Questions about shutting off a Hybrid

[Sampleman]

Hey guys,

I have two rather strange questions about my 2016 Yaris Hybrid with the keyless entry system and the start button.

When I switch on the car, I stomp my foot on the brake and push the button. The car boots its electronic circuits then it beeps once, the "Ready" light goes on and I can drive. When I want to switch off the car, I stop, put the transmission in park and press the start button. Now there are two scenarios: Either the car beeps once, then it shuts down. Or it shuts down immediately without beeping. Can anybody explain this?

The next thing: Waiting for a few minutes at a railroad crossing. On conventional cars, I simply switch off the ignition, so the engine dies. When the train has passed and the gates are lifting, I start the engine again. When I do this with my Yaris Hybrid, I simply could stop, set the shift lever to park - and do nothing. The engine will stop anyway, and aircondition and lights still operate. Or should I switch off the car entirely. What are the pro's and con's?

Best regards from Bavaria

Frank

[CPN]

To answer the 2nd part first, no you should not switch off at all. There are no cons to not switching off. The pros are that your air conditioning will maintain a constant temperature and if the engine needs to start to replenish the Battery, it can. The final pro is that you will be immediately ready to move off again without having to restart the system. Do not be tempted to put the car in neutral.

The only explanation I can come up with for the 1st part behaviour is, for example, if you open the door before switching off, the car will start to beep if you then switch off (while the door is open) and continue until you shut the door again. If you switch off before opening the door, it shouldn't beep at all.

[flash22]

the first part is normal - what colour is the key symbol ?

2nd part, you should only be in park if parked, Handbrake on, put it in neutral waiting it traffic - no need to turn the car off if you are in control

[Mick F]

Trouble with Neutral, is that there's no charging going on ................ but that really matter?

Personally, we find it easier to select Neutral than Park when stopped in traffic.  Also, the silly design of the reversing light means that when you move from Park to Drive, the reversing light comes on briefly which is very disconcerting to the vehicle behind. It would have been better to have a half-second delay on the reversing light or even to have Reverse in a different place so you don't have to pass through it on the way to Drive.

Neutral is far better.

Mick.

[rafletcher]

On 2/9/2020 at 9:24 AM, Mick F said:

 Also, the silly design of the reversing light means that when you move from Park to Drive, the reversing light comes on briefly which is very disconcerting to the vehicle behind. 

Every auto I've ever driven does this. But then, I just use the "hold" function or handbrake and leave the car in Drive.

[Mick F]

4 hours ago, rafletcher said:

Every auto I've ever driven does this. But then, I just use the "hold" function or handbrake and leave the car in Drive.

Yes, but with a Hybrid, people are interested in keeping the Battery topped up.

In D with the handbrake on, the car is still trying the drive forwards and therefore consumes power.  Difficult pointing downhill as the car is trying to move forwards so the handbrake need to be on hard. Don't even think about keeping your foot on the brake as it annoys the hell out of people like me being blinded by brake lights!!!!

When in N, the system doesn't charge at all but doesn't loose any either.  When in P, the system continues to charge.

The design of the car wants the driver to select P with handbrake on when stopped for any length of time in traffic.

Mick.

[Mick F]

PS:

Hybrids aren't auto.

They don't have a gearbox, so can't have an automatic one.

They have a (sort of) constant velocity drive system.

Mick.

[flash22]

They are automatic a Constant Variable Transmission (eCVT) Whats a direct drive that uses a planetary gear set to allow a 3 way power transmission - it contains gears in a box and it varies speed by changing ratio ergo its a gearbox

[Mick F]

Semantics I suppose.

"Auto" refers to a gearbox with gears that are changed automatically which is an automatic gearbox, as opposed to a manual gearbox that the driver changes the gears manually.

A hybrid doesn't have gears that are changed at all.  People consider anything without manual intervention to be "automatic".

Mick.

[HughA]

By that reckoning CVTs aren't automatic either!  My YARIS hybrid is certainly classed as automatic by the DVLA.

[Mick F]

Yep.  Agree.

The only two systems is Manual or Automatic.  That's traditionally the only way to describe cars despite the different systems this day and age.

Nowadays, there are electric vehicles and hybrids.  No doubt even an EV is described as automatic even though they are driven directly from an electric motor with no gears.

Some years ago, my late father-in-law had a Microcar.  Very light and small and it had a CVT system.  One stick with two positions = forward and reverse.  The engine drove the wheels via a steel belt on cones = no gearbox .............. very similar to the DAF Variomatic.   Both his Microcar and the DAF were described as automatic.

Mick.

[flash22]

A microcar as in the French city car they have gearboxes for final drive and reverse - I'm well accustomed to the 2 cylinder Lombardi engines and gearbox setups in the Microcar and Ligier

the Older microcars, are like they have been knocked up in some ones shed they are very quirky - old J.A.P and Villiers engines

[Mick F]

His Microcar was made by Reliant ........ if my memory serves me correctly.  If not Reliant, it was a British company, not French or foreign at all.

Wish I had a photograph of it.  It was late in his life, and he never passed a car test, only a motorbike test.  Me and Mrs Mick F married in 1973 and he had only just bought his fist Reliant Regal.  Before then, he had motorbikes and sidecars with Mrs Mick F's mother as pillion with their three daughters (Mrs Mick F is the middle daughter) in the sidecar.

He drove three-wheelers from 1973 onwards ..... Reliant Regals, Robins, and Rialtos.  It was a huge step for him to get on four wheels in the late 1990s into the Microcar and remember it well.  Certainly not a French car by the same name.

Mick.

[Graham47]

Wasn’t one of these was it ?
 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bond_Minicar

https://www.lancasterinsurance.co.uk/news/2019/august/06/seventy-years-of-the-bond-the-original-british-minicar/

https://www.carolenash.com/insideclassics/remembering-appeal-bond-minicar/

I remember them well,  many ‘motorcyclists’ moved onto them as they had families, wages improved and couldn’t handle sidecars.

[Mick F]

No, it had four wheels.

The name "Microcar" seems to ring a bell, but it was two separate words, and there was some sort of logo on the front.  Father-in-Law didn't have it long as Mother-in-Law went into a home and he became ill.  Both elderly folk by then.

The car was sold back to the dealer he bought it from.  Humfrey Moon seems to ring a bell.  This is going back to the mid 1990s or so.

https://hwmoon.toyota.co.uk

I see the company has come up in the world!  It was a small dealership in Eccleston, Lancs when I remember it.

Mick.

[Gerg]

I stumbled across this site years ago:-

http://www.microcarmuseum.com/tourindex.html

Maybe this'll jog your memory? 

[flash22]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcar_(brand)

Sold via ex reliant dealers, the virgo was the common one (uses Corsa B 5 door rear lights) there are were 3-4 well known dealers Keygate motors (now changed hands and relocated, Michaels of Selby and a place in Southend

[Mick F]

Seems familiar but all this is past when I remember. though the shape is correct. http://www.micro-car.co.uk/mc1.php This is fine, but five or six years too late perhaps.

Whatever, the issue still remains.  Manual or Automatic?  A car is manual when you have to change gear manually.  4sp, 5sp or 6sp ......... and in the old days 3sp.  Take your driving test in a manual car and you're fine.

A car is automatic when the car changes gear automatically.  3sp, 4sp, 5sp and 6sp automatic gearboxes and with a torque converter to get you going from standstill.  Take your driving test in an automatic and you aren't licensed to drive a manual car.

Go into the future ...................... EVs aren't automatic, but they aren't manual either.  Take your test in an EV and you won't be licensed to drive a petrol/diesel manual car.  Question remains if you are licensed to drive an automatic petrol/diesel car ................ but an automatic petrol/diesel is very different to an EV car.

Mick.

 

[Sampleman]

I'd like to come back to my questions. First, the beep tone - or no beep tone - when switching off the car. It seems that it has something to do with the key. Sometimes the key symbol in the left gauge of the cockpit shines yellow, and sometimes it shines green. The car has a keyless entry system. Does it seem reasonable to you that sometimes the car cannot detect the key (maybe because it is in the pocket of my jacket, and the jacket is in the trunk)? Apart from this beep sound, I have never encountered any problems with the keyless entry system.

And about the right procedure of handling the car during stops in traffic, which last several minutes: Can it do harm to the car when it sits there for a quarter of an hour with the Hybrid system activated? Coming from a conventional car, this seems odd to me.


Best regards from Bavaria
Frank

[Mick F]

59 minutes ago, Sampleman said:

I'd like to come back to my questions. ..............

And about the right procedure of handling the car during stops in traffic, which last several minutes: Can it do harm to the car when it sits there for a quarter of an hour with the Hybrid system activated? Coming from a conventional car, this seems odd to me.


Best regards from Bavaria
Frank

Hi Frank.

Sorry for hijacking this thread!

During stops in traffic, put your foot on the brake and select Park and set the handbrake ........... then remove your foot off the brake.

 Stay like that for as long as you like AND with the system active too.

When ready for the off, press the brake pedal, select Drive, release the handbrake and then release the footbrake, and off you go. Move faster by pressing the accelerator pedal.

Mick.