Seriously Wth ?!?!

As for the reasons I bought this car, a close second (behind the MPG's of course) was how freaking awesome they are (or had been) for car camping ! Not only did I do this a LOT in my 2019 LE, during my away from home, ride share weekends, but also, I slept in my 2019 about 20 nights in the month of April this year, doing two 4500 mile trips back to back > with my climate control cranked up all night ! So today, I'm sitting at the airport parking lot for about an hour, maybe 90 minutes and the car just decided to completely shut down all on it own ! No message pop ups, no warnings, electrical errors, nothing ! Believe me, I was seriously wondering if it would even start back up ? So, I held my breath, depressed the brake pedal, hit the power button, and Bam ! It powered back up totally normally.

So I call my ride share buddy who just bought a 2022 Prime, and he says, "Oh yea... I forgot to tell you..
I only found out a couple weeks ago myself.... " I was like Bro ! Wth ?!?! This seriously reduces the value of my Prius for me, by freaking 30% !!! Honestly, I might have bought something else !

So I go straight to the Toyota dealership... They got my vin # and after 15 minutes of digging, they come back and tell me, "Yea, we are sorry... But your vehicle has the automatic shut down feature if it doesn't sense any driver input.
Meaning, on a cold night, I will be waking up freezing, and having to start the car 4 or 6 freaking X's !
This is just flat unacceptable.

I'll be calling Toyota headquarters tomorrow... To talk about any possible re-flashing of the PC or any other kind of fix for this huge issue.

Two things that throw me off though... 1) I can hardly find any talk of people being screwed over by this feature ? Although it was talked about in one thread hear, but no mention after that ? 2) I actually did sleep in the car one night, and it didn't shut off ? But then my buddy said his Prime does shut off... And Toyota tells me mine is supposed to also ?

If anyone has any info on this, plz let me know.

 

Bisco, and ChapmanF !!!
You might have just made my freaking year ! I was practically making myself sick, plus a headache, tripping on how bad this would be for my car camping!

But now it all makes sense ! The one time so far that I did sleep in my car (in a potentially sketchy area) hell yes, I locked my doors, and it never shut off So, I think I've already confirmed this works, and didn't even know it
Today at the airport, I was awake, and surrounded by a bunch of other Uber drivers. Never considered locking the doors....

Geez, I don't smoke (anything) anymore.... But this sure would be a good time for it lol 99% sure I'll be good now.Thank you guys SO, SO much !!!

 

Thank you
I still can’t believe they didn’t know this at the Toyota dealership ! Do they actually train these people ?

 

Hey SK. No, I didn't have this auto shut off feature on my 2019... That I'm aware of, anyway. Although I generally did / do lock my doors from the inside when I'm sleeping in the car. Still, I'd think in 3 yrs, I'd have forgotten to lock the doors at least a few X's.

This issue is only a thing in my 2022 XLE... And my buddies 2021 Prime. It was the same with him though, in that he usually locks his doors from the inside, when he's sleeping, So it took him a while to forget to lock his doors, and have this happen to him.

 

TYSM for posting this.... as I was still only 99% sure this was the problem, as I have not actually tested this yet myself.
Can't wait for my car camping trip around the country in April-May 23' Whooo Hooo !
BTW, I still remember staying in Brownsville Texas (far South) in late April 22'. It was only about 78 degrees on those several nights... but 95-100% humidity ! So it was super stuffy and sticky ! It would have been miserable sleeping in an ICE vehicle... or tent etc. But I literally cranked my AC down to 67F, curled up under my home bead spread, with my home pillow, and slept like a freaking baby As good as it freaking gets ! It was kind of weird hopping out of an almost cold car, into super warm, and humid temps, at 5am, before the sun was even up ! You would NEVER have that in Nor Cal

 

I saw that in my searches too, Toyota has to no people use these vehicles for car camping. At the very least, it's a feature which needs to be over ridable...

 

A small RV probably wouldn't get 1/4 the mileage of a Prius, nor would it be as fun to drive.
Doing ride share, a driver has no choice but to sit, sometimes for hours between rides. Also, if your driving area happens to be too far from home, to go home, you don't have much choice. Motels are cost prohibitive + if you had a good ride ($100+) come up, you could never get up and get going quick enough from a motel. Not a problem if I'm sleeping in the driver's seat
Other than during ride share, if I'm doing a cross country thing, I always stay at truck stops, and their are always anywhere from a few, to a bunch more car campers.
As far as this being tough on the car, I know several ride share drivers that are way more hard core than I am (mostly because they are 20 years younger) who are in there cars like 16+ hours a day... Maybe only 8 hours of actual driving. The rest of the time the car is still powered up... Whether they are awake or sleeping. And these vehicles are commonly getting 300K+ miles without any major issues.
JMPO, but I think these cars, and especially RAV4 Hybrids we're made for car camping

 

I'll never stay in a motel again. Too expensive. Not convenient enough. Takes me too long to get up and get going. At the truck stops, I wake up and grab my breakfast out of the icebox, and my cold coffee. Then hit my private bathroom and shower for $13 or $15. Top off with gas. Maybe grab a bag of ice, and a few drinks or snacks... And 1 hr, from when I woke up to my phone alarm, I'm rolling, and good to go for 800 miles Well, one or 2 gas / pee stops...
I get excited just talking about this
Pure freedom !