Prius Gen III does not switch off when key is "removed"?

Honestly, I like the way the Prius fob works. I'm tired of fumbling for keys in the dark, keys making holes in my pockets, keys scratching the car, etc. Now that I'm used to it, I want this on every car I have.

 

I agree. I love the way it works. There are plenty of beeps and alarms if you forget to turn the car off.

 

Incorrect. The ICE will cycle on and off while the car is in ready mode to keep the HV battery charged (and provide cabin heat if the heat is left on) and the car emits a bunch of beeps if the driver's door is closed w/SKS not in the car while in ready mode. You also should be able to hear a bit of a whine from the inverter (my 2 gen emits it),

As for your Mini Cooper, it sounds like it doesn't have any SKS and that you must put it in that location. FWIW, the 2nd gen Prius also had a slot for the key where the key must be inserted if the car didn't have the SKS (system was optional) or disabled SKS.

 

What happens if you leave the car for a moment, say to go check the mail, and someone jumps in your car and drives off. He has your car plus your Fob. At least in the Prius design, once he stops the car he cannot restart.

Like others, I like the convenience of not having to take the fob out of my pocket. I want all my future cars to be this way.

 

The ECU in the Prius knows how fast the car is moving, whether anyone is sitting in the driver's seat, whether the brake/acc pedal is being pressed, etc etc, plenty of knobs for smart design here to mitigate this risk.

 

The OP brings up a (literally) life and death issue which far outweighs any little inconvenience factors such as this.

 

The OP reported his wife left the car on. What life and death issue are you referring to?

Why do continue to report that the Sky is Falling?

 

Carbon Monoxide poisoning?

 

The Prius emits far less CO than any other car plus when it's on and parked, the ICE is off half of the time. OP is not around to notice that the car was on so he was nowhere near the Prius for the CO to affect him.

 

Specifically this: Toyota Auto Products Liability Lawsuit Claims Keyless Lexus Caused Carbon Monoxide Death and Brain Injury :: Product Liability Law Blog

Already discussed on PriusChat quite a bit here: http://priuschat.com/forums/other-cars/86508-toyota-sued-in-carbon-monoxide-tragedy.html

 

Many suicide attempts have been foiled by modern emission controls that sharply reduce CO. Combine the improved controls in the Prius with the fractional-time operation in OP's scenario, and accidental CO poisoning becomes very uncommon.

Last year there was a case posted here of a modern ICE car, accidentally left running in a garage, poisoning someone to death. So it can still happen. But I never heard a followup about possible dwelling code violations for not having a working CO detector in the house, or ventilation deficiency that allowed excessive garage fumes into the house. These are already known risks for hazardous materials frequently stored in garages, and for intentional killings with older ICE cars, so it must be addressed by the garage and building.

 

Modern building codes require attached garages to vent to the outside, making carbon monoxide poisoning unlikely unless you happen to live in an old home. The Prius will only run as needed so it's a much bigger risk with conventional cars and keyless non-hybrids.

 

You're right, however a proper exercise of risk analysis would also include the fact that you're adding significant complexity to a very safety-critical system (the ignition), and that testing this complexity to ensure that it cannot possibly turn the car off except at the intended time is a difficult task. Add to this that, unlike most other safety systems, such as the brake pedal, airbag sensors, etc., there are no redundant sensors. And when you chain these sensors together ("driver is not wearing seat belt AND driver's weight not detected AND car is locked") then you greatly increase the rate of failure of this system. This is arguably worse than not having the feature, because you've trained the driver to rely on the system, but it has a high rate of failure. (Also, I think somebody mentioned the detecting of the driver's weight, but I believe this sensor is only present for the passenger - the driver's side just has a sensor for the seat position, not for weight, AFAIK.)

It's a design decision for which I see no clear answer one way or the other. Toyota's engineers made the choice to keep it simple. It alerts you with 3 beeps if the key is not in the vehicle when a door is closed and the car is still running. It also alerts you with a sustained beep if you try to lock it and the car is still running.

If that's not enough for you, feel free to screw a plastic plate over the Park button; that way, you'd have to turn the car off to get it into park. (Of course, this might fail miserably if you are in the habit of setting your parking brake, and then forget to turn the car off... ) And if that's not enough for you, feel free to whine some more here, or start your own car company.

 

I agree totally.

If all things occur then the car should shutdown

 

What about the folks that leave their dogs or children in the car, with it in ready mode, with the AC on. you just killed them because the car said speed is 0, driver seat is empty, haven't moved for 30 minutes.

The system is fine. i say again, before operating any potentially lethal machinery you must familiarise yourself with the controls. For those not bothering to do so (like the Lexus in the garage) it is simply darwin at work.

 

It would be nice to have a kill switch on the fob though, in case someone tries to drive off in the car.

 

Agree completely. Tpfun's trolling and assertions are as usual, uninformed and misleading. Pressing the power button is a lot easier and less work than turning a key and taking it out.

There's no reason to extra potential points of failure that could create additional safety problems (besides reinforcing bad habits). I have seen recalls for other cars involving their occupant classification system. I've also known 2/2 people w/Mazda Proteges who had bad connections in their driver's side seat belt buckle, so the car would randomly complain that the seat belt wasn't fastened. We've had GM cars w/bad wiring or switches in the driver's seat belt buckle. There's a guy here on Priuschat who doesn't wear his seat belt (and started a thread griping about how his dealer wouldn't disable his seat belt warning).

The 3 beeps and visual notification (yellow key icon on the 2nd gen), all the dash lights being on, whine from the inverter, ICE starting on occasion to maintain HV battery charge AND the car emitting a long beep and refusing to lock when attempting to lock w/the power on are all plenty of cues.

 

Complicated software is not an excuse for not fixing a poorly thought out system.
Besides, seatbelt and occupant classification system are federally mandated.

You are so blind to the Prius' flaws that you can't imagine other better solutions are possible.

If the driver has already left the garage, who's going to hear the 3 beeps and flashing yellow ?

 

I once pulled up to my mailbox and jumped out to check it. My Prius (gen 3) beeped at me and flashed a "key not detected" warning on the dash screen. I believe this was to prevent exactly what you describe. Why yours didn't do this I have no idea.

 

Most likely it did, but the operator wasn't paying attention. There are several alarms that go off, but you have to pay attention to your surroundings.