"P" parking button by mistake

To me not having a standard PRNDL gear selector (perhaps with Brake instead of Low) in the Prius is a serious safety concern. I have accidentally selected "reverse" when parking -- instinctively reaching for the normal park position. I know that it's significant that I am an occasional Prius driver and I also realize that Prius-only drivers may not have this issue, so let's keep this in perspective.

On the other hand, I actually have no problem whatsoever going from an automatic transmission Volvo to a manual shift Volkwagen. Why? Because European manufacturers adhere to ISO standards rather than inventing their own vehicle-specific displays and controls.

 

Nonsense. The Prius shifting pattern is standard. It's not like they invented it. That same pattern has been used for years and years for all sorts of manual transmissions. It is a bit unusual to see it with an automatic, but then the Prius is rather unusual. If someone finds the Prius shifting pattern a safety issue they probably shouldn't be driving.

Tom

 

Obligatory reference: xkcd: Standards

 

So, if the Prius pattern is like a manual, then you would shift into reverse as you reach for the manual's 1st gear. Reality is that it's Prius vs all other makes and models including all other Toyota's. There is absolutely no purpose for the Prius configuration except novelty. To me, it's just crazy to deviate from the ISO recommended practices on this. If nothing else, it generates the opportunity for litigation as a real or perceived cause of an accident.

 

Great link! And so true. But in this case it's only ISO and SAE and they agree. Still they are not mandatory standards.

 

You brought up manual transmissions - there are all sorts of layouts for the gears. I learned to drive back when 4 speed transmissions were common and reverse was on either to the left and up or the right and up. With 5 speeds reverse would likely be to the right and down, but some cars like Volvos kept them to the left and up. I do not have a clue what they are doing now that there are 6 and 7 speed transmissions out there. RIP Saab - it was always fun seeing someone trying to start one for the first time.

 

Reality is you've never driven a '3 On The Tree', or any of several configurations with R exactly where Pruis has it, and 1 where Prius has D.

I've driven several vehicles with this configuration, and find the the Prius pattern quite natural.

 

Of course I look back fondly to my 1964 Valiant as today's best industry standard?

 

No, the standard 3 speed shift pattern has been used for years on everything from trucks to cars to tractors. The standard 3 speed pattern is like this:

R 2
| |
---
| |
1 3

It was always push to go into reverse, pull to go forward. It's backward from an intuitive sense, but the nature of gearing made it a simpler transmission. Once people became accustomed to it, it was considered bad human interface to change, much like the QWERTY keyboard. Toyota has simply stayed with the old standard.

Tom

 

Sweet diagram!

 

I'm familiar with this pattern, as are others who had driver's licenses in the 1960's and 1970's. But a majority of US drivers today have never even driven a manual transmission car, let alone a three speed. So this is a "natural" pattern for whom? A 60+ year old driver who is still driving a Ford Falcon? PRNDL is without a doubt the familiar pattern for almost all US drivers today.

 

I hit the "P" button once at night when I was searching for the "auto" button of the A/C controls without taking my eyes off the road to see where it actually was, so I agree that the placement is very unfortunate. Thank goodness nothing happened other than the care going into neutral.

Tom

 

Sooo, then it's no big deal. Like pulling on the handle of a locked door - the engineers took care of that. I don't know why some many are getting they undies in a bunch over it.

 

Re: RIP SAAB...Sad, i have had 7 of them. My old SAAB 96 was a 4 speed on the column. My SAAB 99 and 900 had the key between the seats, and when parked locked the shifter in reverse. As you said, always a puzzle for some non familiar driver.

My brother's Citreon (DS21 ??) had the stick shifter point straight up from the steering column. The Citreon is definitely a strange duck. It was fun to drive and got lots of looks.

 

Take off the P and the L and you get the Prius configuration:

R
N
D

With the shifter resting in the N position, which direction did you move the Falcon shifter for R and then which way for D ?

What is different about the Prius?

 

Difference is that the "topmost" position is reverse and not park. Reverse propels the car and park does not. So if you instinctively push the shifter all the way up when you're finished driving you are in reverse.

We've wrung everything that we can out of this topic. I'm off to another topic for now; I'm making a breakout wiring harness so that I can measure the actual voltage delivered to the headlamps. Forum entries say that headlamps are failing prematurely in 2010's.

 

I don't see why variance from your automatic transmission instinct should be considered serious enough to be an opportunity for litigation, while variance from my manual transmission instinct (this household has been slushbox-free for decades) is dismissed as an archaic aberration.

 

I remember an old Case tractor that I used to drive. It had neutral running fore and aft instead of side to side, and there was a second set of gears you reached by pushing down on the shifter. That one was hard to get used to.

I also drove a plow truck with a two-speed rear axle. The shift pattern was conventional, but you had a little button on the shifter to shift the rear axle. It was like driving a 10 speed bicycle.

Then there was a company pickup truck with three on the tree. That was common back then, but on this truck the shifter detents were worn away. You had to do all of the shifting by feel, tossing the lever with just the right flick of the wrist. No one ever borrowed that truck more than once.

Tom

 

Short answer: It is not.
When you get into a new car, checking the gearbox layout is on you pre-flight check list just like adjusting the seat, steering wheel, mirrors and state of active safety equipment (ie. does it have ABS?)

We are simply discussing convenience at this point.

 

The key difference is that when the car is started in a traditional automatic, the transmission is moved one place back for reverse. In the Prius transmission one place back is drive. Removing park, and the initial position of the transmission, puts drive in the exact spot that reverse would be. So not the same at all. Now does it make sense to keep reverse, one back from initial position and move drive forward instead of 3 back, a position that does not exist in the prius transmission. From a human factors point of view, it does. As others point out, this reverse forward, drive back was part of some 3 speed manuals 40 years ago. In the age of video games and much more knowledge of human machine interface, that ancient history, although interesting is irrelevant. It along with 3 speed manuals should be relegated to the dust bin of history.:focus:

Its not, as well as those that hit the gas instead of the brake, its the drivers own d^&m fault. We do live in a litigious society, but lets not make it worse.

Friends tell me once I became a pilot, I became a better driver. Always have to pre flight the head unit in a rental car. I have been known to adjust the mirrors while moving. I think the looking at the prius transmission interface is important given the run away toyotas. Knowing that pressing park put the thing in neutral quickly as opposed to holding the start button or shifter for a time that seems long in an emergency should be added to our mental check list just in case.