New owner with a few questions!

welcome! if you are on perfectly level ground, and have come to a complete stop, it should not rock after you press p. i usually find that it rolls a few inches forward or backward, even tho the ground seems level.

if the tyres look okay, you can drive until you can check the pressure, one is likely a little low. pump them up a little higher than spec so a few psi drop won't set the tpms off.

for 500 miles, i would vary my highway speeds, don't use c.c. and don't floor it. drive as fast as the limit and safely.

no, unfotunately, a lot of us would like to have it. my wife's hycam flashes on and off so quickly after she powers down, she can't even read it, nevermind record it.

all the best!

 

The parking pawl is fairly imprecise, and does have some slop. I actually just turn my Prius off, it automatically goes into P when I do.

 

I disagree here. The Prius parking gear/pawl mechanism has a very coarse tooth pitch. When placed in Park, the car wants to move until the pawl is centered between two teeth. That can be several inches. But the Park mechanism is strong enough to keep the wheels locked even when a tow truck drags the car, so this motion won't hurt it a bit.

After the car moves, then there is enough springiness in all the mechanical elements to rock back and forth a few cycles. If this is a problem, then set the parking brake before taking your foot of the regular brake.

 

It is not possible for us to tell remotely whether or not it is safe to drive home without airing up. If the light came on only because of the cold morning temperature, it should be OK. But it also means that your tire pressure is below recommended levels even when warm, so it clearly needs more pressure for MPG and for tire life and for long term tire safety.

But when my TPMS light turned on last winter, it was also because of a slow leak that needed repair. Lacking a gauge at work, I'd prefer checking all tires visually and by feel. If any tire feels lower than the others, I'd add some air at the first available station even without a known accurate gauge, just to make sure it doesn't get destroyed on the way home.

This is a bit of a family sore point. Long ago, when the spouse's car was found to have a low leaky tire, I pumped it up and told her to go have it fixed. Then I kept re-pumping and re-nagging every other day until she finally got around to getting it fixed. By then, the tire was damaged far beyond repair, and had to be replaced. Long before that, mom tried to drive home on a visually low tire. It didn't make it, she had to walk anyway, and the tire was no longer repairable.

 

This is probably just a different touch-and-feel issue. The 'jump' on the other cars is usually an intentional part of the user interface design, to make the car feel more powerful. I personally dislike it.

To some extent, you can tune this feel by playing with PWR / ECO / Normal, and selecting the mode that feels best.

 

i never use the parking brake when i stop the car. if parking on a slope, i always use it. foot brake, parking brake, park button, power button.

 

Welcome aboard and enjoy the ride! Mine also rocks.

 

If he pumped them up while the tires were still warm from the drive home, then you will likely find the pressure down slightly in the morning. If so, just top them off again. Then when seasonal temperatures fall even more, check and re-top again.

If he pumped only to the door sticker recommendation (35 front, 33 rear for the regular 15" wheels), then note that many of us use higher pressures for better MPG. But that is a matter of personal preference, some drivers don't like the somewhat harsher ride.

I ran into the opposite problem when driving someone else's V6 Highlander this week, and hit the gas too hard several times before retraining my foot.

Do try the PWR mode to see if it makes the car's takeoff feel more familiar. If so, then you will have the answer. Then you can choose to keep PWR or go to either of the more relaxed modes.[/quote]

 

Don't forget to reset the TPMS button underneath the steering column after putting air in the tires. Just hold it in until the TPMS light flashes, then goes out.

 

Welcome to the forum and congrats!

 

If above does not fix TPMS take it to dealer if that does not work get black duct tape to block the flashing light. You'll need the tape if you go and get non TPMS stems with your winter tires and wheels. Try to run 2-4 lbs more of air presure in front tires due to over steer issue when car is loaded up. Most run 40f-38r. I run 42f-40r on all 6 sets of tires.