This may be obvious, but it wasn't obvious to me. I am on my second GenIII Prius, having leased a 2010 for three years before deciding to buy a 2012. Because I could, I got into the habit with the 2010 of putting my foot on the brake and pressing the power switch to shut down the car. I rarely hit the park button unless I was going to park with things powered up. I drove for three years like this with no issues whatsoever. Since acquiring my 2012, I have had to instances where the car has not shut off. I've opened the door and stepped out, only to have the car start to run away. The first time, it rolled forward and I was able to jump in and hit the brake really quickly. The second time, I was on my inclined driveway and the car rolled backward. The open driver's door knocked me down and it was quite a scramble to get to the car and jump in before it hit something. Most cars with shifters force you to pass through to park (or be in neutral) in order to shut off the power. The Prius does not have this interlock, so please, if you don't, use PARK before shutdown. Also, since I never had this issue on my 2010 and it's happened twice to me using habits I acquired driving that car, does anyone know if they have changed the power button logic? Both times it has happened to me, I came to a stop, but left the car in a hurry. Is there now a longer period required after stop before the power button is effective? This feels like a software change that snuck up on me. Thanks for the listen and be safe!
Never had that happen I have to say even though I too tend to simply power off without moving to Park. However I always use the manual parking brake so I guess I wouldn't notice if there was an issue
I always use the parking brake, you should too. Maybe your power switch is defective? If it's not shutting off that's a problem whether or not you put it into P, because anybody could come up to the car and drive it away if you leave it powered on.
I agree the parking brake should always be used and no reliance of the parking pawl should be used. This problem however I believe stems from the differences in driving in the US compared to the UK as we are required in our driving test to use the parking brake, and we have fewer automatics "although this is changing" than the US. The OP is either not shutting the car down and checking this before getting out of the car or the car has a serious problem. John (Britprius)
Absolutely correct. Did shut car down. Did not check it. Don't think the car has a serious problem, but I do think it operates differently than the 2010, which only required a stab of the power button to shut down. Perhaps I lifted my foot slightly off the brake as I hit the button and the car had some forward motion, disabling the power off? I would think I would have seen that before, though. Anyway, yes, even if you are in a hurry, confirm you are shut down or use park to be sure the car isn't going anywhere before you get out. I know that seems obvious, but if you are stressed or in a hurry, this car can run away. So just wanted to post it.
I don't think it's a software issue; either a defect, or maybe you just didn't push the button all the way in. I have once or twice given the button a quick tap, but apparently not enough to make contact, so nothing happened. I always use the parking brake and the park button, myself. Not using the button just felt weird to me.
I was informed by the salesman to be safe and always use Park before shutting down and that I should be in the habit of it anyway since I had to put my last car into Park to get the key out. He said they had an issue with a lady who didn't use the Park button, pushed the power button but didn't realize she hadn't shut the car off and ended up the car ran into her child. He said since that issue came up with one of their customers they have been very adamant about informing their customers to not take the short cut for precautionary measures and warn them what can occur.
My routing is to - * come to a stop * apply the parking brake * press button to power off * unbuckle and get out Parking brake is usually my first thing to set when stopping and last thing to release before 'setting off' as the Brits say. At home I like to see the display shut off and have a quick look at the total ODO miles.
How much time and trouble would it take to push the P button on the way to the power button? I mean what... An extra second? It'll take 60 times doing this to lose a minute. 3600 times to lose a hour. 86,400 times to lose a day. 1 second to possibly save a life. Just think if the person who was knocked by the door while it was rolling backwards stumbled and the car ran over the persons head... Or, the car rolled and ran over some child in the street. Or a little old lady out walking her cat? JUST PUSH THE DAMN P ALEADY!!!!
Something wrong with your power button? you should have that looked at. ive had my 2012 for 10 months now and never had the car "not shut off" after pushing the power button.
This morning I tried simply powering off my car without first pressing the Park button. Guess what? the park button was automatically activated.
If you are parking on an incline, you should ALWAYS use the manual parking break. Not just for the Prius, but any car. I know of an unfortunate issue where a friend parked on a downward sloping hill, did not apply their parking break and somehow, the park 'failed' and he came out of dinner to see his car rolled right into the car in front of him. These instances are of course, rare, but I don't take any chances any more. My ritual (2012 Prius III): 1. Right foot on break 2. Depress parking break with left foot. 3. Power off. 4. Check MPG's. I have never experienced what you are describing, but it would be a good habit to start using the parking break and checking for the 'shutdown' screen in the multi-information display. If that is not coming up, I would take the car in for service. Good luck!
batsai is absolutely correct here. Also be careful if your car has disc brakes all round and the handbrake works on the discs rather than separate drums as I've had a situation where I applied the handbrake and as the brakes cooled the pressure relieved and the car rolled. Fortunately it didn't roll far but after that I tended to leave it in gear as well as handbrake.
The parking brake on the Prius cars with discs all round have a separate drum brake for the parking mechanism. I do remember some Citroen's with the hand brake on the front wheels having this problem. John (Britprius)
Keep an eye on your speedometer next time you come to a stop. You most likely will see that the reading takes a fraction of a second to drop to zero after the car comes to a complete stop. This is because it's digital and the reading has to be averaged over several cycles before it can be displayed properly. If you're in a real hurry to stop and get out of the car, you might be punching that power button before the speedometer drops to zero. In that case, the car just might not power off. If you take the time to punch P before hitting the power button, the speedometer reading will have time to drop completely to zero and the car will shut off.
