I'm sure you all heard by now about the latest incident. another Toyota(Prius) that went out of control. let's assume neutral and pressing the start button 3sec did not work. would having the key fob out of the effective vicinity kill the engine?
I am pretty sure that this would NOT work. The reason is as follows. One day I drove the Prius, thinking I had my key fob in my pocket. I dropped my wife off at the store and drove away to do an errand. A few seconds after she walked away, the Prius showed an error message that the key was out of range. The key that had actually started the car that day was the one in her purse, not my key, which was at home. I could and did continue to drive the car successfully. I suspect that if I stopped and shut off the car that it would NOT restart as the key fob was out of range, but I didn't test that. Hope this helps...
Do people really forgot how to drive these days? Press firmly on brake to stop the car? Or Toyota does not include brake pedals anymore in their car?
It will definitely NOT work on a 2nd gen. If you think about it, it'd a serious safety issue if it did. Imagine losing fob battery power or communication w/the fob and the car shuts down? Correct. Car will continue running w/o key present but if turned off, if there's no key in the car (and not in the slot of the 2nd gen either), it will not restart. My salesman when he went over the basics of the car at time of pickup specifically talked about this scenario and showed me the beeps and yellow key light. It's really a shame it sounds like your salesman didn't go over this w/you.
Think of the Smart Key system as giving the car permission to start. Once the car is started, the key is no longer needed. There are stories of people being dropped off at the airport and having the key in their pocket. For example, husband drives to the airport, gets out and wife drives home. She gets home, goes to put the keys on the key hook and for the life of her can't find the keys. Husband calls from three states away and starts the conversation with, "guess what I have."
i didn't think Prius drivers are smart nice person, too! i guess there are always exceptions to the rule...