Can the doors be locked and leave the power on so the heater or AC will keep the temperature in the car where you have it set? We travel with our dog and if we eat or stop to shop, we have to leave her in the car. My other car has remote start and I can lock the doors, then start the car with the remote. I do have to restart after 20 minutes or so. So far I have found that the computer in the Prius won't let me lock the doors with the Power on, it will unlock the doors. Any ideas
Yes, people have done this with the manual (metal) key. Leave the car in Ready so that the engine can come on to recharge the battery when needed. The A/C will run down the battery in just a few minutes on a hot day, but the engine will come on to recharge it. You may want to leave a sign telling people that the A/C is on and the dog(s) are safe - you don't want them to break out a window thinking they are saving your dog. :doh:
good tips. If your dogs are.. well.. dogs.. and linkely to step all over the doors, you may want to pull up the driver and passenger armrest to unplug the door lock button. If you forget to plug it back in... while the door is open, roll the lock icon and the car will force all the doors to unlock. (much like locking it with the button) or make two covers and keep them in the center console.
I sometimes will cool down my Prius. How I do it is I open the drivers window before exiting the vehicle. I close the door, reach in, and lock the door. I then hit the auto up window to close everything up. Now I just have to use the metal key to open the door. Mike
As you can see from some of the replies, you can actually leave the engine running, lock the door and go to lunch without it shutting off. (This is something I actually did accidentally.) Please be aware of the major security issue as someone passing by could break in, let the dogs out and take the car!
