Mistakenly left Prius Prime on (but in park) in a parking lot for about an hour while grabbing breakfast. HVAC was off and the car was in EV mode. Besides obviously being stupid and potentially letting someone drive away with it, any harm likely done?
Chances are a thief would not know how to drive it. Kind of like those thieves who try to steal a stick drive and give up.
No problems. The Prime was on (in READY mode) so it can take care of itself for many hours until it runs out of gas. It will use gas to run the ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) to generate electricity for main traction battery as it gets used to keep the computer and lights running. I have yet to hear of a Prius driven away by a thief, but I would love to hear the thief's reaction when they turn the car off and realize that this is where the Prius will stay now because you don't have the key FOB. Also see this report of using Prius as house power generator in outage here post #6; I left my Prius c on all night ?? | PriusChat "Exactly. My C was on for 54 hours straight after Sandy, and I took a hit on the mileage for that tank, but there were no other effects."
It is intended for continuous highway speed runs far longer than that. Sitting idle in a parking lot is a much lower stress condition with cooler system temperatures.
As mentioned, they get used as generators during power outages. They are also popular for people who want to sleep in air conditioning when traveling or camping but don't want a hotel.
so... that's basically LA or NYC traffic (e.g. sitting still for an hour). I wouldn't worry about it at all.
With the power left on, I hear an audible alarm when opening the door and exiting the car. Did you not hear that? I also cannot lock the doors when the power is still on. Did you leave your Prime unlocked?
Yes, the reason I noticed was I expected to hear the unlock beep when I put my hand behind the door handle, but it was already unlocked, and once I got in, saw all the screens were on and such. I must have missed the warning beeps when I left it on from being in a rush! Lesson learned at any rate
When I open the door with power left on, there is one long continuous audible alarm sound. I like that feature.
I did it in my Gen 3 when I parked in a rush to get to a loud street festival. Came back about an hour or so later at dusk and saw the headlights still on, "OH NO!" but it was fine and luckily not tampered with. As you say, lesson learned.
Ouch! The long beep means you left it in gear. Three beeps means the car is still ON, but in Park. When it's hot and I'll only be in a store for a half hour or so, I leave the car (AC) ON. Lock all the doors with the switch on the door, get out (unlocks driver door), and then lock the driver door with the mechanical key. Come back later to a fully air conditioned car. Costs some gas, but it's worth it.
Starship has a 2016. Beeps may be different from a Gen 2. Only way to get out with it on and in gear and not know it would be with the parking brake set. Otherwise your car will be moving when your foot hits the ground. Unless it hits something before you get your foot on the ground.
Throw the pie in my face!! Rob is right. I hear the long continuous alarm when I open the door and it's not in park (with power still on.) Thankfully I think I've only done that one time. With the park button set, I open the door and there is no alarm whatsoever. I didn't hear the alarm until I went to touch the door handle to lock it. Got back in the car and the screen said, "turn power off." I stand corrected. (Prius rookie.)