Hi everyone.... as a new 2012 Prius owner I have a question. If I pull my Prius into my driveway, close the door ( not locking it...and I have my smart key with me), forget to turn the Prius "off" by pressing the "start" button...what will happen? Will the Prius shut off automatically after a certain amount of time or will the hybrid battery just drain itself? thank you
Hello, At least w/ my 2010, the car will sound a long beeeep when trying to lock the door with the FOB while in the "Ready" mode. The car will not shutdown automatically. It will instead run down the HV battery till the engine starts to charge it back up (partially). This will continue till you shut it down or it runs out of gas or someone steals it.
I lent my v to my daughter on time. She went to the mall and came back and parked the car in her driveway. When I went outside 2 hours later, I found the car running. God knows what she might have done at the mall.
Sounds like a bug not a feature. You'd think the default was if car can't detect key, it would shut down. Like remote start or the remote AC. Car shuts down after set number of minutes. People getting out and leaving the car on is not uncommon as the engine is not running, there is no tell tale other than than the beep that could be mistaken for the locking beep.
I'm sure they could in time. It's seen as a safety issue so things don't go weird if your key fob dies. Leaving the car on burns about a gallon every ten hours or so. A little faster with the a/c left on. It's not too much fuel wasted. It can still be deadly if left running in an attached garage (as any other car)
LOL....I know this one from experience, unfortunately. on a long trip recently, we stopped at a Subway for lunch. parked the car in front of the store, went in, ordered...and there was a REALLY long line, got our food, sat and ate, went to the restroom and when we came out, the car was.....THANK GOD....still there, RUNNING. we kind of had a WTH moment and then realized in our haste to get out and stretch, I didn't turn it OFF. as luck would have it, 4 of the many people in line in front of us were local cops, so if anyone was stupid enough to try and steal it, they probably wouldn't get too far. also, don't know if 'my' key was close enough to keep it running or if my wife left her purse in the car, which has 'her' key in it.....so I only guess that if the car were driven off and out of range of a key, it would shut off, right?
I have found hitting the power button from drive puts the car in park as well as shutting it off. I have just gotten into the habit of hiring that when I'm done driving.
This is a feature, not a bug. If programmed as you suggest, then when the key fob batteries dies while the car is being driven, the car will shut down. In the middle of the freeway, or wherever it is being driven. This would be a serious bug. It is a very different beep than the normal locking beep. Drivers unable to notice the difference are in for a lot of hurt on numerous operator error warnings.
This also qualifies as the question of 'What would happen if I left my Prius on and someone took my smartkey?'. Someone was curious if the car would not function. The great thing is, for short trips, where you know you will pop out and back in real quick, you can leave your car on without having to worry about the warmup period again. As long as the car is not turned off, you can drive the car as much as you want without the key.
[ It's very, very obvious. We got it today when my wife parked and forgot to turn the car off. Beeeeeeeeeeeeeep.