Sometimes when I pull into a parking space I may be listening to something on my radio that I don't want to stop listening to. As such, I'll put my car into Park with the Park button, engage the parking break and just sit there and listen. It occurs to me that, in the old ICE days when my car was idling, I would NEVER do that. For lots of different reasons, not just burning of gasoline. So, I'm wondering, is it okay to do that after you've parked your Prius, or should I go through the Power Off and then hit the Power button (no foot on brake) to fire up the accessory mode? I sometimes don't want to miss anything on the radio though, so I don't really want to do that. Is there any potential harm or damage or wear I'm putting on the car if I don't shut it off and hit the button again? Seems to me I'm wearing down the Power button needlessly!
I read somewhere on this forum to not put it in Accessory Mode because it would deplete the 12V battery faster if I'm not mistaken, but to put it on ON (hitting the button twice w/o pressing the brake so the ICE doesn't engage later). I've always wondered what was the best thing to do as I'm usually the driver and my family does a quick run to the grocery store or post office...
You have it right. ICE will fire up to keep the 12 volt battery charged up. If you put it into Acc mode, the battery could discharge and when you want to depart, your Prius may not start. (It happened to me - once).
Leave it in Park, just don't forget to turn the car off when you leave. This is easier to do in a Prius since the ICE probably won't be running as you exit. This ensures you won't deplete your 12 volt battery and get yourself stranded.
If it is less than one hour, my recommendation is switching to the accessory mode. The system automatically trun off the accessory mode after one hour. (page-165 of owner's manual) Prius consumes more than 200W electric power in ready mode and less than 30W only for listening the radio (without truning on headlights) in accessory mode. Therefore, we need more fuel to recover the charge level in ready mode than the accessory mode. Ken@Japan
At work I will sit in my car at lunch and listen to Xm. I let the car warm up,need the heater its winter here in MN. than I put it in EV mode, seems to work for me!!
I have a question that might be explained in the manual when I don't remember if or how to do this. When the system is in Ready mode and sitting Park, is there a way to transition to Accessory Mode other than turning the car off and then on again (with foot off the brake of course)?
Not that I have found, I think the only way is what you described. Go completely off then to accessory.
funny how the non-electronic shifter cars (e.g. Camry XLE, IS, ES etc etc), you can shift into N before pressing the POWER button to switch to ACC. Can't do that in the Prius.
