I drive around town in EV mode for the most part. Recently when I have been using the heat or the window defogger the ICE will turn on and keep running for some random period (I suspect till the cooling system comes to temperature, not that I have anyway of telling that). It's super annoying coming from my Leaf. What am I doing wrong? It's not even all that cold. It's not like I can stop it either. Even if I turn off the defrost and lower the temp the engine keeps running. My only solution has been to turn off the car and restart.
Like many others, you assume that button is the only window clearing option available. It's not. That button is for requesting maximum, which is why the engine starts. Instead, just use the window blower option on the climate screen.
Thank you schja1. I think that's dumb but at least I understand it now. John 1701a. I don't have a Climate Screen on the plus. Just the semi normal HVAC controls. Typically I put it at 72f and split air (windshield and floor) and the fan I adjust fairly high. I don't think that should stress the batteries, The Leaf didn't seem to be troubled by it anyway.
I kind of stopped posting here because I got sick of answering the same question over and over, all because people won't read their manuals. Here's the relevant section of the manual, page 87:
If I didn’t have them in PDF format that I could search I wouldn’t be able to find a fraction of what I do. Don’t be too quick to dismiss someone who finds the manuals overwhelming. J[
Right ... so download the PDFs. Anyone can get them for free. I even have them on my phone so I don't have to keep the paper copies (which are close to useless anyway because you can't search) in the car.
That's quite understandable. In fact, it is how we end up with a User-Guide typically sometime in the second year of ownership. Patterns emerge to show what repetitive questions need to be better addressed. In this case, I see misquotes of values. For example, the other day a claim was made that 40 F degrees without any other criteria listed was all it took to trigger the ICE start. Clearly, the circumstances were misrepresented by omission. But without the PDF, it's difficult to even have a constructive discussion.
Coming from an IBM IT environment I firmly believe manuals are written for those already know the subject material. If you already don't know the material forget it. Hence John's reference to a User Guide which is smaller and covers nice to know stuff in a simple to read format. Definitely a requirement for the Prime. J
Considering that the manuals are so large they barely fit in the glove box there might be a reason people don't read them. Plus you need to know what you are looking for and where it might be buried in the myriad sections. I think that is a failure of the manufacturer not the customer. If you make things too difficult/complicated/annoying then your customers won't use them. Blaming that on the customer is a tacit admission that you don't know how to engineer things. The Prius Prime in particular is a hotbed of terrible engineering decisions. I'm not sorry I bought the car but I really wish the ergonomics were about a thousand times more intuitive and designed for a human to operate them. Also I asked the question because lots of people have found hidden things that can help with these sorts of questions. I'm sure there is extensive information on how to prevent the ICE from firing up and I was hoping to glean some of their insight.
That's why I had the .pdf's downloaded and installed on my computer and my phone before I even got the car. As I said above, I don't even keep the paper versions in the car. In fact, I don't think I've ever opened them. Search is a wonderful thing.
Ditto. I carry PDF versions of all the manuals on my phone (Gen 3 has two. I carried the Gen 2 when we had it. I'll carry the Gen 4/Prime's when I acquire one).
