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Red Triangle at 73 MPH in Neutral !

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Vick, Jul 11, 2012.

  1. Vick

    Vick New Member

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    Hello Prius Friends - I just bought a 2006 Prius about a month ago (57K). I love the car and have been educating myself on all things Prius, This car has also made me change my driving style quite a bit. I am getting around 50 MPG (combined) and very happy about it.

    I have been using some of the hypermiling techniques to get the mileage, one of the things I do is to put the car in Neutral (to emulate the Glide portion of the Pulse and Glide) especially when coming down a gradient. I was bit concerned about using the Neutral gear and called Toyota Corporation to get a clarification, The answer I got from Toyota was - there is no technical issue, however they do not recommend this be done for safety reasons.

    The other day I was driving down a highway and coasting along at 70-+ MPH in Neutral when the Red Triangle came on with an accompanying Beep. I was not sure what was going on and immediately changed to Drive and the icon disappeared.

    I wanted to check with the Prius community to see if anyone had any ideas/suggestions as to why this would happen

    Thanks in advance

    Vick
     
    #1 Vick, Jul 11, 2012
  2. Vick

    Vick New Member

    Joined:
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    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
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    Hello Prius Friends - I just bought a 2006 Prius about a month ago (57K). I love the car and have been educating myself on all things Prius, This car has also made me change my driving style quite a bit. I am getting around 50 MPG (combined) and very happy about it.

    I have been using some of the hypermiling techniques to get the mileage, one of the things I do is to put the car in Neutral (to emulate the Glide portion of the Pulse and Glide) especially when coming down a gradient. I was bit concerned about using the Neutral gear and called Toyota Corporation to get a clarification, The answer I got from Toyota was - there is no technical issue, however they do not recommend this be done for safety reasons.

    The other day I was driving down a highway and coasting along at 70+ MPH in Neutral when the Red Triangle came on with an accompanying Beep. I was not sure what was going on and immediately changed to Drive and the icon disappeared. I wanted to check with the Prius community to see if anyone had any ideas/suggestions as to why this would happen

    Thanks in advance

    Vick
     
    #2 Vick, Jul 11, 2012
  3. DoPeY5007

    DoPeY5007 Member

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    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius c
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    Four
    So there are two things I want to point out.

    Remember, going in neutral is actually illegal is some places (due to not in control of the car)

    And My 2012 C says not to do this as it is designed to charge the battery at that time, and it could actually hinder MPG.

    Now about that triangle, I can not help at all.
     
    #3 DoPeY5007, Jul 11, 2012
  4. SquallLHeart

    SquallLHeart The Techie Guy

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    you should not use neutral..

    a glide requires you to press on the gas pedal to cancel out regen... yes.. neutral emulates it.. sure... but it's not good for the car... especially at high speeds... the ICE needs to run at higher speeds as well.

    in the end... using neutral can hurt your mileage (as well as potentially your car)... you're better off learning fine pedal control.
     
    #4 SquallLHeart, Jul 11, 2012
  5. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    I never put my car in neutral when in motion. There is the potential to overspeed MG1 by doing what you're doing. I don't know all the details as I personally don't care.

    A Google search for site: priuschat.com overspeed neutral mph (remove the space between the : and p) might prove insightful/useful.
     
    #5 cwerdna, Jul 11, 2012
  6. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    If you HV battery state of charge is high then using neutral is fine but don't enter neutral below 40mph then accelerate above this number. This will keep you from harming anything. As stated above, the battery cannot charge while in neutral so if your state of charge is too low while in neutral you should get a warning of some sort. I think it is best to avoid neutral until you learn more about the car. The GenII is very easy to glide in so stick with that for now. :)
     
    #6 F8L, Jul 11, 2012
  7. thatguy

    thatguy New Member

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    2005 Prius
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    If you want to maximize your fuel economy avoid neutral and practice the proper accelerator pedal feathering technique. Above 41 mph your gas engine must turn to prevent one of the electric motors (MG1) from overspeed damage. While in neutral the car doesn't use MG1 to turn the engine, instead it burns gasoline to keep the engine idling.

    I found it easy to learn with the Android Torque application feeding me sensor and engine state data, but you can do a decent job by watching the center display and trying to eliminate the arrows.
     
    #7 thatguy, Jul 11, 2012
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