Jumpy Transmission 2006 Prius

My Prius rolls a little after I put it in park, but not all the time. I'm guessing it just depends where the parking pawl is when it engages and how much of an incline you're on. Try it with your friend's a few more times on slight inclines, his may have just been lucky.

 

I dont know, mines a bit jumpy too when its switching between modes and it definitely rocks when I put in into park sometimes too - heck sometimes it moves forward a few inches on its own when the ICE starts and its in park.

I have a 2007 with 80k miles and have changed the "trans" fluid twice. Im just saying, mine has been maintained well and it still does it. You might have nothing to worry about here.

 

The transmission is unlike any other, it's cvt (constant variable transmission) characteristics don't allow any rough shifts, in your case, the ice(internal combustion engine) is starting and stopping roughly, could be a dirty spark plug, could be a dirty maf(mass airflow sensor), if it's a Toyota certified, take it to the dealer, if not ask here on the forum for a good shop in your area, should be a few.

 

I believe every gen2 car I've been into does this when the ice engine starts. You feel it most in the morning when the car is cold and the engine starts.

 

The smoothness of the gasoline engine start/stops depends a lot on which warm-up stage the system is in. In the first warm-up stages, the start-stops of the engine are pretty pronounced but they get much smoother once the system is warmed up.

The parking pawl does have a fair bit of play built in. Both our 2007s have quite a bit of rock when they're in park on a surface with just a little bit of slope.

 

I'm glad I read this thread as I've been having some issues or what I thought were issues as well. From time to time when I'm sitting still and the ICE starts the car nudges forward. Not a lot, but it has been making me uneasy thinking something is really wrong with my car. I have issues too when I'm driving and the ICE starts there is a bit of a hiccup as it transitions to the ICE. So it sounds like my transmission is operating normally. One other area is when I'm driving along sometimes it feels like the transmission is shifting gears even though I know it doesn't have any. Is that normal or am I being a hypochondriac? I've changed my transmission fluid about 5,000 miles ago with AWS. It's probably nothing.

 

Just a reminder, this is a single speed transmission with the clutch always released. Nothing ever shifts. (there is a pawl to stop large scale movement in P but it is not very fine grained.

 

best way to get comfortable is to drive another one.

 

Your car is fine, its you.

Try coming to a complete stop with your foot firmly on the brake before engaging the park.

 

The later is likely also an ICE transition, such as the ICE stopping. This should be particularly common as you glide down through about 40 mph (varies by generation and model), but can happen at lower speeds too. The Prius isn't seamless here, Uncle Wayne's first review of the Ford Fusion Hybrid noted that it was significantly smoother than Prii.

Another often noticeable transition is slowing through 7 mph, as the regenerative braking shuts off and the car transitions to pure friction braking. Sometimes I notice it, sometimes I don't. This is also likely to vary from car to car as the brake pads wear.