Dealer's New Toyota Event - Full of Misinformation

Tonight my local dealer had an event for new Toyota owners - NOT just Prius owners. Almost a complete waste of time. I was a few minutes late for the 6PM start, and they hustled us out in an hour instead of the scheduled 90 minutes. Many seniors (older than me, even) who mostly asked naive questions - seem like sheeple who will do whatever the dealer tells them to do.

I had 3 questions:
* Oil used in their changes, and price, pretty-much answered.
* Odd single beep about 15 seconds after Ready - no time to ask.
* Inferior FM reception - ditto.

Like an earlier thread (last posting was 11/15) there was misinformation at the most basic level:

* Re the go pedal recall, SAID IT INCLUDED THE 2010 PRIUS. They got the CA tragedy right, Lexus with wrong and unfastened floor mat. They also said some recalled cars will get a switch that drastically drops the engine power if simultaneous ineffective braking and high engine RPM are detected - FIRST I'VE HEARD OF IT.

* Re shutting engine off, they insisted that the car could not be shut off with the Power button if the car is going at any but the slowest speed, since the tranny always moves to Park. Seems I have read that a 3-sec button hold will kill the engine, but I had not enough info to contest the statement.

* Re OCI, they said the manual requires 5K miles OR 5 MONTHS. Said if your driving is short trips in town, THEY RECOMMEND 3K MILES OR 3 MONTHS.

* Re oil to use in the new Prius, said they use whatever the car's manual recommends, 0W20 synthetic for the '10 Prius. One Prius owner said he does is own OCs, has always used Castrol, and cannot get the required oil. Asked why Toyota charges $11/qt for their oil, service mgr could not answer. I piped up that Mobil 1 is widely available, and since I was anonymous it did not consign me to Toyota Service Hell.

Service mgr did note that, "for the time being," OCs will cost $37.95 for all 4-cyl and 6-cyl Toyotas, including 0W20 synthetic for new Priora (see Wikipedia entry for Prius, under Name for the actual plural of Prius). How that fits into the 5K service was obfuscated, but if that's the cost it is a good deal.

I talked to the DIY OC guy afterwards. Turns out he is much my senior, had just got his first computer(!), and was completely unaware of priuschat.com - which I recommended highly. I explained that, because of PC, my knowledge greatly exceeded the salesman's. He had not yet done an OC yet, and he did not know of the panel to drop to access the drain and filter. Told him maintenance instructions, with pictures, are available at PC.

I also mentioned the experience of others here of long storage depleting the 12V battery if the SKS is not turned off. Surprised him, made me repeat it to his wife - they are about to go on a long vacation. I forgot to mention that the car is supposed to stop looking for a fob after a few days.

I am thinking of suggesting to the dealer that they have a Prius event with enough time to drill down on real issues. I doubt that they will, since they were ill-informed (or worse) and admitted to "learning along with the rest of you," in spite of having taken a Prius "class."

All in all, a disappointing experience. I'm out of there for 5K maintenance, and all maintenance after the 36K mile warranty. In Santa Fe we have Toyotech, which people at cartalk.com recommend highly. Plus they are near The Chocolate Maven, a sinful place for breakfast or lunch.