Does Prius refuse to go into N above 42 mph?

Here's the money quote on this James Sikes guy:

Neibert told Sikes after the CHP caught up with him to shift to neutral but the driver shook his head no. Sikes told reporters he didn't go into neutral because he worried the car would flip.

 

I took my spouses Prius to the auto car wash and when they told me to put it into neutral, I could not get the Prius to do it. After 3 minutes of frustration and even the car wash guy trying it, we could not get it into neutral, which shut down the car wash with alarms and the car ahead of me being stuck in the washer. Then I FINALLY got it into neutral!

You have to HOLD the stick in the neutral position for a FULL ONE OR TWO SECONDS, before it responds and does so! Simply pushing it and releasing the stick or batting it to neutral DOES NOT WORK! I did that a dozen times! This is why people say they cannot get their runaway Prius’ to shut off or go to neutral. You have to have the presence of mind while going 90 mph to let go of one hand on the steering wheel while standing on the brakes and then HOLD the stick in the neutral position! At 100 mph, this is would be an eternity to have only one hand on the wheel! I rarely drive my spouse car. It has gotten older and the shifter often does not "spring" back into the center position and at times it seems to get confused as to what position it is in, but fortunately this usually happens when first starting the car. I am convinced these people are telling the truth because having to HOLD the stick in the neutral position for a second or two is not intuitive when you ar ein a panic.

 

There is no regen in neutral.

 

It's a half second or less for the neutral timeout, which at 90
mph is all of 66 feet. Less than a truck length.
.
_H*

 

And Park or R will do it instantly.

Once again, drivers need to learn how to operate a particular car. I won't fly an unfamiliar aircraft, nor will I drive off in a car that I don't understand.

Tom

 

SURVEY SAID! What is the fastest way to shift to NEUTRAL?

#1) PUSH THE PARKING BUTTON?
#2) SHIFT TO NEUTRAL?
#3) SHIFT TO REVERSE?

answer from the gurus........SHIFT TO REVERSE OR HIT THE PARKING BUTTON.

 

Yes, I actually scared the dogs because I yelled at the TV when he said that.

My GF who is no technophile said "Isn't it common sense to shift into neutral?'' and I yelled Yes!, scaring the dogs again.

 

I the ICE never disconnects from the planetary carrier. When you select N it disconnects electrical connections from MG1 and MG2, field windings I think. Everything inside the the transaxle stays mechanically connected at all times, no clutch, no torque converter, no shifting gears, etc.

 

Yeah, it was probably easier to dial a cell phone and reach under the dash to grab the accelerator pedal.

 

I think this goes with the Darwin comment in page 2... I dont have a manual, but it only took me 2 tries when I first got the car to realize I have to hold it there. So even if you have never had to or wanted to go into neutral, it shouldn't have taken a sane person more than 3 seconds to figure this out.

I also find it funny how these incidents are increasing in frequency now that people think it is an epidemic. I dont think your family Prius watches the news and consciously thinks "if they are doing it, I might as well too"... Even if you believe it happens at all, you can't deny that there are just way too many reports of idiotic drivers doing stupid things and then trying to blame their cars for their stupidity.

 

No problems with shifting to N at 100mph and full throttle.....

 

Yikes! when going to N at 100, does the rpm spike or just drop?

 

At 90MPH, in a 2004 Prius, shifting to N at full throttle produces no jolt or engine sounds for me. The engine speed drops and the car coasts. Sorry, I have not tested above 90 MPH.

 

Drops. You can't get the RPMs to spike on the Prius, other than making the ICE work hard. Even then the RPMs are limited to something like 5,000.

Tom

 

It just drops off. It feels almost identical to the sensation of simply letting off the throttle. Very smooth with zero lack of control issues. I then used the brakes to slow down to 65mph, put the gear shift in Drive and continued on my way.

 

You can go into drive at 65? cool! Even after 2 years of Prius bliss I still find myself thinking conventionally about things like this. I would not be comfortable doing stuff like this in any other car.

 

Yup, and it is as smooth as silk.

I'm used to doing things like shifting in and out of gear at high speeds due to my racing background but I've been reluctant to try hitting the park button at those high speeds. I'll have to try it someday but since I know the other methods work and are easy to perform I am satisfied for now.

 

Hopefully even at high speeds this would bring the car into neutral as others posted earlier (for lower speeds presumably).

 

It works at all speeds above a crawl. At very low speeds it shifts into Park.

Tom