"Park" button problems

Irregardless of whether there was really a snafu with the Park button,
1. Why didn't you also set the parking brake?
2. Why are you leaving your kids in a running car, for any length of time?

The problem is not with your car. Harsh but true.

 

ive thrown the prius in park in motion and not a complete stop. there is some cutoff and at a certain speed the park button will no longer put it in park

if you turned it off your covered

the car does make a loud continuous tone and put a message on the screen when you try to leave it without the car in park, btw

 

Hello, Glad that you are still happy with your Prius. The same exact thing happened to me several months ago, I have a driveway that goes downhill and iI parked outside and was going to go quickly into my house. As I got out of the car I noticed it rolling backwards slowly. I got back in and reset the footbrake firmly and made sure it was in Power Off mode!All the electrical actuators on the car are a bit slow and they must bepressed, switched, touched in a firm and positive manner. And then wait a second and check........ In my case I was in too much of a hurry and I now recognise that the car requires about a second for the computers to react.Fortuneately my car did not roll far and my garage door was open. Again welcome to Priuschat, we have some great moderators.

 

Shermance,

Welcome to PrusChat. You've come to the right place to learn all about the
many little idiosyncrasies that your Prius has.

No matter how many "regular" cars that you may have driven, you have to
rethink/relearn some things when you drive a Prius.There are a
number of wholly normal little things that on the Prius that aren't quite like
they are on other cars.

In the case of the PARK button, the fact that there is no true transmission in
the car -- there really is no such thing as "neutral" -- and the fact that the
engine and the Hybrid Synergy Drive is wholly controlled by a computer
means that you have to do exactly what the computer is programmed to see
before you can get into PARK. This means that you have to be at a stop to
engage PARK. That's the way it is, and that's what you have to do.

You might find this thread interesting as a general intro to matters
concerning the PARK button:

http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-m...g-after-park-button-pushed-tranny-damage.html

 

Hi Shermance,

Sorry to hear about your accident; glad that no one was hurt. Note that all 2G from 2004 to the current model have the P button; this is not a new feature for 2009.

If you turn off the Prius by pressing the POWER button, then the car will automatically shift to P as it shuts down. Hence it appears that your car was still READY when this accident happened. It also appears that you did not set the foot-activated parking brake; I recommend you consider this in the future.

Note that since you have the Smart Entry/Smart Start system, that your removing the fob from the car does nothing to hamper driveability of the Prius. While you were in your home with your children still in the car and with the Prius READY, someone walking by could jump into your car and drive off with your children. The only signs of a problem would be some warning beeps and the key-shaped icon on the dashboard lighting up to show that the fob is not detected. However, once that someone turned off the Prius, they would not be able to restart it, lacking the correct fob.

Thanks for sharing your experience with the group; hope that your subsequent ownership experience is pleasant.

 

Shermance,

I must say, driving the Prius requires a whole new paradigm. If you attempt to drive the Prius like you would drive any other car, you will find the experience leaving you unfulfilled. During my first couple of months of Prius ownership, I have to admit I was rather impatient with the poor car. Once I learned the zen-like art of properly driving the Prius (thanks to priuschat.com), I became at peace. I now know THE WAY.

One must slow down and save the planet and savor the push of the PARK button, followed by the click-click-click of the PARKING BRAKE. Only then, after confirming the illumination of the "P" may one gently - yet firmly - depress the POWER button to OFF.

 

Never trust the 'P' button, always apply the Parking Brake whenever you're off the car no matter what.

Indeed, the Parking Brake (foot brake) is the ONLY mechanical-linked device in the whole Prius' stopping system, everything else is electronic (or by Wire).

I did the same practice in all other cars, regardless of their drivetrains....Manual, Auto or Hybrid.
Always use the Parking Brake whenever you leave the car....

 

In this statement do you exclude hydraulic brakes from being mechanical? The Prius does have hydraulic brakes that are electrically assisted, but if the power assist fails, you still have full manual hydraulic control of the front brakes. The parking brake supplements this with cable control of the rear brakes.

Tom

 

True, other than the hydraulic brake, the steering wheel is also mechanical even though it's electrical-asisted which I also didn't mention. But I didn't plan to split hairs here.

What I was talking about is the stopping (holding) mechanism when the car is parked.
The foot brake (E. brake) is the only thing direct-linked with cables (which can be felt and trusted), everything else is by wire which you'll never be sure.