"P" parking button by mistake

Yep, I've done it once by mistake. You have to admit though that the placement of the "P" switch is REALLY in the wrong place! It's too easy to press by mistake. I've always thought that it would have been nice to have a protective cover that one must flip up in order to use the "P" ... or better yet, move it to a different place on the dashboard somewhere --- but I really hate it where it currently is ...

 

Isn't that why we have a parking/emergency brake?

 

I had our speed sensors (Lexus RX & Prius) "switched" at one time, so as to be able to do gps/map inputs, as well use the MFD phone dial functions on the fly (until the lockpick mod came out). This whole dialog gives me a sick feeling ... (gasp!) ... what would have happened if I'd accidently hit 'P' at about 25mph, with the speed sensors disabled?!?


I guess I've already used up my luck for this millennium.

.

 

That's just the speed sensor to the nav system though, right? Or does your speedo say zero when you switch off the speed sensor?

 

I agree the Park button is in the wrong place as I could hit it by mistake and it is dangerous.

I also think it is dangerous not to have a guard rail on the sidewalk as I could walk into the road by mistake and be killed - that is just dangerous.

I was tempted to consider personal responsibility but that's just like too hard work man.

 

Nav, Mfd, as well as traction control. I never considered whether speedometer was separately tied to being able to engage 'P'.

 

Most automatics have either a thumb lock or a slotted gear way to keep someone from accidentally putting the moving car into reverse while moving. Try it. You can click from L to D without having to press the lock button, just a light click of the shifter but if you want to go through N and hit R... What does it take?

I don't use my P button but rather use the Power button to shift park. Maybe a bad habit I developed in the my 2008.

 

Well, it happened to me today. I was pulling out from the parking garage onto a city street going maybe 10 mph. It was cold and my intention was to hit the "Auto" climate control. Instead, I accidentally hit Park. The transmission automatically shifted into neutral. No noise or jolts or anything. In fact, it seems as if Toyota anticipated this and set it up this way to prevent damage. I do think the placement of the park button is not good. And I also blame this thread for subconsciously implanting the idea in my head!


Tom G.

 

I've done the go into "Reverse instead of Drive" when I first bought my Prius. Probably because of my habit of going into first gear in my jeep which shifts like this:
R13
L ||
..24
another common pattern. R was a large spring loaded pin that took a lot of pressure to move.

But it only took a couple of days to get use to it.

The speed sensing thing that was talked about in the manual transmissions is probably the fact that the syncros can't line up going at the speeds from 5th to Reverse. Nothing more complicated than that.

 

Do you still drive both vehicles?

 

Agreed. I hit P the other day, too. I was traveling around 35MPH.
I didn't notice it auto-shifted into neutral and after coasting a bit and when I went to accelerate the car wouldn't increase speed. I was REALLY worried for a few seconds, glided to the shoulder to assess the situation, and was SO glad it turned out to be nothing.