Quirk in the transmission shifter

My last mini cooper was like that too.

 

The car should stop under the dryer anyway, so I don’t see why pressing the brake is a problem.

 

The car never stops. It’s in motion when the “Drive Away” light comes on. You’re expected to drive forward, not stop. The car is still being pushed forward when you’re expected to go forward so braking actually fights the pushing mechanism.

 

Your explanation makes sense, to a point. Couldn't they have designed the control to avoid going through Neutral to change directions? It's only an electronic switch anyway.

 

You've caught on to the "paint themselves into that corner by laying out the pattern the way they did" part.

 

Well, at one point, it will stop, as the car wash is not infinitely long. LOL If still not satisfied, you will have to find a Gen 5-Prius-compliant car wash.

This is merely a safety feature in Gen 5 to prevent people from accelerating suddenly and/or in the wrong direction while stopped or creeping, for example, so that you don’t “front-end” the car behind you in the car wash by putting it to R instead of D from N.