Prius Gen III does not switch off when key is "removed"?

This is by design (the Altima Hybrid does this too). You must turn the car off yourself. The car was left running the entire time.

Why? The battery in the key fob could die or the fob could somehow lose communication w/the car like via a interference. Would you want your car to suddenly stop running when that happens, esp. on the highway?

I know the 2nd gen will beep at you a bunch when you close the door w/the power still on and the key on you (outside the car). I believe the 3rd gen should too.

It's too bad it sounds like your dealer didn't explain this to you or demo this for you. My salesman at purchase time discussed this with me and even illustrated the scenario of swapping drivers w/o giving the other driver the key. The driver w/no key would be able to drive away and then at power down, not be able to power up anymore since they have no key.

I think he even closed the car door w/no key inside to show me the beeping and point out the 2nd gen's yellow key icon (when the key is outside the car).

 

This is potentially very dangerous especially for non-hybrid cars that have a similar key fob with a push button starter. I saw a story recently about a woman who had left her Lexus ES350 running in the garage which was under her house. The CO filled the house, her live-in boyfriend died and she suffered severe brain damage.

As cwerdna explained, you wouldn't want the car to stop running while driving if the battery in the key fob died, that is also potentially very dangerous.

I'm going to test ours to see if it does beep at you if you leave the power on, take the key fob out of the car, and shut the door.

 

I know mine does more than beep---it's a long, loud, whistle-type warning. I believe it is generated outside the car. It was the same on a Lexus non-hybrid I had with the push-button. It's far more warning than you get with a typical key-in-ignition and door open alert you get. Leaving a car running in a garage is not a new phenomena.

 

Sounds like some people believe that it is potentially dangerous for the Prius to stay on without the key and for it to turn off without the key.

Get over it.
Prius does not have a key; it has a FOB. Like any other car, you have to turn it off before you leave.

 

Apparently the Lexus in the story I saw on TV did not have a "sufficient" warning or the woman was extremely hard of hearing or deaf. She was an older woman.

 

My car beeps loudly three times outside of the vehicle when you get out of the car with it running and close the door, such as checking the mail, etc. The MID will also display a warning of Key Not Detected.

I am hearing impaired, wear hearing aids and have no problem hearing those three beeps. You would have to be almost deaf to not hear the beeping.

 

+1 This is my attitude also...get over it. Even a conventional car has to have the ignition turned-off. The Prius start/shut-down process is not a design flaw. You have to turn of the system by pressing the button. The car has plenty of warning chimes to tell you if you forget. God knows I've forgotten a few times! I think the real issue is that new Prius owners (from conventional cars) need time to adjust to a new shutdown sequence. We've built up years of habit from using keys.

 

I'm glad you mentioned hearing impaired/deaf drivers. It never occured to me that hearing impaired may need louder signals, or maybe a visual cue. Toyota could easily make the interior/exterior lights flash on/off if a driver leaves the car (taking the fob) without turning off the system. This should catch the driver's attention and if not, s/he shouldn't be driving!

Toyota Engineers can you hear/see this?

 

I will have to disagree with you on this one. I like the ability to leave the vehicle momentarily, such as checking the mail at the end of the driveway, helping my wife load groceries, etc. without having to restart the car every time.

People just need to accept the responsibility of turning off their car when they exit.

 

There's already a visual cue. A deaf individual who is unable to get information by auditory means alone (i.e. hearing aids/cochlear implant) and relies on visual cues will see to it that the turn signal flashes once when he/she tries to lock the car. As you know, it won't lock/flash at all if the car isn't switched off.

There's also a tactile cue as you can feel the door lock/unlock when you touch the handle.

 

Conventional cars do not shut down when left running for more than 1 hour and would be much more dangerous. It's bad enough we live in a nanny country/state. Please do not give us nanny cars.

 

What is so hard about looking to see if the "ready" light is off when you get out? If its not, it will beep 3 times. As for being deaf, maybe the christmas tree of lights on the dash should serve as a visual cue.

 

When I first brought the Prius home, I did not know that you could leave the car on without the fob in the car. I remember the first time I got out I thought I had somehow alarmed the car again or something because I heard the warning beeps. I thought it was pretty funny at the time.

I usually double check before I leave the car to make sure it is off. I also either use the handle to lock the doors or I'll try to lock the car with the fob two or three times and check to see if the signal lights went off too.

I understand why you might want to have a safety shutdown...sort of like how a computer can go into sleep/hibernate mode after a given amount of time...


iPhone ?

 

Shame on your dealership salesperson for not reviewing that issue during the new car delivery process. I remember my dealership making a huge point about exiting the car with and without the FOB and discussing the ramification of not turning off the car. Even with those points reviewed at delivery, I still forget once in a while. But those chimes and lights sure bring me back to reality. It's crazy!

 

The use of a touchless fob, coupled with the fact that the car can keep running without the fob in the vicinity (I'd wondered about this), coupled with the car likely being in auto-stop mode when you park, all these increase the odds of inadvertantly leaving the car "on".

A conventional keyed ignition would help with this.

 

This is an unacceptable flaw and an accident waiting to happen.

The ECU has all the data it needs to know the ICE should not be turned on.

 

Quite!