Before signing contract, question about unexpected acceleration

It would work ... for a while.

The 12V battery in the Prius is very low-capacity compared to to most vehicles. I left mine in ACC with the stereo playing while helping a friend move, and was surprised when it turned itself off after only an hour or so.

Starting it up into full READY state and letting the ICE/HV systems recharge the 12V battery did the trick, no harm done, but I definitely had a heightened awareness of just how limited that 12V battery is.

 

Wow - good info there!

... Brad

 

It shuts off automatically after an hour. Your battery wasn't drained. When I'm puttering with my car, like ZC1, I usually just put it in ACC and turn off the MFD. That way I can listen to the radio. When it cuts off after an hour, I just hit POWER and turn it back on.

The dome lights turn off automatically after a while too if you have a door or hatch open. The cargo light in the back DOES NOT TURN OFF AUTOMATICALLY so I leave it switched off all the time.

 

Didn't realize it was a hard time limit. I figured it was just smart enough to know when to go to sleep so that it would have the juice to wake up in the morning. (Note that I did say that it came back just fine, which indicates that the 12V system had sufficient juice to book the HV computers.)

Interesting. I took my boys camping a few weekends back, and definitely noticed some of the weirder "which lights turn themselves off, which don't" behavior -- but I hadn't codified it. Thanks for the pointer!

 

I pointed out the cargo light's behavior because it can run down the 12V battery if left on with the cover pulled, hiding it. If it's switched on and the hatch isn't firmly closed, you may never notice until you can't start the car.

 

There is a very logical reason to leave a Prius in ready mode, rather than turning it off, if you are going to "check things" . . . but, I can find no logical reason why someone would place their hand in front of the tire. I believe that report is bogus.

The logical reason to leave a Prius in ready mode: If you turn it off, the Prius will go through a warm-up sequence when you restart. Fuel efficiency wise, it's better to leave a Prius in ready mode for several minutes rather than turning it off and restarting.

 

I've even had my car in Ready - got out of the car to get the mail, and went back in .. and it never moved. Of course I had the Parking Brake on .. I didn't realize I hadn't pressed Park until I got back in the car (no wonder it was beeping at me so incessantly)

 

oh, i believe that report ; the world is full of morons.

 

Can't accelerate with your foot on the brake, which is where it should be when you're stopped. Your foot should also be on the brake whenever you need to press the power button--for initial starting and final stopping.

 

I have owned my Prius for two years now, 22k miles. Never had a single unintended issue... it drives and operates as a normal car should. It will sometimes kick on the ICE when you're sitting still and it SEEMS like it moves forward, but it isn't really. It's just unexpected. (like if you're sitting with the air conditioning on, etc...)