Anyone Know Why Prius Has No Auto Off Feature?

welcome and congrats on your new car! if you were driving and your fob battery died, you would be dead in the water. they haven't figured out a way to overcome that and yet have it shut off when it no longer senses the fob. all the best!

 

Actually it is accepted that, as the operator of the vehicle YOU are fully responsible for its' operation. So of course you would never walk away leaving it on.

Don't fret however, there are a few on this forum who have left their car on.

Auto off would be a "bad thing" (tm) for those on this forum who sleep in their car sometimes in the winter. They leave it on with the A/C system on to keep them warm.

 

Never heard of any car manufacturer that has that feature so far. Have you seen or heard any car manufacturer that has that feature? I may have missed it.

 

That would not work when we are using the Prius as a generator down here in Florida. I'd be upset if I had to keep going outside in a hurricane and start it back up!

 

Please be advise that the Prius DOES WARN YOU if you leave the car running with the FOB on your person by the three external beeps it emits when you are walking away from the vehicle. This is car speak for, "You are walking away while I am still in Ready Mode! Are you sure you want to do that?!?"

 

+1

good answer. the auto off is when all gas is used up. not recommended in prius, LOL.

 

Just because "Auto Off" doesn't exist in other models.
And just because there are some individual scenario's in which one might want to keep a vehicle running while not occupying or actually driving the vehicle, doesn't mean the idea of an "auto off" feature couldn't be investigated. And/Or maybe someday added. Haven't we all loved Prius because of it being one of Toyota's benchmark vehicles? To Go Before?.

There have been incidences with push button start vehicles of Carbon Monoxide poisoning tragedies. There have been posts right here in Prius Chat of owners that have accidently left their vehicles running all night. So I think the "idea" of an Auto Off feature is not a bad one to investigate.

For those relatively rare occasions where one might want to use The Prius as an emergency or camping generator? And/Or if for some reason you are spending the winter sleeping in your Prius and you are NOT The Lincoln Lawyer, I'd believe it could be made a modifiable option...one that could be turned off.

But with stories as somewhat harmless as some people forgetting to turn off their vehicles for a night, and some incidences or reported accidental carbon monoxide poisoning by other vehicles with push button start, I kind of believe the idea of a timed "Auto Off" function is a good one. Why not?

Yes, it IS the responsibility of an operator to turn the vehicle off, and yes The Prius and most other (All?) push button start vehicles don't have an auto off function. But if you are going to "Go Before"? Why not add this feature? If it saves one life....or even just 1/2 a tank of gas, assuming it is made binary and optional, I don't see much reason why an auto off function wouldn't be a good idea.

 

Nobody heard of a manufacturer have an electric starter until somebody did it.

It is fairly easy to block the signal from a key fob (try putting a fob in the same pocket as an iPhone and see how well it works), however, there are other ways to do this.

Tesla Model S for example uses a 'seat switch'. If you get out of the car, the car turns off. If you want to leave the car running, you can, but for most cases, getting out of the car is a good indicator you want the car off.

 

OP is forgetting the case of what happens if the fob battery dies or is dead to begin with? Or, what if there's interference to prevent communication w/the fob? How can the car tell the difference between these and fob "not present"?

 

edited because of ignorance

 

One way to avoid this risk is to always lock your car when you leave it.
I don't believe it will allow you to lock it while it's still in Ready or On mode.

 

Several thoughts in this thread...
1, Just push the power button upon exiting the vehicle. As someone posted, you are responsible for that kind of thing!

2, I would think anyone living in the Hurricane Highway, or Tornado Alley, or on the Highway To Hell, just buy a backup power system for your house. While it's cute that you can turn a Prius into a limited power generation unit, you still have to deal with the CO issue. Hopefully you don't run out of gas, but then you could store a limited amount on site. All as you would and kind of portable system. A 5kW Honda for example will give you about a usable actual 3.5 kW or so. It depends on the generators load efficiency factor! I have a system that I can wheel out when needed, plugs in, is hooked to the 220 volt lines of the house, and runs on Propane! I have enough safe on site storage for 7 days.
3, Tesla, I am really looking forward to the new item that is slated for 2015, right when my 08's warranty runs out. While I would love a "S", I can't justify the cost.....god I want that car.... I will settle for a more reasonably priced little scooter, that I can run 100% electric, has more miles per joule, amp, watt, whatever units you believe in, than is available with todays technology, and out the door for under 40K!

That about covers it!

 

Yep. Just in the same way that in cars w/a traditional key, you're responsible for turning it to off and removing it, before leaving.

It may not be fixable easily or at all. The interference could be too strong. Would you to be futzing w/this while you're driving on the highway?

Yes, but again, would you want it to do this to you when on the highway?