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

I have no trouble with the FOB working as it does. However, I think that when the FOB leaves the car. The car should shut down as soon as the brake pedal is touched. This would prevent the car from being driven away without a FOB by a spouse or a thief while your getting your mail.
For our hearing impaired friends forget about the beeps.....lets blow the horn when we leave the vicinity of the car, with the FOB in their pocket and the car running. This of course would have to be a on board computer setting that they desire to have turned on.

 

Sigh... back to your misinformed trolling again as non-Prius owner and non-hybrid owner.

The behavior has been this way since the SKS first appeared on the Prius w/the 04 model year. I suspect that other cars that had SKS systems prior to the Prius also had the same behavior. The behavior on the NAH is the same. I suspect that all cars w/SKS systems (not just Toyota) behave this way.

Please see post #2 as to why you wouldn't want the car to shut off if communication is lost w/the key.

If anyone knows of cars that shutoff automatically once the SKS has moved out of range, please post them here. I haven't encountered any yet but my personal experience is limited to Toyotas/Lexus hybrids and a NAH. Plenty of non-hybrids are getting SKS systems. I'm curious to know.

 

Seems like a decent idea but I aree w/32kcolors below. It also sets a bad precedent and creates confusion. That could lead to many people leaving their car running because it'll shutoff automatically after some period of time, leading to excess fuel being burned, poisonous CO being emitted into an enclosed space, possible theft during that hour, etc.

Exactly!

Agreed! What's so hard about pushing the power button and confirming that all the dash indicators have gone out?

How does the car know the difference between the fob leaving the car vs. it having a dead battery or somehow losing communication (like due to interference)? You want your car stopping dead on you because you pressed on the brake and the above happened? That's an accident and safety recall waiting to happen.

 

How does the car know the difference between the fob leaving the car vs. it having a dead battery or somehow losing communication (like due to interference)? You want your car stopping dead on you because you pressed on the brake and the above happened? That's an accident and safety recall waiting to happen.[/QUOTE]

You make a good point. I still do not like the fact that the car can be driven away without a FOB in the car.
BTW- I do like the smart key feature.

 

Other cars do not restart the ICE by itself when it is already not running.

Strawman argument.
There are other intelligent solutions to simply shutting off the ICE when communication is lost.

The ECU has all the data it needs to decide whether or not to shut off the ICE when the key is removed.

 

Rizzoli,

That's one intelligent proposal.

Unfortunately, most of the "regulars" here will not understand that.

 

quote: Originally Posted by jdcollins5
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.

If you do not want to restart the car, then simply leave the key in.

 

Why would I want to do that? Just turn your car off when you want it to stop like every other car with or without SKS.

Management at my work want us to program additional interlocks and automation each time an operator does something he should not have done rather than hold the operator responsible. We call this making it "idiot-proof". The inside joke is that we keep making smarter idiots.

 

Did she remember to put the car into Park? If so, rather than hit the Park button, your wife can hit the power button. Turning the car off with the power button will both turn the power off and put the car into Park. One less thing to remember.

 

The Prius doesn't automatically take itself out of drive and put itself into Park. If you can remember to hit the Park button, you should be able to remember to hit the power button.

I think the easiest thing is to use the Power button as the Park button when you're ready to leave the car and shut it down. Also, as long as you lock the door when you leave, there are plenty of cues to let you know the car is still on.

 

Well on those other cars, the ICE would already be running and still running, until the fuel runs out or until someone turns off the power. What about non-hybrids w/start stop systems?

How does it know the difference between a key that's removed, has a weak or dead battery or has a communication problem such as due to interference?

It seems as though you don't think through things and as always are looking for ways to bash the Prius w/misinformed and uninformed statements.

I again ask, how difficult is it to push a single button which immediately shuts down the car and can be visually confirmed by everything on the dash going out? The car also emits audible warnings when the door's shut w/the power on and no key is present in the car.

 

The wide consensus from the million plus prius with smart keys out there is that the current system is fine.

Yeah, people forget to turn it off sometimes. but these same people probably forgot to turn their ICE-only cars off sometime (take some shopping inside, forgot you left it running, not realise till some time later etc). they probably don't forget again. and in fact it will beep when you open the door, it will beep LOUDLY when you close the door and it will beep LOUDLY and constantly when you try to lock it, and it won't lock.

If you miss ALL those indications maybe you shouldn't be driving the vehicle.

 

:lol:
:violin:

 

Seriously, if you haven't read the handbook, or even familiarised yourself with the basic controls (i think "on" and "off" are about as basic as it can get) then you should not be driving the vehicle. this is true for any vehicle, or any piece of potentially lethal machinery.

How can anyone who has never used the system decide whether it functions correctly or not? oh, they can't.

 

Is this a car or a Microsoft Windows PC ?

 

If her foot wasn't on the brake on the second press of he power button, I believe the car would've entered ACC or IG-ON mode. That would basically drain the 12 volt (would be dead, if left overnight) and the ICE would never engage during that time.

 

Smart design would have taken care of this problem. I can undertand about the concern of FOB running out of battery, this should not be an excuse for basic engineering disciplines of risk analysis and mitigations. The risk is clear here, and the probably of recurring is high since a parked Prius does not emit any engine noise.

My Mini Cooper also has a FOB. There is a location for the FOB to park, which serves as a master power switch for it. When you remove the FOB from the car, the car is turned off. Simple, effective, fail proof.

 

While I agree that if the FOB is not in the car and you use the remote to try and lock it, it would not be unreasonable for the car to shut off and lock or even give the 3 beep warning. I do not agree with a parking place for the FOB, I park it in my pocket just fine and with one touch of the power button I am done.