I wondered what would happen if I accidentally pressed P while moving. A couple times while not quite stopped at the mailbox, I did this and it stopped abruptly! What if I was REALLY moving . . . tried this in the long driveway. Found that above about 2 mph nothing happens . . . button doesn't light, car keeps going. If I'm down around 2 mph, then it stops. Conclusion is that I don't have to worry about pressing it while going 70. FYI Don
In my generation (gen 3), above the speed where it goes to park, I think it just beeps and goes to neutral.
I have not done that with my Prius, but in older vehicles, the parking pawl vibrates without locking into place. This is probably enabled by bevels on the holes in the locking mechanism. Newer vehicles, I assume, will prevent this happening while the car is moving at a speed which would damage the mechanism.
Q's that don't need answering: 1. What sound will my car make of driven over a curb at 60mph? 2. What would happen if I put diesel in my Prius? 3. What will happen if I put my car in park while driving on the highway
In a Prius where the P button is nothing but an electrical input to a computer that decides what to do, of course it's very simple. The computer knows how fast you're going, and won't do it when it doesn't make sense. In Prius gen 1 and (I think) Prius c, where the shift lever really moves a mechanical cable to the parking pawl, I imagine it is as in other cars.
Easy to say, but have you tried it? I once accidentally hit the park button while I was still moving, and the car came to an abrupt stop.
The behavior differs according to whether the speed is above or below a threshold. For any shift from D➤R, R➤D, or (anything)➤P, when above the speed threshold, the ECU instead beeps and shifts to N. (This is just as documented in the "Reject Function" section on page CH-18 of the gen 2 New Car Features manual, and also matches the behavior of my gen 3. If it has changed in later gens, I wouldn't know.) Below the speed threshold, the car will do what you told it. When shifting D➤R or R➤D, you get a very smooth effect (you're just changing which way electric motors are pulling). I do that routinely, finding the threshold to be somewhere around 6–7 MPH. A shift to P below the speed threshold can still make a jarring bonk, as you noticed. I don't do that routinely.
I did in my 2010 and 2012 Prii. Many times over the years, to build up muscle memory in case I ever suffered the alleged Sudden Unintended Acceleration (SUA) that was afflicting numerous Toyota drivers back then. Similar to the runaway Audi 5000s a generation earlier. In mine, attempting to shift to either Park or Reverse at highway speed just produced a double-beep warning as the car instantly went into Neutral. In fact, shifting to R was the fastest way to get to N, as it skipped a built-in delay when intentionally shifting to N, or the even longer delay from holding down the Power button. There seems to be a threshold low parking lot speed below which the car will go into Park with a hard jolt, above which it instead goes Neutral. I did experience a severe-fatigue-induced "surge" or "runaway engine" in a previous car. Hitting the clutch was one of my two recovery reflexes that prevented a collision. Lacking a clutch, I wanted an alternate path to immediately halting propulsion in the Prius, so practiced shifting to R (and sometimes P, but this can't be done eyes-free reliably in the same manner as R) at highway speed. Though my old 'incident' was at parking lot speed.
So it doesn't go into Neutral when selecting "P" at speed....? If so that's a change from my old G3. It's nice that you're sharing this with the community, but it's also one of the many MANY reasons I do not buy used cars. Good Luck with the journey!
