drive through car wash

Yes, exactly. You can't turn the car off!

 

Right, and with it ON, you cannot take the fob outside and lock it.

So, you just leave it ON, in "N", no matter if you ride through or not.

 

If you hit the Power button to turn it off without hitting the Park button first, the car will shift into P anyway just before shutting down.


So the answer is no.

 

On my Prius, I cannot shift into Neutral in either the Acc Mode or the IG-On Mode. I can only shift into Neutral when the Prius is in Ready Mode.

Are your Priuses different ... can you shift into Neutral from IG-On Mode?

 

Yes. You should be able to select N when in IG-On but not in Acc.

 

Weird. This morning I tried it a few times while it was definitely in IG-On Mode and it wouldn't work. I'm going to try it again in between tonight's second and third playoff games.

 

I just tried it, it will not go into N in the IG-On mode. It gives you 2 quick beeps and stays in Park, if you try and other position D, R, or B it does the same thing.

I wonder why some cars will and others won't?

 

I just figured it out and just got back from my car.

It WILL shift to Neutral while you're in IG-ON Mode -- but you have to have your foot on the brake in order to shift to Neutral.

 

I am pretty sure that I did this once when my car was on the alignment rack. I will test again. There is a test in the service manual that says that you should be able to do it.

 

Yes, you have to have your foot on the brake to shift out of P.

 

OK thanks, another little trick to remember.

 

the people at my as in the toyota dealer ship that I go to; told me to do all the steps that your sopposed goat the car was and when you get to the step of putting it in (N) turn the car off then put it in (N). Haven't tried it yet so. Yea I don't know if it will work or not that's what they told me so it should.

 

I have to take my car to the car wash and it seems like so much to remember. I rarely took my old car in to the wash but after 9 years the muffler pipe rusted out. So I have to take it in after snow storms to wash off the salt. So far, I've been handwashing it. We'll see how it goes.

 

So, the issue seems to be going to the car wash with the the hybrid battery already at a low charge level.
If the battery level is near full, can you then safely roll through a 5 to 10 minute car wash in neutral without the battery being depleted?
Will the headlights on and running the A/C deplete a fully charged battery in less than 10 minutes?

 

I went to a car wash with a mostly full battery, but there was a long line of cars and the car ran in EV mode for several minutes and was continually draining the battery as the line creeped forward. By the time I got to the front of the line at the car wash, the battery was low. I wasn't sure I could make it through in neutral. Very annoying to watch the battery level fall lower and lower while waiting.

Is there any way to force the battery to keep charging while in the slow line of cars so it isn't already dangerously low when the car needs to go through the wash? There needs to be something that is the opposite of EV mode.

 

Open a window a bit (until you get in the car wash), turn on the heater, turn the temp up. The engine will run to keep heat in the heater core. It WILL shut off, but in my experience, will keep the battery at 3 bars or higher.
When you are about to enter the car wash, roll up the window, shut off the auto A/C, the radio, and put the car in "N" as the car wash grips the wheels. You probably can also turn off the lights.

If you're really paranoid you can put the car in "D", hold the brake pedal down, and press the accelerator. The engine will run at about 2000 RPM. That will force charge the battery. Try it -before- you get in the lineup, just so you know what to expect without a car in front of you.

At any rate, don't worry too much about the battery state of charge. Remember, with no bars it's still at 30-40% charge level.

 

I know this is off topic but your experience does point out that maybe we shouldn't be so surprised that people have trouble getting a runaway car going 90MPH into neutral.

 

You probably shouldn't be driving 90 mph in a car wash. :madgrin:

 

The Shell car wash I usually go to does not require me to put the car in neutral. I drive in when the green light comes on. Stop and put in Park when the red light comes on. That said, I have not brought my new Prius in yet, because of a different reason. I am afraid the low clearance of the 2010 Prius would either get stuck in the car wash or damage the bottom of the car, as you do need to drive over some metal bar when exiting. Dilemma...

 

Don't leave it in EV mode - put in ECO while you are waiting on line and the Traction Battery will charge when needed.