Sitting in traffic queue.

[WOODWAYS6]

If you know that you are going to be sitting for quite a while in stationary traffic.is it ok to press the button to take the car out of gear.To give the leg a rest.? I know its a no no for a normal auto gearbox car.

[CPN]

Of course it is ok (move the shift lever to "P"), why would it not be?

[Joseph D]

I do it all the time.  Apply the parking brake and put it in neutral.  I prefer N so I can just slip it into D with my foot ready to press the 'go' pedal.  If you put it in P, then you need to put your foot on the brake to move from P to D.  At least in the Gen II it works that way, might be different in the Gen 4. You just have to use judgement as the Battery will not charge if it is N, so make sure there is plenty of charge.

In any case, you won't do any harm; the eCVT PSD (Power Split Device) is quite different from a regular auto-box.

[CPN]

@Joseph D If you put it into "N" and not "P", the ICE will not be able to charge the HV Battery if it is needed.

[Joseph D]

@CPN, yes, I am aware of that. That is why I added the judgement call after reading my post back.  It's never caught me out in all the years I've been driving my Prius.

[WOODWAYS6]

6 hours ago, CPN said:

Of course it is ok (move the shift lever to "P"), why would it not be?

Thanks

[Cyker]

See if yours has a BRAKE HOLD button - It's my 2nd favourite widget in my Mk4 Yaris  

When that's on, you can take your foot off the brake pedal, AFTER coming to a COMPLETE stop (Important that!!), and the car will hold the footbrake for you!  

I always do that now, then have my foot ready on the accelerator

And the system is smart - If the brake hold is on and e.g. someone crashes into the back of you, the AEB will trigger and brake even harder to try and stop the car being shunted forward (I know this first hand sadly!)

 

[CPN]

The thing that I don't like about the "HOLD" function is that it keeps the brake lights shining away all the time it is on and I consider that a bit impolite to the guy behind; especially at night... ('cause I don't like it in front of me! )

[Cyker]

Yeah that was my gripe with it - In my previous cars, which were all manual, I'd handbrake+neutral whenever I stopped. Usually the only car with no brake lights on in a given block of traffic  

In the hybrid it's more awkward to do that between the tiny handbrake switch and the consequences of being in neutral for too long, and the brake hold is just so convenient and much faster than the handbrake, so I just caved in and joined the sea of brakelight zombies  

[Roker]

12 hours ago, WOODWAYS6 said:

If you know that you are going to be sitting for quite a while in stationary traffic.is it ok to press the button to take the car out of gear.To give the leg a rest.? I know its a no no for a normal auto gearbox car.

I switch the HOLD on which allows me to start and stop in traffic ques by CV 

[Primus1]

My routine is , push start, push auto hold then seatbelt then drive off, it’s second nature for me to press the auto hold, as for the brake lights on…good..it’s about time I had some payback for all the years I’ve had my retinas burnt out sitting in a queue with the car in front of me brake lights ablaze….

[AndrueC]

29 minutes ago, Cyker said:

In the hybrid it's more awkward to do that between the tiny handbrake switch and the consequences of being in neutral for too long, and the brake hold is just so convenient and much faster than the handbrake, so I just caved in and joined the sea of brakelight zombies  

I joined the cult earlier than that. My previous car was a Honda Jazz CVT with idle stop - the engine could switch off when you were stationary.

However for some reason Honda designed it such that on the automatic version the engine only stayed off while you kept the foot brake depressed. Since I felt the feature was a step in the right direction of saving fuel and reducing pollution I had no choice other than to keep my foot brake depressed.

One thing I could never fathom about this: You could select N or P and the engine would remain off (if you kept the foot brake pressed). It then would restart when the gear lever was moved to D or R. So if it had a switch to detect that why did Honda require us to keep the foot brake pressed?

On the manual version the engine restarted when you depressed the clutch and if you lifted off the brake pedal with the handbrake on it didn't restart. So those drivers were 'allowed' to select neutral and take their foot off the brake.

Anyway that was the point where the habit set in with me. That plus the fact that everyone else does it anyway making those who don't somewhat less visible meant I gave in.

Brake Hold is a boon to me - I just wish I didn't have to keep activating it every time I start the car.

[Sharnie70]

3 hours ago, Cyker said:

See if yours has a BRAKE HOLD button - It's my 2nd favourite widget in my Mk4 Yaris  

Just wondering what your first favourite widget is??

[Cyker]

The Head-Up Display!!!   

I still can't believe you could option a proper HUD in a small B-segment car like a Yaris!  

 

[Primus1]

9 hours ago, Sharnie70 said:

Just wondering what your first favourite widget is??

The one in a can of boddingtons…?

[TonyHSD]

Honestly keeping your foot on the brake should become mandatory and Highway Code need change . 
This is so important for your safety especially if you are last car at the queue.  
 

[mpm235]

I certainly do it. Traffic stops dead. Press the P button, then when traffic starts moving again, snick the gear lever to D. Job done, no worries. (did it on the M1 on Wednesday tea time, traffic was stopped dead for several minutes) 

[Roker]

On 7/24/2024 at 8:48 AM, WOODWAYS6 said:

If you know that you are going to be sitting for quite a while in stationary traffic.is it ok to press the button to take the car out of gear.To give the leg a rest.? I know its a no no for a normal auto gearbox car.

The easiest way is to press the hold switch and the car will automatically release the hand brake when you press the accelerator and apply the hand brake every time you stop continuously until the hold is switch off

[Saxmaniac]

13 hours ago, mpm235 said:

I certainly do it. Traffic stops dead. Press the P button, then when traffic starts moving again, snick the gear lever to D. Job done, no worries. (did it on the M1 on Wednesday tea time, traffic was stopped dead for several minutes) 

Slight problem with that is that for one thing you are using the parking pawl a lot more than otherwise which might cause wear on it and the motor long term. Also, if some muppet runs into the back of you, the damage to the transmission will be somewhat expensive!

[mpm235]

1 hour ago, Saxmaniac said:

Slight problem with that is that for one thing you are using the parking pawl a lot more than otherwise which might cause wear on it and the motor long term. Also, if some muppet runs into the back of you, the damage to the transmission will be somewhat expensive!

Yes, good point 

[Cyker]

2 hours ago, Saxmaniac said:

Slight problem with that is that for one thing you are using the parking pawl a lot more than otherwise which might cause wear on it and the motor long term. Also, if some muppet runs into the back of you, the damage to the transmission will be somewhat expensive!

As long as you're not the last person in the line it'll be okay - Even I will press my foot on the brakes to give anyone behind me no excuse to have not seen me if I'm at the back and on a fast road!

Also that's why I was making such a big deal out of the EPB being tied into P in the newer cars - Having the rear brakes locked as well greatly reduces the stress on the parking pawl, whereas before it was often holding the whole car on its own until the driver manually activated the EPB!

 

[WOODWAYS6]

20 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

Honestly keeping your foot on the brake should become mandatory and Highway Code need change . 
This is so important for your safety especially if you are last car at the queue.  
 

Makes sense

[TonyHSD]

Just foot on brake and if you are about to stay longer than 2 minutes then select P and apply parking brake. , but you need to make sure you aren’t the last car on the queue and traffic behind its stationary. 
Trust me what I see on the uk motorways its scary, last time two families didn’t go home and two cars were welded together. Glad I have no cameras in the car and probably never gonna have one, I don’t want to remember these scenes or record them on anything.