Second, as soon as you hit acc and killed the engine you are also killing power steering and power brakes intentionally.
I'm going to give a little more room to the driver training cars I see in the future.

 

[Tideland Prius]

nonono, not the parking part hehe. Just the turning the key to ACC (i.e. turning the engine off) while moving to simulate an engine stall.

We did this on an empty residential area and I was going straight. It'll take a max of 1 min to do this.

 

[dcsastry]

Thanks for the info!

 

[DanMan32]

What key? 2G Prius doesn't have a key. It has a fob and a power button to emulate a key.

You have to hold the power button at least 4 seconds to perform an emergency HV halt. I believe that puts you into Ig-On. ACC would engage park as would OFF.

 

[mrv]

After an even earlier adopter tried it, I had to also way back when...

Turned off the key on my 2001 Prius. It basically went to IG-ON and Neutral (although the gear shift lever was still in D). Unfortunately, to turn the Prius back on, you have to be in Park or a physical neutral, so you have to slow down, pull over, and turn the key again.

However, I'll note that if the Classic Prius is already on, and you turn the key to Start again, the computers basically reboot (splash screen comes back on the MFD). A "normal" car would have nasty grinding/screaching starter motor sounds...

 

[texasaltima]

question on power button

"Normally, the operation of the power switch is disable while the vehicle is being driven. However, if the hybrid system must be stopped in an emergency while the vehicle is in motion, the driver can press the power button for approximately 3 seconds or more to stop the hybrid system.(The power switch changes from READY to ACC).
-2004 Toyota Prius New Car Features Book-
Pub. No. NCF255U

 

[hyperion]

mmhmm, what Michelle said. Think about it. It's a smart car. On a regular car, turning the key turns the car off even at 100mph and shifting to park at 100mph will blow the transmission and who knows what else.

I believe Tideland started this subject while speaking of a "normal" cars operation in "drivers training school."