shift to neutral takes a second - why?

I don't know, but if I had to guess I would say because it's an electronically controlled CVT, and as such, the transmission is engaged whether you are in D, B or R. The only difference is direction or type of travel, but you're traveling nonetheless. With neutral, you actually have to disengage, and that is not as 'easy' as with a traditional transmission, hence the short delay. Am I close?

 

If the delay wasn't there, the car would shift to neutral and then to drive everytime you shift to drive.

 

I can't answer the question definitively, but that was my thought as well.

 

Worse than that, it would always shift back to neutral as the shift lever passed through the neutral position on its way back to the at rest position.

As you say, you get used to it then it is no big deal.

 

The delay for selecting neutral not only allows the transition between drive, reverse and braking without having to pass through neutral to do so, but I think it is also a deliberate safety feature - the delay ensures that you can't shift into neutral by accident should you move the selector when not intending to.

 

It saves space too. If there were another position on the selector to choose neutral I'd guess it would have to be something like right-up from the center position (again for safety) but then the space for the selector would have to be bigger... it consolidates the operation of the lever into fewer possible directions as well, actually simplifying operation for the driver.

D, R and PARK have electronic safeties: If you're traveling forward, it won't let you shift to R or PARK, so I rather like that you have to *want* to shift to neutral to get neutral. As others have stated, once I got used to it, hitting N is second-nature now and I don't have to think about it.

I do sympathize with your embarrassing car wash moment though; when you get flustered it's even harder to figure out the right way to do something like that!

 

Not close at all. There is no "disengage" with the HSD.

Neutral on the Prius is mostly there for legal reasons. I assume there are some old laws which require it. The Prius shifter lever uses a pattern similar to that of a manual transmission. Without the delay it would shift into and out of neutral every time you moved the lever except for B. The delay is a simple and effective way to avoid this.

Tom

 

Well, there is also a practical reason - suppose you need to push the car due to a powertrain failure. Also, this facilitates brake pad cleaning, as you can coast at a relatively high speed in N, then apply the friction brakes.

 

If there is no disengage, then it isn't a true neutral. One of the complaints with my eCVT maxi scooter (Burgman) is that there is no neutral. Sure, I can push it around the garage but I have to overcome the friction of the drivetrain. But once in motion and with the scooter on, I can not reach 'neutral' because the drivetrain is always engaged. How is this 'neutral' in motion accomplished in the Prius if there is no disengage?

 

Neutral is accomplished by opening the field winding circuit on both motor generaters. This allows the wheels or the engine to turn independently of the other.

 

OK, thanks.