Neat and Obscure facts about the PiP

Your passengers can watch a movie on the iPad while listening to it on your car's speaker system. Just connect the ipad through bluetooth and do not plug it into the car's standard USB. Select bluetooth as your audio source. Now you can listen to Yogi Bear over and over and over and over and over again!

 

Is that an advantage or disadvantage???

 

I think it's a Boo-Boo…

 

HA! At least bluetooth technology was not "in" the same time Barney was!!
Besides, Toyota engineers cleverly put the mode button on the steering wheel....hehehehe.

 

The PiP has this feature. It's an option that can be turned off/on by the dealer.

 

The "PLUG-IN HYBRID" side emblems have distinct parts numbers. Although they look the same the driver's side emblem costs more than the passenger's side.

 

Maybe there's a spare under the passenger seat ?

 

You CAN connect to the internet without using Entune app on the iPhone. This uses bluetooth and the USB wired connection is not necessary.

There IS a catch. You have to have internet tethering enabled on your iPhone. That's a monthly fee for AT&T users...

Simply enable internet access over bluetooth.

 

PiP TiP:

If you accelerate too hard when driving in EV (electric-only) mode, the ICE will come on, and it will run for at least 55 seconds, until it warms up. Even if you coast -- the engine just won't shut off. This wastes gas.

If this happens to you, lift your foot off of the accelerator, at least slightly, then press the HV/EV mode button, which puts the car into HV (Hybrid) mode. Then press the HV/EV mode button again, which will put you back into EV mode, and the ICE will immediately shut off.

I would like some other PiP owners to verify this for me. I've only done it twice.

 

Once the ICE starts, I prefer to let it warm up and "waste" some gas. Combustion byproducts include water and carbon dioxide which together make a mild acid. In the long term it is better to evaporate these byproducts with a warm engine than it is to let them sit and rust or corrode the inside of the engine. They also dilute the oil. It is better to warm the engine and get rid of them. In our cars, these byproducts could sit a very long time before we need the ICE. I notice that the ICE turns off when the coolant reaches 130 degrees which is not that hot, anyway.

 

Dumb post... Deleted.

 

It's going to start after ten or fifteen miles anyway, but if you're taking a short trip, there's no reason to run the engine.

 

I was at a red light the other day with EV at 8 miles remaining. It was a long light so i decided to put it in park. While in park I press the accelerator to see what happens and the ICE turned on. That was a surprise.

 

That would have made me mad! Thanks for telling me that. I will not do that!

 

Press HV/EV twice, and the ICE will shut off.

 

Sure, there is no reason to start the ICE for a short trip. But if you unintentionally do start it there IS reason NOT to shut it down before it gets warm.

 

If you 'accidentally' start the ICE by other means (when you unintentionally accelerating too hard, for example) will this shut off the ICE warmup then too?

 

I've done that twice (shut the car off to force the ICE off). I did do a full warmup of the ICE less than 1/2 hour in both cases, so I don't think I hurt anything.

(My car was new then and I was obsessed about only wanting to use EV).

I like to use the ICE closer to the end of my trips that require gas so the HV charge can be used when I run out of EV miles (which you don't get to use if the engine isn't warm).

 

Thanks. Excellent post. The Toyota engineers are actually incredibly smart. We should not be trying to bypass too much of their judgment.