parking is automatically set when the vehicle is shut off if in drive. no need for you to do it yourself. the parking gear will hold the car on a fairly steep incline too. although, i would not want to put undue strain on the system. so set the parking brake on a hill.
I tried to reproduce the problem. After several attempts, I managed to get it to come up again. One problem - I didn't have a pen in the car. In order to get a pen, I had to put it into park which cleared the message. I don't have a camera so I cannot take a picture. One other thing that I noticed when the error came up this time. The red dashboard indicator with the exclamation mark in the triangle was lit. Here is what I remembered by the time I got the back to the computer. "Caution! turning the vehicle off without first pressing the park button will cause the battery to not charge...". I'll play around with it some more to see if I can get it to happen again. Here is how I got it to happen this time (and pretty much the same way the first time): - drove around the block, stopped and pressed power to turn the car off. - got out of the car, shut the door, and waited for about 2 minutes. - Got back in the car, pressed power, and put the car into reverse. Moved the car back about 3 feet. - Put the car in "D". This is when the message appeared. My vehicle is a 2004 BC #9 package. VIN #JTDKB20U340114890.
i think you're making it up "Caution! turning the vehicle off without first pressing the park button will cause the battery to not charge...". "cause the battery to not charge" - isn't even good english, unlike the rest of the messages the car spits out.
Roger, You can blame the bad English on me. I think that I have figured this out. When I moved the car both times, the drivers door may not have been closed tightly as I was only moving it about three feet. If the vehicle is turned off by pressing the power button AND the door isn't closed tight enough, the owners manual says that the transaxle will shift into neutral and the hybrid system won't shut down. I tried this once again with the door slightly ajar and got the message BUT it does say that the car is in park not neutral on the dashboard indicator. If you press the power button to turn off the vehicle, make sure that the drivers door is closed tightly otherwise the hybrid system won't shut down. The message does mention that it will drain your battery.
Considering that I never drive with my door ajar and never open the door until I power down would explain why I've never seen that message. I'll try to reproduce it and photograph it for archives. BTW, you really should get a camera...you can get an OK 2MP digital that'll make nice 4x6 prints and is fun for documenting little things just like this for well under $100 with a memory card. Shooting photos and puting them on the 'net costs you nothing and you can just have prints made of the ones you want. Christmas is coming....
something else is wrong with your car. you should be able to reproduce any procedural error every time you make a procedural error.
If I read this thread correctly, there is a different effect on the hybrid system (that is, it doesn't shut off) if the driver's door is open when the Power button is pushed to attempt to turn the car off. Would this in part explain the misfortune that befell one of our members recently? He used valet parking and found the battery very low when his car was returned, despite many instructions to the parking attendant. He thought they had forgotten to turn the car off. I have seen many parking employees drive with the driver's door open (not my style). If they then attempt to power down the Prius, the hybrid system will not shut off. Right?
ive tried to shut down the car with the door open and i dont see what has been reported here. i dont have SS/SE so that might make a difference.
I was able to get that warning simply by opening the driver door while the car was still in 'D'. I don't understand why it gives an 'N' warning, as the car was still in 'D' when I opened the door, as per the HUD. It should instead say 'Hey stupid, don't get out of the car until you put the car in park, or at least apply the parking brake'
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(wacko999\";p=\"44431)</div> After the controversy from Wacko's complete mis-read and mis-representation of the caution screen and what it says and what it means I went out and caught a shot of the screen he surely was looking at (below). It is 2 DIFFERENT warnings (you can tell b/c they are seperate sentences in different colors): 1)To use P when parking 2)That if the car is left running in N that the battery won't charge. They are not the same, nor are they about the same thing. Neither are do they have ANYTHING to do with just pushing the Power button to go into park when shutting down. It is completely, 100% safe to just press the Power button without going into Park first.
umm I don't see any link to a photo. oh, wait, It appeared. I went and tried it and the wording is different on mine! ... [Broken External Image]:http://www.roger.id.au/images/prius/board/warn.jpg I guess they corrected the english, because batteries don't charge, they get charged, and you don't 'shift' anything into range 'P', you press a button.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(roger\";p=\"45053)</div> Your car warns you in the Australian dialect of English and our cars speak American English. Yes, there are differences.
It isn't that there are differences, one is correct and one isn't Good english is the same in both our countries. Besides, the shifting something into range 'P' is just wrong. nothing to do with english there. :mrgreen: - heh, if it has anything to do with dialect, then we must be more polite, cos it says "please" hehehe
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(roger\";p=\"45128)</div> Just like driving on the wrong side of the road. Right is right and left is wrong.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(roger\";p=\"45128)</div> What's wrong with calling it 'shifting'?? You can 'shift' with a button, or a slider, or a foot pedal (ala motorcycles). In any case you are changing/shifting from one gear to another.
pretty much because in the prius, you don't shift anything. You press a button. I do not know, the wording on yours seems all messed up to me. Compare: "Shift the position into range P when parking" or "Please press P to engage park"
