Driving Without The Key?

[AEB-UK]

Hi,

Picked up my gen 3 Prius last Thursday - still getting used to it.

Today I started the car, got out to lock the garage, and noticed the engine didn't stop.

As an experiment I gave the key to my other half at the house door, whilst I got back into the car and reversed out of my drive, turned around in the road opposite (approx. 50m away) before returning to the driveway.

I expected the engine to cut-out since the dash was flashing "no key detected", but it didn't.

My question is, how far or for how long can the car be driven without the key inside the vehicle?

[timberwolf]

Until you run out petrol or manually power off the Prius.

If you were on the motorway in the outside lane and the key fob died, do you really want the car to switch off because it can no longer detect the key fob?

[Jan&tone]

Welcome to TOC

How far can the car be driven without the key in the car?

Depends how much petrol there is in it! But.... The thief won't be able to start it again if he turns it off....

I get the car out of the garage on electric, to do which you get in, put your foot on the brake and push the power button to start the car. If you push the EV button within about 10 seconds, the ice won't start up which means that anyone walking past won't know that it's started and ready to go 'cos the engine isn't running!

Enjoy the car!

[AEB-UK]

A good point about the dying fob - thanks.

Until you run out petrol or manually power off the Prius.

If you were on the motorway in the outside lane and the key fob died, do you really want the car to switch off because it can no longer detect the key fob?

[AEB-UK]

Thanks for the reply.

I thought about the possibility of a tealeaf taking the car whilst I was away from it for a few seconds, so I thought the proximty key feature might stop this thievery.

However, the reply from timberwolf makes sense, although if there was a 5 minute delay before shutting down this would allow for some safe manoevering off the motorway, and prevent a thief from getting too far should he take the car.

Good tip about the EV mode though, thanks.

Welcome to TOC

How far can the car be driven without the key in the car?

Depends how much petrol there is in it! But.... The thief won't be able to start it again if he turns it off....

I get the car out of the garage on electric, to do which you get in, put your foot on the brake and push the power button to start the car. If you push the EV button within about 10 seconds, the ice won't start up which means that anyone walking past won't know that it's started and ready to go 'cos the engine isn't running!

Enjoy the car!

[Opifex]

I get the car out of the garage on electric, to do which you get in, put your foot on the brake and push the power button to start the car. If you push the EV button within about 10 seconds, the ice won't start up ......

Does this work every time? When I try to use EV to move the car a few feet, more often than not all I get is a bleep and a message saying EV is not available. It seems to do this even if there are three or four bars left on the Battery meter.

[Jan&tone]

I get the car out of the garage on electric, to do which you get in, put your foot on the brake and push the power button to start the car. If you push the EV button within about 10 seconds, the ice won't start up ......

Does this work every time? When I try to use EV to move the car a few feet, more often than not all I get is a bleep and a message saying EV is not available. It seems to do this even if there are three or four bars left on the Battery meter.

You must push the EV button within 10 seconds of pushing the power button. If the car is in the garage then the routine is

Get in, foot on footbrake, push start button, push EV button. Takes longer to type it than do it!!

Then drop it into either D or R and GENTLY depress the go-go pedal and all will be revealed

[Opifex]

Yep, I do that. The only delay is while I grope to find the EV button in a dark garage - can't imagine it's more than a second or two. The message comes up before I select D.

[Jan&tone]

Yep, I do that. The only delay is while I grope to find the EV button in a dark garage - can't imagine it's more than a second or two. The message comes up before I select D.

Strange that, mine works every time... Even yesterday when i got it out of the garage to wash it... And again when i put it back....

Going to use it for work tomorrow so will try it again, but its worked every time for the last 6 months!!

[DrCez]

Yep, I do that. The only delay is while I grope to find the EV button in a dark garage - can't imagine it's more than a second or two. The message comes up before I select D.

Strange that, mine works every time... Even yesterday when i got it out of the garage to wash it... And again when i put it back....

Going to use it for work tomorrow so will try it again, but its worked every time for the last 6 months!!

I also make use of the "forced EV" all the time, it's a really neat feature if you just want to move the car and know you won't be needing to warm up the engine, although IIRC it is not mentioned in the owner's manual. You have to be fairly quick to press EV after Start, I don't know if you have as much as 10 seconds but there is a window of several seconds (it may depend what mood the car is in - see below).

Evidently the Prius checks the state of the HV Battery before it decides if it will let you go straight into EV mode, but the state of charge of the Battery is not the only consideration. You definitely need at least three bars lit, possibly more, but there are other factors, an obvious one is temperature (if the Battery is too cold it will not let you go to EV), and the climate control should be switched off (Auto button not lit) otherwise the petrol engine will be needed to make heat for the cabin.

I like the fact that my Prius had different moods depending on a multitude of factors - when I press start, sometimes it fires up the petrol engine immediately, other times it can be several seconds before the engine starts up (or even longer if the engine is still warm), sometimes it will let you go into EV immediately, other times not. I have learned to trust her judgement (my car is definitely female): I can ask her to do things like go into EV mode, but it's her prerogative to say "no".