Good point. I was gonna say just until you turn the car off, but yeah: the brake lights will still go on in that case, if you push the brake pedal. Now that we've got that cleared up, I'll slink away.
I've been doing it for 30 years. At long red lights. My other cars with an automatic, I would put the lever in neutral or park. Also a nice little courtesy at night, as you're not blinding the guy behind you with your bright brake lights. I wish more people would do it. Some SUVs and vans got these ultrabright brake lights, and it's blinding when you're stuck at a stoplight for 4 or 5 minutes. (In my Gen4 the brake light and taillight are the same bulb? I still wish they were much bigger, I think they are too small and wimpy.) Also turn my headlights off at night if I am stuck on the freeway that's closed, or there's a major accident and traffic is not moving for an hour. I also turn the engine off. You're not going anywhere. But the other 99% they sit there idling for 1 to 2 hours with all their lights on. Polluting and burning up headlights.
I do use parking or neutral sometimes in long red lights. Not only you may rest your feet, but the brake mechanism and transmission will have less tear and wear in the long run. Anyways, if you're watching the red light attentively, it will only take a couple of seconds to engage to drive again when it switches to green.
If you're waiting until the light turns green to grab a gear you're doing it wrong. On your normal route you should know the light cycle and be able to watch the cross traffic lights. When they turn red you have 2 to 3 seconds until your green. In the manual transmission vehicles or on my bike that is when I'm grabbing a gear so I'm prepared to go when I get the green.
For The Love of Godzilla Why? Toyota has gone to great engineering lengths to design The Prius and give it the Hybrid ability to shut off at stops...and instantaneously start and move. It's a safety issue. Putting a vehicle into park, only adds the negative of not being able to move without shifting out of park. You never know when a few seconds might make a difference. I see little or no benefit to putting a vehicle into park while in an active driving environment....after all the "P" stands for "PARK"...not waiting, or at a stoplight...or I just want to rest my foot. PARK....if you ain't parking...don't use it.
Can I use Neutral and the parking brake then? What if I rename the parking brake to "emergency brake" like so many do? Or better yet "lazy brake!" Yeah! let's call it the lazy brake! Can I use neutral and the lazy brake when at stop lights?
I would avoid N at all times, if it were me. I may someday use my parking brake , if I find an incline.
People can do, and will do whatever they want to do. I often marvel at the lengths people go to, to adapt an action or tool to an action it's NOT designed to support. In this case, I'm not renaming anything. That "P"...does stand for park.
You don't need to TOUCH the shifter at all. If you want to rest your feet, simply engage the parking brake. But you are just kidding us with this.......right ??
I never use P at traffic lights. The hassle of pressing the brake before shifting is not worth it for me. I do put it in N if the car will remain stationary without pressing the brake. I have the feeling that I'm also faster of the mark doing this then when I have to shift the foot from the brake to the accelerator.
Why not do the handbrake exercise like my fellow Irish drivers. I call it exercise because they'll pull it and release it 150 times a day! You can litteraly hear that handbrake-up sound as a pedestrian around town.. Never ever understood this tactic.. from Frequently asked questions about learning to drive
I pushed the "P" button more than a dozen times this morning. First, I was in a long slow drive-thru line to get coffee. Every time I moved up a couple feet, I pressed Park. Then I had a longer than normal wait at several red lights. More P. Then on the way home, I went through another slow drive-thru line to get breakfast. More P use. No trouble at all. Some Americans are sure getting lazy. It's one nano-second of time to shift back into "D". (Next thing you know, all these lazy people are going to want a self-dimming mirror! Or automatic wipers! )
Every car I owned prior to the Prius was a manual, I still catch my self shifting to D at lights. I think some folks have to feel in control, they want to use B when there is no point, they want to use P when there is no point. They feel like they are 'doing' something. It is mostly harmless.
??....... It ain't pointless when I need to rest my right foot When doing endless city driving for Uber, even 10 secs off that pedal on a traffic light on a 10 hour driving day is priceless.
OK, one final comment......from me anyway: You should NEVER do this (take your foot off the brake) when you are the LAST car in a line that is stopped......because that will shut off your brake lights and make it more likely that you will be rear-ended !!!!!
The car would still use the battery to engage the 'creep' function so it would be a waste of energy. I don't understand what the big deal is; If you are someone who's legs don't tire by keeping the brake pedal pressed at a long light, or your usual driving conditions don't involve such stops then of course carry on as normal without using 'P'. If however, your right leg does get tired, for whatever reason, at a long stop then I don't see any problem with using 'P'. Personally, being from London, UK, I am constantly stuck in crawling traffic and using P definitely takes some strain off my right leg. Those who don't need/want to use the P function this way, don't have to. Those who do need/want to use it, can do so, there's no reason for people on either side to impose their 'way' onto others or suggest using P is 'pointless' as clearly it is not.
