"P" parking button by mistake

Because they assume you wouldn't do something so stupid!

You can engage Park in a traditional automatic at any speed. You can select Reverse in a manual at any speed. Do you really want the Prius to be that numb that it takes over in every eventuality?

There are some safeguards built in to stop you engaging Park on the Prius at higher speed though.

It is not good to engage park when the vehicle is moving at ANY speed. I make sure I am completely stationary before engaging it - and never do when in traffic in case some idiot rear ends me.

Not sure if it's the same in the Prius but in an automatic a locking mechanism is engaged into the gears somehow when you select Park and this can be bent, damaged or completely broken if you engage it at too high a speed or get hit hard from behind with it already engaged.

 

Below 7 MPH there is no regen braking, only friction braking, in the case of brake failure, there would be no way to stop below 7 MPH. But you can punch it in Park.

 

I made that mistake once with my first Prius. Pushed the P button at 3 or 4 mph and it made a loud clunk and stopped rather suddenly. I haven't done it since! can't be real good for the drive train.

But you can push the Park button at faster speeds and it will just go into N, immediately, and remain there until you select a gear. Whereas if you put the shift lever in N at higher speeds you need to hold it there for a second or so before it goes into N.

We had a lot of discussion about the best and fastest way to get a Prius into N at highway speed due the reports of "stuck throttles" etc. As you probably know all of those reports were bogus but we did learn that pushing P was a good way to get into N quickly at speeds over 7 mph. It's perfectly safe to select P or hold it in N for a second at highway speed to prove to yourself that it works. I have done it several times.

 

When you press "P" the Prius checks the output from the speed sensor. If there is significant output it will set "N" instead and beep at you.
If there is not much output it will engage a solenoid that puts a "locked" gear, similar to an oil pump gear, into the drive train. It's on the large housing containing the electric motors and the planetary gearset, but it's external (so it's not too hard to replace).
It can be broken but it's not common. Usually one episode of engaging it while moving is enough to "school" most drivers to be more careful. I suspect most cases of breakage occur due to accident or towing of a car with it engaged.

You will probably be wondering about "R" now, so no, selecting "R" while moving won't harm anything. If you're going slow as above the car will actually engage "R" (reverse driving of the electric motor MG2 - there is no gear grasshopper). The car will slow to a stop and then reverse. If you're going too fast it will engage "N" and beep at you. The transition from "slow to too fast" as defined above is a few MPH.

 

How the heck do you push the parking button by accident?

 

By hoping to press Auto on the climate and getting it wrong. Done it once or twice myself but thankfully not at low speed.

 

Was going for the radio's Power button. Happened twice long time ago. Now I'm a bit more conscious about it.

 

I was driving and my wife was doing something and accidentally touched it or dropped something on it. Maybe she had been doing something with the mp3 player and dropped it as she was putting it back in the tray.

The audible alerts (wife and car) plus the loss of power made me realize quickly that the car was in neutral.

 

My dog stepped on mine.

 

I'd say it's easier to accidentally do on the Gen 3 due to where it's placed.

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...cations/89949-preventing-accidental-park.html seems like a solution, albeit a bit err.... ugly.

 

If you only use Park when you are actually parking (ie not in traffic), then why bother with it at all? Why not stop, apply parking brake and switch off. The car is automatically put in Park when turned off.

Job sorted.

 

While technically true, most manual transmissions will lock you from reverse until the stick has been in first gear, so I think OP has a valid point.

 

One of the tings that I really dislike about my 09 is that you have to use the darned touch screen for heat/ac and the radio. In every other car that I have owned once I got used to the controls I would not have even look to change things - it could be done by touch. I can not imagine mixing up the radio or ac button with the park button which is way larger and which you have to hit fairly hard. Perhaps it is that I have an 09, but I have driven my folks 2010 a few times and it never occurred that it would be a problem.

 

You can use the steering wheel controls for A/C (heating and cooling) and for the radio.
For A/C, I just use the "auto" position. It's too frustrating to do otherwise.

 

A lot of times I like to keep the car running (i.e. in Ready) after I stop. If I'm going to sit in it and listen to the radio, for example, while waiting for my girl friend. Then I might leave it in Park and Ready to keep from running the 12V battery down. I also have my door locks set up to lock/unlock when the car disengages/engages Park, so Park unlocks my doors after I stop.

I think the P button in a good easy to reach position and it should be left where it is. Accidental engagement only happens to most of us once, as previously mentioned, and no one has reported any damage. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

 

Me too. I very rarely switch the car off in its 10 hour shift - that way it protects the 12v which would struggle to power all my accessory equipment for any length of time. I was just offering a suggestion to the op who appears to have issue with the placing of the Park button. Personally I don't and have only once or twice pressed it whilst driving.

 

That's a whole new meaning to parking paw(l)