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A Question About Towing...

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by canuckican, Mar 21, 2005.

  1. canuckican

    canuckican New Member

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    I have a question concerning moving or towing a "dead" Prius. In the building where I live, I park in a very low underground parking structure with very little room on any side. Let's assume I park nose-in in my parking spot. I then have a large pillar on my driver's side, a wall in front of me, another car on my passenger's side, and a pillar on the other side of that. I have tried to include an attachment map which details this layout.

    Assume that the Prius "died" such that I could not get the computer or MFD to turn on - as some people have reported here. If I cannot turn the car on, I cannot shift it into neutral, correct? If I cannot shift it into neutral, how are they going to move the Prius in this configuration (note the front wheels are not available to be lifted by a tow truck due to the wall)? Would the car have to be dragged backward out of its spot to get it to a point where the front end could be lifted? Would that not be very traumatic on the car?

    I am seriously wondering what would happen in this situation. Does anyone have any experience or ides on this?
     
    #1 canuckican, Mar 21, 2005
  2. DanMan32

    DanMan32 Senior Member

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    You could lift the front of the car from the side and put the wheels under a dolly. Getting access to the lift point would be tricky.
    Otherwise, your only option is to try and boost the car into Ig-On, or else you'll have to drag it a few feet to get to the front of the car.

    I would have suggested manually applying power to the parking pawl motor (properly called the shift control actuator), but it is a 3 phase 12V motor.

    Preventative solution would be to back the car in.
     
    #2 DanMan32, Mar 21, 2005
  3. canuckican

    canuckican New Member

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    Here is my attempt to attach a jpg map of the parking situation.
     
    #3 canuckican, Mar 21, 2005
  4. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    I agree with Dan,
    I think it depends upon how "dead" you are. If you are completely electrically 'dead' and it won't go into IG-ON mode to allow you to go into neutral even with a battery boost then you're probably going to have to drag it out. I think the risk to the system are small, but certainly aren't zero.

    If, OTOH, you just have a dead 12v there are plenty of battery boosters and jumper cables long enough, to allow a jump start. Even if it won't turn over get it into Ig-On and put it in neutral before dragging.
     
    #4 efusco, Mar 21, 2005
  5. jayman

    jayman Senior Member

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    Whether I'm parked at my condo underground parking or at the underground parking at work, I always like to back into the stall. Just a habit I've always had.
     
    #5 jayman, Mar 21, 2005
  6. canuckican

    canuckican New Member

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    There were some excellent ideas presented here, and of course, the solution would depend upon what has caused the "dead" Prius. BTW, I always back into my spot...so the question was really more a hypothetical. But it could happen to someone else.
     
    #6 canuckican, Mar 21, 2005
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