Just wondering... if somehow I was driving at a normal speed and an intoxicated passenger decided to throw the knob into Reverse... will it actually do it and mess up your car?
What if they hit the Park button? ETA: just saw someone say on another thread that this cannot be done. phew.
You guys don't read the owners manual? It says... "interior alarm sounds once". then "The transmission will automatically be set to N position" when you press and hold it. Samething as R. The next question will be... If you pressed POWER switch for more than 3 seconds while moving, the hybrid system will be shut down. It's emergency purpose only. Ken@Japan
I have 75 pages of text and 30 pages of articles to read for school since I got the car on Tuesday. I have read some of the manual in that time. Just not all of it.
You'd give them a good clip across the ear! It's an electronic shifter, so safeguards will be in place, naturally. Reminds me of a story from years ago (I work in the automotive industry) of some Japanese tourists on the Gold Coast in Australia who hired a car, and decided that while overtaking another vehicle, they put the car in P (apparently to "pass") while in motion. End result was car being towed-in with a munched up mess of metal in the gearbox from the destroyed park pawl. :doh: do not know if it was true or not, but good for a laugh anyhoo... This was back in the days of mechanically operated gearshifts.
aww.. ken.. you beat me to it. I was going to make a point of mentioning the power button. I was the only person crazy enough to try it... come to think of it.. i think i tested all of these and shared them here on priuschat. if you have any other questions.. and hopefully they relate between Gen II and Gen III prii... i'll be dumb enough to try it and tell you results.
I've done it a couple of times...make sure you aren't in traffic. If you shut down the hybrid system by holding the Power button for 3 seconds, the car will go to N, but the mode will be ACC. It is the only method (that I know of) to get N and ACC at the same time.
Thanks for the responses, I was pretty sure it wouldnt let you shift while driving but I wasn't willing to try it out myself!
So, no braking assist then, only weak direct oil pressure from the brake pedal to two front discs. And, no power steering assist then, hard to turn the steering wheel. Ken@Japan
I believe that the capacitor bank located near the battery will allow the brake system to work for an emergency stop. I did not notice that the pedal effort was any higher. I think I did notice that the steering effort went up, but it was not difficult to steer to the side of the road.
the prius has 3 braking systems.. one is ign on.. the other on is accessory or when the car is sitting... the last is the capacitor bank dogfriend mentioned. beware.. if you ever do use this safety feature, you'll be met with a thrillingly loud alarm. it loud from outside the car. i heard it when my 12v battery was failing while i was refueling. my brother was in the car and he just about crapped himself. i've never seen him soo freaked out. he had a lot of questions. i just chuckled since i already knew that bank has an alarm.
I didn't get the alarm when I did it. I will have to try again and pay more attention to the braking effort and steering effort.
I accidentally tapped the parking brake while in motion today and the car beeped at me. Good car <pats on head>, good car...
you shouldn't ever get the chance to use the capacitor bank.. and you sould never ever hear the alarm associated with using it.. even if you force the car off.. as long as the bus can provide 12v power.. or your battery can provide 12v power, you'll never get the chance of using that capacitor bank. the parking brake/emergency brake does have an alarm.. i love this as i've seen too many cars with glowing rear brakes because the parking brake was left on...
Nothing will happen to the car. But on cars with the sunroof option, the roof will suddenly open fully, and the front seat passenger will be instaneously ejected from the car. :angel: For intoxicated rear seat passengers that try this same maneuver, the traction battery has pneumatically driven needle-sharp electrodes that deploy through the rear seat cushions and deliver a lethal shock. :hurt:
