Blunders

Gasp! I feel your pain.

 

Good post, Chrism. Funny. I would guess that the only real damage you caused was to the spoiler, and that it is easily fixed.

The Prius does cause some stupid behavior. especially if you let it idle for a while after parking. I have often tried to get out of the car, thinking it was off. I have also tried to start the car when it was already on, thereby turning it off instead. (Which would not be so bad, except for the derisive laughter coming from my teenaged son in the back seat.)

 

About a week ago, my family and I went to the Explorium in downtown Mobile AL to see the Dead Sea Scroll exhibit. It was raining and I pulled up close to the front entrance and let the family out. I proceeded to go about two blocks away to park. I pulled up in a parking spot and for some reason checked my pocket for the key fob!
I almost panicked, I had left my fob at home. The car had started and ran because the wife had her fob in her purse, and even though she got out of the car, it would still run. Luckily I had my cell phone, called my daughter and had her meet me at the front entrance with the wife's key fob.
I had read somewhere that the car would run after removing the fob from the car but you couldn't start it again.
If I had turned off the power button, could I have locked the doors or is the fob required to do this?

 

Dear Fobless Floyd: I don't think you can lock the car from the outside using the electronic button on the door handle. But you might be able to manually lock it from the inside.

 

chrism07924: good post. BTW. shifting from D to D does nothing but D then N then D. It goes into N real quick because you passed by it and then went to a gear.. even though it is the same gear. you can't turn the car off while driving, you can't part it while driving ( above 5mph or so ) and you can't throw the car in reverse while driving ( 5mph rule applies again. Reverse isn't a gear though ( from what i know ) it's simply the electric motor spinning backwards without the help of gas engine ( since it only spins forwards)

i do dumb things too. you would think with 200 miles a day of stop and go that i would not do dumb things.. but i do.

 

One bad habit I have still have after owning the Prius for over 6 months is when I'm not concentrating and attempting to put the car in reverse I somehow automatically activate the windshield washer. Is there a Prius psychiatrist who can explain my actions? :roll:

 

Spilling red wine is pretty bad. Having a can of poorly-sealed house paint (to be used by your daughter for a Jackson Pollock-type art project at school) tip over and spill all over the back seat is also not good. Fortunately that was in my previous car, and it provided the impetus for plunking down money for a Prius.

 

Without a nearby FOB, you must lock the Prius with the inside door lock. The outside buttons do not function without a FOB nearby.

At least mine don't. 2005 BC.

 

In time you will do everything wrong that you can possibly do and the only things left will be the correct things. So get it out of your system.

On another subject, spelling. I have seen this misspelling many times on the Board. It is the work 'break' when you are referring to the word 'brake'. As in 'I stepped on the brake to prevent my Prius from breaking'.
So, brake is:
A device for slowing or stopping motion, as of a vehicle, especially by contact friction.
Something that slows or stops action.
and break is:
To cause to separate into pieces suddenly or violently; smash

So you really don't want to break your Prius!

 

Well, there you go! I can't take my own advice. Misspelled the word 'word' as 'work'. Stupid fingers! I even read it over twice.

 

Regarding shifting, you aren't moving anything mechanical in the drivetrain with the 'shifter', you're just making mode change requests to the HV ECU. It then decides how to operate MG1, MG2 and ICE to do what you want, if safe.
To request neutral, you have to hold it there for a second or two. Passing through does not go into neutral. Going from D to R or R to D or D/R to P at too high of a speed will shift you to N for safety. Going D to D and R to R will be ignored, though it might beep a warning. Perhaps you put the car in B? That might cause a feeling of a shift, as you change the rate of regen braking.

 

It took me forever to remember to use the little handle inside the hatch to close it...

Grabbed the license plate frame many times instead. I'm finally remembering to use the little handle.

 

:wink:

I here what you are saying.

 

Another blunder I made last year: back out of garage with hatch still open. Fortunately only damage was the spoiler that caught an edge of the open garage door. Cost me over $400 for replacement painted spoiler.

 

My most embarrasing blunder so far is getting off a highway in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere... pulling into what i thought was the entrance to a gas station... driving across a grassy bumpy horrible field to get to said gas station... crunching down over the curb into said gas station parking lot... *crash* *crunch*

Fortunately no damage was done and in my embarrassed stupor the guy at the pump next to me said he did the same exact thing

 

That's what made it the better part!

Thanks very much for having the guts to share your learning experience. Here's 10 points for your contribution to helping others avoid similar blunders, and for helping us avoid a bad Friday the 13th.

For your enjoyment you may want to read the recent thread about "Wife Said the Prius is So Slow!"

Turns out she went to work with the speedo/cruise set to 68 kph instead of mph. Easy to do, unless you chain your hands to the wheel.

 

Doesn't this post just beet awl...especially in mid may when the whether cawls four reign...