Hand Brake on in Drive - Weird Question

I wouldn't make a habbit of it, but no it doesn't cause an issue.

Some people will press the Brake and Accelerator together in a way to top up the HV battery whilst stationary.

Personally if I know I'm gonna be sat at the lights for a while, I'll pop the car in Park and gently let my foot off the Brake pedal to let the car slowly roll onto the parking pawl as gently as possible. Even then I forget I'm in Park when the lights go green to the amusement of the car behind.

Never put the car into Neutral as the HV battery can run down below its safe limit and could potentially cause damage if allowed too low too often.

 

Weirder question.
"Bit of a faff"?
What does that mean or come from?

I guess my "opinion" is somewhat similar to GrumpyCabbies in that I don't think that behavior would cause an issue. But even though I know old habits can be hard to break, I would ask why? At most traffic stops I don't see the advantage if any, of using the hand brake. Unless you are on a incline and trying to avoid any roll back, which really isn't much of an issue with a Prius. So I guess my assertion is what is wrong with simply using the good ol' foot brake? Doing so, is convenient in operation and allows the HSD system to work as designed.

I'd try it for a while, you might find that after a while it seems quite the faff to be setting your hand brake at every red light.

 

Hmm...maybe a cultural difference.
As I would say generally in the USA we aren't annoyed by the brake lights of cars ahead of us. We use them as night time illumination for the "annoying" bumper stickers. Some people even modify their brake lights. Is Brake Light road rage really an issue in the UK?

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you. At least in the US...the Prius..."parking brake" is a foot operated brake. I only use this brake...when I completely stop, turn the vehicle off and I am parking the vehicle. On other vehicles this "parking brake" can be located up on the center console or dash, and then are often called a "hand brake", even though the operation is still as the "Parking Brake". --even sometimes referred to as Emergency Brake.

When driving, I almost exclusively night or day use the "pedal brake" or just the cars brakes. I would say pressing on the regular brakes takes less exertion then pressing and setting and then unsetting the parking brake but I can't speak for your leg strength or stamina.

On the Gen 3 Prius, Toyota has kindly even added "Hill Assist" which engages a split second holding of the brakes once you release the brakes which prevents any slippage or roll back if you are on a hill.

I would go as far to say, in the US...legal action could ensue if you did come to stops without an illuminating brake light and happened to get rear ended.

 

Yep, it's a cultural thing.

It's that automatics are slowly becomming more main stream, previously being the norm in top end models and makes. As such, it's a learning curve for many. My girlfriend was a convert to an automatic and before she got one she just asked so many ridiculous questions like "what do you do on a hill", "can you stall it", "I've heard you're not fully in control" etc. Once she got one she just couldn't believe how bloody easy they are to drive and will never, ever go back to manual. In fact it's a bit of a joke between us. We'll set off on a steep hill, or be crawling along in heavy traffic and I'll ask her if she wishes she had a manual, to which she replies with a very strong "NO!"

Another way of looking at it; Remember when decades or hundreds of years ago your family (or your neighbours) decided to move away from the UK or Europe or where-ever, and their neighbours said "What do you want to go to America for? You have everything you want here in *****. Why change? Why see what's on the other side of the mountain? Why take a chance? Why do something different?". Well, those same people are now the majority here

So we often see the negatives in a positive. "What if I engage Park and someone should hit me?" Well I do not know about you, but I'd claim for the damage in the same way I would if I'd been driving a manual. If that damage includes a damaged parking pawl, then so be it. It baffles me people worry about such things.

faff - Wiktionary

 

Unlikely here, but why make yourself more likely to be rear ended just because of hear say? I always sit on my brakes as I've had so many near misses in my millions of miles of driving. If I'm going to be a long time stationary - such as if there's an accident ahead, I'll leave the brake lights on until the car behind stops and then maybe engage Park. Sometimes if I've had to stop suddenly in the middle of the road such as at roadworks I'll press the brakes on and off slowly so the car approaching behind notices.

Whilst getting a couple grand£ in compo for whiplash is nice, having the pain and inconvenience of whiplash is not. I'd rather avoid getting it if I can.

 

You will not do any damage, except if you drive along with the parking brake on. Then you will ware out the parking brake shoes quite rapidly as they are very small.
This does not affect the normal foot brake in any way on the UK Prius as this use separate disks and pads.
When applying the foot brake electrical power to the MG's is turned off and if you press the accelerator the engine will start and force charge the HV battery.
This can be useful if you are trying to reverse up a very steep hill (drive way) and the car will not move because the HV battery is low. This will cause the engine to start, and make matters worse as the engine tries to move the car forwards at the same time as you are in reverse.
Driving forwards down a steep drive that you know you will have to reverse off should be avoided.
The way round this problem is to force charge the battery in (drive) until you have 5 blue bars on the display, then select reverse.
The reason this sounds so complicated is the Prius does not have a reverse gear, it uses MG2 as an electric motor driving in the reverse direction. This is the only method of propulsion in reverse, if the engine starts while you are in reverse to charge the battery it tries to drive the car forwards against the action of the electric motor.
One other point is that putting the parking brake on in drive will steadily discharge the HV battery causing you to use more fuel to recharge it, unless you have your foot on the normal brake, and that defeats the the purpose. In my opinion Toyota should have added a switch on the parking brake to turn off power to the MG's.

John (Britprius)

 

I believe they fixed the reversing anomaly on the gen3 (though appreciate the op has a gen2).

 

I am not sure the basic system has changed, but they may have improved the amount of torque available from MG2 in reverse alleviating the problem.

John (Britprius)

 

In drive and foot off brake the software makes the car very slightly accelerate to mimic a regular car in idle.
H brake on every light sounds like a real hassle.
Not to mention excessive wear on the brake cable & mechanism. Hope you keep that cable lubed. Lot of tension and wear on that system. Its archaic wire system.

When I'm stopped I look at the battery level, If I'm in all green I just put the car in neutral and no charging is being done or motive force. Car willl just sit there.

Alot of times I arrive at the light in neutral as I clean the brakes alot. I then leave it in neutral as I sit at the light.
I arrive in neutral because I am cleaning the brakes and because of that my rotors look really clean.

 

Continue on in any manner that your local principality allows legally.

It's not really that I'm not willing to embrace something new, or see what is on the other side of the mountain.

It's just that I see absolutely nothing wrong with either Brake Lights or Using the Pedal Brake. Just seems like the easiest, simplest, and BEST way to stop and go from a red light and/or while driving in traffic. Seems like how it was designed to be used.

I mean call it an emergency brake, a hand brake, a foot brake, to me it's ultimately a parking brake.
Therefore I use it for parking. Creating behaviors that call for it's usage in regular stop and go city driving is what baffles me. I've never had a problem with anyone being upset about my brake lights, nor have I ever found pressing the brake pedal to be all that tiring.

But....you guys drive on the wrong side of the road if you really must know....so carry on....