Pushing The Start Button Whilst On The Move

[kevin h]

Wow,

Had a bit of a scare this morning in my Gen3, driving along and accidently pushed the Start button, got a beep and then found I could not accelerate.

The car had gone into neutral but I hadn’t realised. (Son said my face went a white as a sheet, thought I'd broke it)

Pulled to a stop, looked around and realised what had happened.

So, if the accelerator sticks (Not very likely, but some americans needed to know this some months ago)push the start button, brake and come to a stop.

:)

[Grumpy Cabbie]

The car will go into neutral if you press park whilst driving above 8 mph too. I pressed it by mistake instead of 'Auto' for the a/c when doing about 50 mph! If you press park below 8 mph I think it will still try and engage park - probably with a bang unless you are completely stationary. Same thing happens if you try to engage 'Reverse' at speed too.

Also if you press and hold 'Power' for either 3 or maybe 5 seconds you will switch the car off! Not recommened as your steering and brakes with be very hard to use, but it is good to know for an emergency.

[timberwolf]

The Toyota engineers have tried to protect the car technology from user errors, e.g. trying to put the car into reverse whilst going forward at speed.

Also if you press and hold 'Power' for either 3 or maybe 5 seconds you will switch the car off! Not recommended as your steering and brakes with be very hard to use, but it is good to know for an emergency.

But that protection doesn't apply to Grumpy's 2nd paragraph (shown above), if you force the power off, you could damage the Prius transmission.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

For sure. I certainly wouldn't recommend you try it, other than in an emergency situations where you have no other option.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

Just been thinking about it, if you press and hold the button for 3 seconds it will shut down the car and switch it off. Well, we know that when we switch the car off normally it puts the car in park. Do this when driving and I guess you'll end up with cogs all over the road. Not recommended.

If your accelerator has stuck, your brakes have burnt out and you're zooming up fast to a cliff, then it's worth a go I guess.

[flow]

Ok, who's going to be the first person to try pushing down the foot operated handbrake whilst driving ? :D

[ian rooke]

Hi just a thought why not put the car in neutral and when the car is stopped push the start button for 3 seconds or am I just being thick.

[johalareewi]

Ok, who's going to be the first person to try pushing down the foot operated handbrake whilst driving ? :D

Already done that! You get lots of beeping noises and red lights on the MFD.