Yes and no. It's safe enough for the car, but I'm not sure why you would do it, and many times and in many places it's against the law to do so "at speed." Every now and then, somebody will try coasting down a long grade, which 99 percent of the time isn't going to hurt anything to be honest. However (comma!) it's the one-percenters out there that usually muck things up for the rest of us, and the primary function of the US Government these days is thwarting the beneficial effects of Darwinism. To be fair, Darwinism is not an efficient way of winnowing down the gene pool, since the cretin involved in the moronic activity sometimes takes some unlucky folks along with him (or her.) Usually? It's a him. Luck is a topic for another discussion. There's a deep thread that runs in the US Submarine community about unlucky skippers going all the way back to WWII. Since killing off all of the stupid people will make it much harder for the folks in government to make a living, and maybe for a few other reasons as well many states outlaw the practice of shifting into neutral while coasting down a hill. There are some states (Florida comes to mind) that haven't done this as far as I know, but I'm sure that vehicles getting into accidents while coasting downhill isn't the top turd in their pile of crap right now. Besides....Florida has problems without the hills. Interestingly enough, this topic also comes up with vehicles idling at a stoplight, which isn't much of a concern for Prius drivers, besides there really isn't a "shifter" in the G3. It's more of a joystick. You're really just pushing buttons, and the car won't really accept a shift command that will allow it to get hurt. Clearly, the Prius engineers didn't have The Three Laws of Robotics in mind when they were developing the Prius. Three Laws of Robotics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I shift into N all the time when I feel like coasting and don't need/want to recharge the battery along with the drag the motor creates. But keep in mind that braking isn't as solid when you're in neutral and you'll notice that because the electric motors aren't assisting like they would in D, and more so in B. Whenever I need to drastically slow down from coasting (on N), I downshift to B while lightly applying brakes. Just always remember to shift back to D once you've slowed down to the speed you need to be at.
If you use neutral, be sure you understand everything that happens when you shift to it. The braking is different because you are using only the hydraulics as all the regen systems are off while in neutral. I am not sure why you would not want the regen systems to be operational. You can't overcharge the battery...all 8 bars is only 80% to allow for regen braking. The Synergy firmware will take care of the battery. There are situations in hyper-miling where some folks recommend using neutral, but you can get the same effect by going into a high speed stealth mode.
Personally, I do it to coast longer and efficiently with less drag/resistance. Most of the time when I shift to N, my battery already has 8 bars anyway. So the question is why NOT shift to N?
You can achieve the same effect by learning to get into glide or warp stealth mode without any of the negatives / risks that go along with being in neutral.
Sounds like you should write to Toyota to hide the N, make it really small or eliminate it altogether. Will a bomb go off or something? SGH-T999 ?
I know about feathering the pedal to get that effect. I prefer to relax my calves and just cruise. SGH-T999 ?
Federal law requires an N, (and B) or else I bet they would. http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2011-title49-vol6/pdf/CFR-2011-title49-vol6-sec571-102.pdf The Prius specific problems with N is that the battery does not charge and half the braking system is nonfunctional. Other than those, just the same problems all cars have in N. Coasting in Neutral or Gear to Save Gas - Coasting and Fuel Economy - Popular Mechanics
If you read between the lines, I never disagreed about the necessity of having an N. His post seemed exaggerated which I felt required a smart nice person response. The "risks" of cruising at neutral might exist with new drivers who have never driven a manual transmission car. I'm not that driver, and while it's worth mentioning, I don't think lives, insurance, etc. are necessarily at stake as soon as you shift to neutral. Am I wrong? Should I avoid neutral ASAP? SGH-T999 ?
Yes (I would be willing to bet that none of the things you think are happening in N, happen like that in a Prius)
The only time I would possibly do this is when the pack is full and the car goes into b in order too dump the extra energy going to the pack. H
The running in neutral concept comes from the original pulse-and-glide when you shifted to neutral and turned off the engine. The Synergy firmware now does that for you below about 45mph. Above that, shifting to neutral turns off the firmware and the engine continues to run. You then have an underpowered non-hybrid vehicle that is unable to do a proper job of getting good mileage. Shift-to-neutral is used at low speeds by some of the hypermilers for reasons that continue to be obscure to me.
drysider's comment seems consistent with hobbit's observation that the Prius won't go into warp stealth when the shifter is in N, but rather continues to run the ICE at idle. http://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/warpstealth.html
Going home last leg is on local streets almost zero traffic so I glide to the numerous stop signs in N I have a good practice when to switch to N and just about going to the full stop at the corner it is fun it as always under 15MPH This is more efficient than charging the battery and reuse the juice from there (sure I can almost do it by the accelerator pedal. but why not the easy way ) Each block I have the mark and speeds I need worked out .. using ICE to reach that point then glide .... (only if I am alone and no traffic behind me which is 95% of the time)
