What if I forget to turn the car off?

Depending on how much fuel you have in the tank, the car will just sit there and only run the motor when the Hybrid battery is low enough to require a charge. I would think that if you had any measurable amount of gas it won't be an issue for a few hours.

If someone notices it running though, it will work to be able to drive off with it. When its turned off though it will not restart.

 

The car beeps at you when you get out to remind you it's still on.

Not sure if you have the key fob inserted if it still gives you the warning beep.

 

If you have the keyfob in your pocket as you walk away, it will chime and the parking lights will flash a few times.

 

A half tank should last days in a Prius. Maybe even a week?

Even my 2.5 liter non-hybrid, with a half tank and AC off and no auto-stop, should idle over 24 hours:
(15.9 gallons/tank * 0.5 tank / (0.3 gal/hour)) = 26 hours.

 

If it is ON, why not? They couldn't shut it OFF and then turn it ON again, but nothing stops them from driving it away.

 

I stand corrected. I just tried it out and yes you can drive off without the key. I will correct my initial post. Because the MFD reads "Key Not Detected", I wrongly assume that you can't drive it.

Now that I think about it.....Is there a reason why we should be able to drive off without the fob?
It seems like a safety feature to allow only the person carrying the fob drive.

 

If the battery dies while in your pocket while driving, this may fool the car into thinking the fob is not in the car. This could cause catastrophic failure should there be some sort of kill switch installed

 

Yeah, I thought of that. I guess if it dies while you are shopping, you can't get home. This is of course much safer, but highly annoying.

 

Incorrect. I'd recommend you read the manual. The key fob still has a transponder in it. To start the car without battery power you hold the fob up to the dash by the start button. Wait a few seconds and the light will come on indicating you can start the car.

 

It is not fooling the car, but this was the concern. Can you imagine driving along and the fob battery dies, then so does your car THATS DANGEROUS ! Hence the car will simply state "Key Not Detected in Vehicle" but still leave the IGN "ON" so as not to cause an accident.

 

The car is going to shake violently for a few seconds, then take off unintended acceleration style before lurching forward while regen to friction braking.

Seriously, the car will panic if you attempt to leave a running car and forget to put in park or attempt to lock a parked but running car. For this reason, I recommend always getting in the habit of locking the car and when turning off, skipping the park button and hitting the power button instead (which will automatically put the car in park). Two useful safeguards that have saved me a number of times.

 

more seriously, if your parked in a garage connected to your house, the fumes from the running engine might be able to seep into the house and carbon monoxide is a deadly gas. i believe this may have happened to someone who had a pushbutton start lexus and there was a lawsuit, never heard the outcome.

 

It'd be less of a concern with a hybrid because it'll run only as needed unlike a pushbutton conventional car and it was probably an older home as current building codes now require attached garages to vent to the outside.

 

What if you forget to turn off the car?

It's a Trap!

Sorry, couldn't help it.

Just learn to turn it off. Basically leaving it on, disrupts The Harmony between Man, Nature and Machine...this could result in you being beat up by a passing troop of local actors dressed as trees and bushes....

 

There is no reason to forget turning it off. If you do, then it beeps at you. A non-issue. You turn a key to get out of a different car, you push a button to get out of this car. Not much different...

 

The Gen II only "checks" to see if the fob is still in the car when the door is opened. If the battery were to die while driving nothing would happen until you opened your door.

On my list of things to do is a mod that disables the car from going into "gear" if the fob is not detected, that way I can jump out of the car for short errands while leaving the car on. If someone were to get in w/o the fob, the car would not be drivable. Even after I do this mod, the car is still drivable even if the battery dies until the door is opened. (at which case all I'd have to do is insert the fob in the dash)

So I don't really know why Toyota didn't do this from the start.