A "park" "not to park" inquiry

Not sure how to say this on a G chat group
What I meant when I said that was, a woman giving directions normally comprises criticism when a wrong turn is taken but no clues given which is the right turn.
At the end you have a list (ever growing) of things not to do and still no idea what you should do.

 

Perhaps the sternly worded admonition in the Owner's Manual is a carry over from a previous version of Prius, which required P before Power Off...

Or I seem to recall someone saying that, once.

I sometimes do, sometimes don't, press P before I power off.
However, since I do not have SKS, trying to yank the fob out of the dash before powering off has caught me, more than once.

I'm also one that likes to power off all accessories before powering off the car. I don't like to get in, and power on a car, and immediately have the radio, AC, wipers, etc., blasting at me. I love that moment of silence, and the happy little BEEP that tells me that Rudy is READY ... it's just not right to clutter that up with other sounds!

 

I sometimes hit power before I shift into park. I don't do it very often, but it annoys me when I do. All I want to do is enter a destination or mail a letter, which is exactly what park is for, and what do I do? Power off. Whoops. I guess a reboot once in a while is a good idea.

Tom

 

Are you a fan of Condoleezza Rice? I saw her in person for the first time yesterday as she was getting into an armored SUV (the armored Prii are on backorder until next year). She is a smart and awesome lady.


You are impressed with the biggest failure of a secretary of state we've ever had. No improvement in the middle east, America has the worst standing in the world since the revolution, and a needless war wasting our lives and treasury. And you are impressed with this smart lady?

 

I wasn't saying I was impressed with her accomplishments -- I was impressed with how smart and composed she is. Smart people don't always have smart accomplishments -- is this a contradiction -- probably. However, I thought she was a smart lady before she took office and I still think she is a smart lady.

If you would to talk about it further then lets do it in FHOP, but I am removing myself from membership in the next few minutes -- it is hard to stay a kinda jovial junior member of PC in there.

BTW, I press P and know the P button has engaged when the green light on the P button is lit.

 

I had been bypassing the "park" button" as I knew that the power button automatically put the car in park before shutting down. Well, a previous post mentioned that a quick jab of the power button might not take effect. That is TRUE! I park just 3 feet from my rv hitch. I was in a hurry. I jabbed the power button and started to exit. It didn't take! Couldn't get it stopped! Had to replace the bumper cover and grille. I am embarassed! DW was unhappy with me. Oh, yeah, I'm a 62 year old engineer who hasn't had any kind of car accident since my teen years. I now use the park button every time.

 

While car shopping, I took a Prius test drive at the dealership. After the test drive, the salesman (let's call him Mr. Clueless) wanted to show me one in my preferred color. None had been available to test drive, but he thought there was a sold one around somewhere. He drove me around the lot in the Prius, couldn't find the car he was looking for, and thought it might be inside the garage. He pulled up to the garage, and got out of the car to open the garage door.

You can probably guess what happened next. Mr. Clueless had left the car on when he got out, and hadn't pressed "park." So, I'm still in the passenger seat, and noticed the car moving forward. Before I could figure out what was happening, the car crashed into the garage door. Only a minor scratch on the car, but a definite dent in the garage door. I made a mental note that pressing "park" was a good idea when you park! Especially if you leave the power on! So I always start my "park" routine with the "park" button.

Mr. Clueless got into some trouble for this incident and soon lost his job. I ended up buying from another dealer.

My park routine is: stop, press "park," engage parking brake, check/change display on MFD (if desired), turn off stereo, headlights and other devices (if desired), and power off.

The only benefit of pressing "park" and then immediately pressing "power" is to reinforce the habit of always making sure you at least put it in park, in case you want to fiddle with other things before you power off.

 

I leave the stereo on and tuned to the traffic station because it is not uncommon for the traffic report to be past the part I want to hear by the time I remember and turn it on manually. I know it doesn't sound like much, but I have to make a choice of roads pretty quickly after leaving the driveway. I have only used the parking brake twice and both times was on inclines.

 

Done that. But have gotten out of the habit of using the parking brakes. Because it takes 2 seconds to disengage them when leaving the parking garage at the end of the day.

 

Although I know it's redundant, I use the 3-Ps when I park:
P -- Park
P -- Power
P -- PUSH [that's what's printed on it in big letters] the Parking Brake.

 

I, as a man, am never lost. I might not be where I want to be, but I'm not lost ; and you husband, he might not be right, but he is correct Oh the joys of married life!

 

I see this as being really quite simple. Yes, pressing Park -> Power or pressing only Power accomplish the same thing, which is to shut down the car.

Aside from the obvious reason of making a temporary stop without shutting down the car completely, the "Park" mode is important as this is what people have been used to using since the invention of the automatic transmission. It is simply 'best practice' to use the Park before shutting down, since this is what people are accustomed to.

We hear regular criticisms around here about how some people think the shifter is "upside down" (not me), because it is different than what they are used to. Imagine the confusion if there was no Park button/position at all?

 

ohhhh! i always (well..... 99.9% of the time) press park first!

and really.... we don't need to ask directions.... we have the "lady in the dash" to tell how to get someplace... :fear:

 

Why do you think Moses wandered in the desert for forty years?

 

Fascinating thread. May I deviate only slightly, please? When some of you mention "set park brake", is that similar to using the mechanical footpedal on non-hybrids, or does pressing the Park button do essentially the same thing --set the parking brake so the car doesn't role? Or is it like shifting a non-hybrid transmission to the parking positon to set the parking pawl? I would go out to my 2008 package 2 and test all this, but the dealer hasn't called yet saying I can come and drive it home. <sigh>

 

what happens if you press park while driving?

 

"It Puts The Car In Park Or Else It Gets The Hose Again!"

 

Fraser,

No pressing Park and setting the park[ing] brake are not the same thing:

• Pressing the Park button on a Prius is equivalent to moving the shift lever on a non-hybrid car with an automatic transmission to "P". The car can role if pushed, but isn't likely to role under its own weight unless it's on a steep hill.
• Setting the parking brake on the Prius is the same as it is on any car. The parking brake on the Prius is the peddle kind. You step on it and press it down, that engages a mechanical friction brake that prevents the wheels from turning. You release the parking brake by stepping on the same peddle again.
  

Yes, this was an interesting thread that got revived. Not really because of the gender based repartee that seems to have gone on, but because for me this question came up very recently in a different context.

The context is some issues my folks have been having with their Prius. (Personal opinion, from reading here, I think they have a dying 12 volt battery, but that's neither here nor there.)

Long story short, the car has gone unresponsive on them a couple of times. They've always managed to get it started again by jumping it. When the dealer's service department looks at it, they can't find anything wrong, including, they claim, the 12 volt battery. After the last round of this little dance, they contacted Toyota Customer Service and wound up talking to a service "engineer" in Los Angeles.

From the sounds of it, this person started going through a trouble-shooting script. One of the scenarios in this script had to do with how the car was turned off (one step: just press power or two-step: press park and the press power.)

Having written some of these kinds of scripts, I understand that there are a variety of reasons for including certain questions, the three most common are:

1. True diagnosis.
2. CYA (sometimes there's a lot to cover)
3. Providing "exit" points (this isn't nice, but it's reality)

I can see this whole "how do you shut down the car" thing as being any one of the three. My dad gave the "right" answer if it is #3, so I won't find out through this experience which class it really is.

Oh, and FYI, according to Toyota, the "right" answer to press Park first. (Yes, I understand that the other way does the same thing, I'm just passing on what I learned by hearing my folks' tale of interacting Toyota Customer Service.)

 

If you watch the park button (on my 2008) and hit Power Off you can see the little green Park light come on for a second just before it shuts down. I know it is in park.

Bob

 

Good grief - this is exhausting - just hit park and hit the power button and get on with your life