Is it "safe" (meaning for the car) to change driving modes while driving? I understand that all it really does is change the way the throttle pedal works but just want to make sure that I don't have to be stopped to change modes.
Personally, I leave the Prius in "NORMAL" mode and let the computer choose. For me, one of the desirable things about the Prius was that it had an automatic transmission so that I would not have to monkey with "modes".
If you pay close attention, if you change to a more aggressive mapping mode when you are accelerating, it will delay the change until you let up on the throttle. I assume this was done to prevent an unexpected surge in acceleration. I now drive in Power mode most of the time and have noticed this if I forget to hit Power mode when I first hit Ready mode and I change from Normal to Power while accelerating. The software protects the hardware. You can hit the Park button while doing 70 MPH and it will beep and drop you into Neutral with no harm done.
I've tested every combination: Park, Reverse, Neutral, and Power. All are safe at speed. You really should practice this, as every driver needs to know how to stop in a runaway situation. For the Prius, my method of choice is hitting Park, which causes an immediate shift to Neutral. Tom
Thanks all, both for the comforting answers about switching modes AND for the extra information! Very interesting, though I don't think I'll test it either, unless I need to of course!
