I’ve had my PiP for about 15 months now, and almost without fail, on the rare occasion I drive a non-plug-in, I turn the ignition to off and wonder for a moment why I can’t get the key out of the ignition. It stumps me almost every time and I have to remind myself to put the car in park before turning the ignition to off. Anyone else suffer with this “problem”?
I have no problem turning off the other household vehicles, which are meant to be left in gear when turned off and never hold the key hostage. But starting them is sometimes a problem when I forget to push in the clutch, and the safety interlock disables the starter.
Guess I shouldn't say "non-plug-in", though I never owned a regular Prius, guess they can just power down with the push of a button too, and probably many newer cars, anyway.
i don't because i drive my truck once a week, but when my wife takes it, she always has to rummage in her pocketbook for the keys after realizing there's no button to push.
Our 1934 and 1936 four ton axle Chevy trucks on the farm when I was a kid had push button start. It was on the floor right by the gas peddle. It manually engaged the solenoid on the starter. You still had to turn on the key to start it and turn the key off the stop the ICE though... On the other hand, that meant your right foot was on the gas peddle and the starter and not on the brake. Of course the Emergency Brake (term Parking Brake came later) was always set and your left foot was on the clutch. That was still safer than back when you had to make sure the transmission was in neutral and the emergency brake locked before you got out and used the hand crank. Learned how to do that safely by the time I was 6 years old and had to start the old McCormick 10/20 (and the Alice Chalmers when the battery was dead) by myself from time to time. The hardest thing for me to figure out was that you have to keep your foot on the brake while you push the computer button to start the PiP? I mean why? It's in Park anyway! Why have to push on the brake to start the computer? I do not know.........
A couple reasons. First and foremost it is an extra safety step. Yes it is still in parked, but it could get bumped out of park if you accidentally hit the power button. Also, hitting power without the brake just turns on the accessories. They would have to find another way to do this if you didn't have to have your foot on the brake to start the car.
a. It is a good safety practice - the parking pawl could not be engaged and the car can roll a little - if you bump the gear shift as your hand backs away you don't want the car to move yet b. It differentiates whether you want the car to start or you want to just turn on accessories Mike
No, but I keep walking up to my old CR-V and simply attempt to pull the door handle to open a still locked car- requiring me to fish around my pockets for the remote. Damn antiques!
