Shifted into Park in Automatic Car Wash

I had my Prius c hit from behind today at the automatic car wash. The roller pushing the car though slipped right in the wheel causing the car behind mine to hit it leaving 2 small dings in my 10 month old car. The car wash owner is going to pay to have it fixed but I'm so upset. Is it something with hybrids and auto car washes or my bad luck?

 

This situation was not dangerous to the occupants, just a cause for minor property damage. The locking out engine operation is meant for other dangerous situations where human health and life is at risk.

 

Sorry, but that is one tap dance I would not recommend.

 

Maybe I'm not thinking this through but what is the purpose of the car shifting from neutral to park when the battery is low?

What if you were going 60 MPH down a mountain in neutral and the battery was low and shifted into Park? I'm sure someone will say don't do that.

Wonder if this persons situation was a malfunction or is the car designed to go from neutral to park?

I guess make sure the battery has plenty of bars and shut off th AC when you go to the car wash or wash it yourself or use the service where they come to your car and wash it while it is parked.

 

Gen 2 instructions.

To shift into neutral and keep it there without any chance of the engine starting, do the following:

1. Insert the FOB (not necessary if you have SE/SS).
2. Without stepping on the brake pedal, press the "Power" button twice.
3. Use the lever to shift in the Neutral position.

 

Wait let me get this straight-
In summary: If you are in neutral and your battery goes too low (from lights, ac, radio, whatever) the car automatically flips to "P"?

This seems crazy but seems to be what is being said here

 

Could you have put it in drive just to avoid being hit?

 

Seems so clearly dangerous, you have to wonder.

 

What?

OP quote:
I could not put the transmission in P(ark) because that would have stopped the car on the moving belt.


And no one's blaming anyone. And nothing damaging or dangerous except Auto car washes. Op was not aware of the neutral engine issue. He is now.

 

Seems crazy and I've never heard of this. Notice the OP posted and hasn't been seen since the day he potsed (on Thursday)? And, he posted in the wrong forum to start...

If I had to go thru an automatic car wash, I'd make sure the AC compressor is off (no AC, no defrost). If the HV battery looked low, I'd probably force charge it first by using both pedals.

Interesting, I'll have to give that a shot. I've never reason to do that. That puts the car in IG-ON mode but I've never tried shifting from IG-ON.

Don't know but I suspect user error. Perhaps the OP forgot to press the brake pedal while pushing power.

 

This should be easy to test.... shift to neutral, blast the AC, turn on the radio and headlights until the main battery runs down and see what happens.

 

Proxy replied:

Wonder no more. If you think a bit more about the PSD (Power Split Device) at the heart of this hybrid system, it is impossible to be truly in Neutral and still run the ICE for charging. If there is torque on the ICE and MG1 (generator) shafts, there will also be torque on the MG2/drive shaft, defeating the entire purpose of the Neutral selection.

To charge, the MG2/drive shaft must have some source of countertorque. In Park, the parking pawl supplies it. In any active propulsion gear, the combination of tire traction & vehicle inertia plus the active drive of MG2 provides it. If MG2 is not actively driven in some fashion, then there will be some propulsive torque reaching the wheels, creating a dangerous situation for people and property. Putting some active drive onto MG2 might be able to counter this, but is problematic and defeats the fail-safe purpose of Neutral.

With the existing hardware, when the battery gets too low, the only humanly safe choices for the car to do are to let the battery die, or put itself into Park. Neutral charging requires some hardware changes. Possibilities including adding a clutch between between MG2 and the wheels, or adding an MG3 on the ICE shaft. A lot of expense for little return.

 

I'd make sure the battery SOC is high before arriving at the car wash, and make sure to not let AC or other loads drain it while waiting in line. Force charging should be a good move if the battery is discovered low while still waiting, before being loaded on the conveyor.

If a low battery warning occurs while I'm on the conveyor inside the wash, and all loads and accessories are already off, I'd consider putting the car into Drive, and lightly applying the brake to best flow with the conveyor. But this is not without risk, so making sure the battery starts with sufficient charge is highly recommended.

 

I think it would be best to just avoid these types of car washes with a Prius.

 

Gotta wash the car...frequently...knowing the bug in the controls...just shift into Drive in the unusual circumstance of the battery dying.

 

Last Summer I posted about going through the car wash when the warning lights came on, though the car did not shut down or go into park. I was very nervous being only half way through. The AC, stereo and headlights were on, but I quickly turned them off. After exiting and shifting into drive the warning lights instantly extinguished and vehicle fully recharged within a few blocks. This forum quickly pointed out this "Neutral bug" and a call to my Dealership"s Service Department confirmed this. I now just make sure all accessories are off prior to arriving and there are at least 4 or 5 bars showing before entering the tunnel. Has never happened since. I understand the reasoning for this fail-safe and just racked it up to learning the "new cars technology". Fortunate for me, my battery state was not as low as the OP's. Notice of this in the owners manual by Toyota would be appropriate, as this type of car wash is very common. But that's just my opinion.

 

This will only happens if you are under a few MPH ...

This was discussed in several other posts this was the same with Gen II unfortunately the OP have not heard about this.

You can check if the car shuts off either by driver pushes the button or car battery low and is it in neutral (ICE WILL NOT START that point ICE is separated from drive train). It will go to park first !

So you should NEVER go on those car washer which pulls the car while wheels turning ... last few carwash I used, actually pulled to car in parked mode the wheels are stationary and then attendant start the car and drives it OFF from the thingy ... I check this for this reason...

 

But could have put it into Drive to avoid the problems that resulted from car going in Park.

The Toyota warning was wrong and should have said Shift to Drive or Park. A good case to recover costs to your car and damaged caused to others cars.

 

When a car wash attendant gets trapped between two vehicles there will likely be a major safety recall.

 

To the OP - How was the vehicle started after this event?

"· “Auto Power Off To Conserve Battery” : The “Power was turned off due to the automatic power off function.” The car’s power system (motor) turned off. The car’s wheels were stopped. I tried to start it, and it did not respond.

· Meantime the automatic car wash line continued to move underneath my stopped car. As a result, the car wash belt dragged the car behind me so as to hit my Prius from behind.

Any ideas as to why this occurred and how to avoid it in the future (other than to avoid automatic car washes?)"