Starting From P

[MG Nut]

Hi Guys.

The dealer is sorting the finace for my 07 T Spirit, hoping for some news today.

Have a couple of questions, if someone could kindly answer them for me.

1. On the test driver I took last week, when I stopped at the first set of lights, the sales guy

with me said to press the P button, then I could take my foot off the brake, which I did. when I got a green

light I was then not sure what to do, but sorted it, with the aid of some t**ser behind me, the car was on

trade plates, some people have not got a minute to live. my question is, should I go for D then the brake pedel

or brake pedel then D, or does it not matter which way round.

2. We have been thinking of moving to France to live for some 20 years, its a long story, but having spent a lot

of money time etc, she now has changed her mind I think for the fifth time, so its off for now, but just incase

of another change of mind, can you tell me if there is a Certificate of Conformity with the car, ie in the car

manual, or do I have to ask the dealer for one, what I do not want to do is be charged £100-120 for an A4 sheet

of paper, or has anyone got one for an 07 T Spirit they could copy for me, thanks.

Will keep you posted.

MGnut

[sjrainsford]

1. The P button is much like putting any automatic car in park mode. There is a little lock in the transmission to stop the car moving. This should not be relied upon whilst not on flat ground. It is however perfectly fine to hold yourself at traffic lights with the brakes much like you would in any other car, you dont need to go out of drive every time you stop. To go from park to drive you should have your foot already on the brake pedal, again this is a requirement in most automatic cars.

2. Sure I saw one in my owners manual, but will have another look when I get chance.

I've just bought an 07 model too and love it!

[Chris Dance]

If I am at traffic lights I hold the car on the brake pedal only.

If I am stuck in a stationary line of traffic for some minutes I use P and apply foot brake. To move off put foot on brake engage drive release foot brake.

I must admit when I first drove the Prius I also got "horn blasts" from a couple of other motorists.

[MG Nut]

Hi, Thanks guys for your replies.

MGnut

[capnbirdseye]

Just having an extended test drive ( 2 weeks ) in a 2006 t-Spirit whilst I wait for my 2007 to arrive at the dealers and was a bit worried about no handbrake at first but I soon adapted. Like many other drivers I never got into the habit of sitting with the foot brake on because it can be annoying at night in crawling traffic.

I thought I'd try the foot parking brake to hold the car as it's so easy to push and hold the car with your left foot but I notice that altho it works really well if you do that the electric motor carries on trying to creep which may overheat something so I quickly abandoned that and reverted to the P button, I know you can put the car in N to stop the creep but that is rather pointless as my intention was to hold the car without messing with the gear stick at all

just remember that when you go to move off don't push the knob forward or the bloke behind won't be very happy

[Terry953]

Hi Guys.

The dealer is sorting the finance for my 07 T Spirit, hoping for some news today.

Have a couple of questions, if someone could kindly answer them for me.

1. On the test driver I took last week, when I stopped at the first set of lights, the sales guy

with me said to press the P button, then I could take my foot off the brake, which I did. when I got a green

light I was then not sure what to do, but sorted it, with the aid of some t**ser behind me, the car was on

trade plates, some people have not got a minute to live. my question is, should I go for D then the brake pedal

or brake pedal then D, or does it not matter which way round.

MEGnut

For an in depth discussion on this subject go to Page 8 of this forum and on 7 Oct 2010 there is a post entitled "Waiting at Roundabouts and Junctions" there is also a couple of others on the same page that are related.

After digesting that lot you can then make your own mind up, my solution that I employ and can justify technically and safety wise and is my own decision. :arrgg-matey:

[Opifex]

Hi,

I have had the Prius for almost 3 weeks now but it seems an awful lot more as we have had Christmas and New Year in that time and we did a four-day trip to France as well.

When I went for a test drive in the car the dealer told us that he never uses the foot-operated parking brake at all and simply relies on the P button. I am not at all convinced about this and have been using the foot-operated brake whenever the car has been left on a slope, however slight.

I did accidently press the P button once before the car had come to a complete standstill and the car came to a very quick and very violent halt. It set me thinking that the P button is very exposed and could be accidently pressed when travelling at high speed. I searched the manual and found a section warning that the button must not be pressed while the car is in motion or it could result in damage to the transmission, but somewhere else in the manual it implied that there is simply a warning bleep and the car stays in gear. I hope the second one is right. I'm even wondering about making a little cardboard cover for the button just in case I have another idiotic moment.

When I'm stopped in traffic and it looks as though the wait is going to be more than a second or two I normally use the P button so that my stop lights are not blinding the driver behind, and I can sit back and relax for a moment.

The gear change itself still feels very odd as it is not mechanically connected to anything. I also seem to find the arrangement of drive and reverse counter-intuitive ( i.e. pushing the lever forward to go backward and vice-versa) and I have several times moved the lever in the wrong direction.

Cheers.

[Sagitar]

Hi,

I have had the Prius for almost 3 weeks now but it seems an awful lot more as we have had Christmas and New Year in that time and we did a four-day trip to France as well.

When I went for a test drive in the car the dealer told us that he never uses the foot-operated parking brake at all and simply relies on the P button. I am not at all convinced about this and have been using the foot-operated brake whenever the car has been left on a slope, however slight.

I did accidently press the P button once before the car had come to a complete standstill and the car came to a very quick and very violent halt. It set me thinking that the P button is very exposed and could be accidently pressed when travelling at high speed. I searched the manual and found a section warning that the button must not be pressed while the car is in motion or it could result in damage to the transmission, but somewhere else in the manual it implied that there is simply a warning bleep and the car stays in gear. I hope the second one is right. I'm even wondering about making a little cardboard cover for the button just in case I have another idiotic moment.

When I'm stopped in traffic and it looks as though the wait is going to be more than a second or two I normally use the P button so that my stop lights are not blinding the driver behind, and I can sit back and relax for a moment.

The gear change itself still feels very odd as it is not mechanically connected to anything. I also seem to find the arrangement of drive and reverse counter-intuitive ( i.e. pushing the lever forward to go backward and vice-versa) and I have several times moved the lever in the wrong direction.

Cheers.

Yep, I'm sure you have it sussed. With the car moving at any sort of pace "P" is locked out and will not engage. Pressing "P" with the car almost at rest will engage it however, with the nasty consequence that you have found.

You should only engage it with the car at a complete halt.

[Jan&tone]

Hi,

I have had the Prius for almost 3 weeks now but it seems an awful lot more as we have had Christmas and New Year in that time and we did a four-day trip to France as well.

When I went for a test drive in the car the dealer told us that he never uses the foot-operated parking brake at all and simply relies on the P button. I am not at all convinced about this and have been using the foot-operated brake whenever the car has been left on a slope, however slight.

I did accidently press the P button once before the car had come to a complete standstill and the car came to a very quick and very violent halt. It set me thinking that the P button is very exposed and could be accidently pressed when travelling at high speed. I searched the manual and found a section warning that the button must not be pressed while the car is in motion or it could result in damage to the transmission, but somewhere else in the manual it implied that there is simply a warning bleep and the car stays in gear. I hope the second one is right. I'm even wondering about making a little cardboard cover for the button just in case I have another idiotic moment.

When I'm stopped in traffic and it looks as though the wait is going to be more than a second or two I normally use the P button so that my stop lights are not blinding the driver behind, and I can sit back and relax for a moment.

The gear change itself still feels very odd as it is not mechanically connected to anything. I also seem to find the arrangement of drive and reverse counter-intuitive ( i.e. pushing the lever forward to go backward and vice-versa) and I have several times moved the lever in the wrong direction.

Cheers.

Not sure about the P button, but as far as hitting reverse instead of Drive.... That's why the beep is there!!

You do get used to the position of the shift lever though, just as you would with anything else.

Enjoy....

[Chris Dance]

I do not understand the dealer saying never use the foot operated parking brake???? Toyota fitted it to be used. Use it as you would in any other cars hand brake. Opifex you will soon get used to your Prius and how easy it is o drive.

[kithmo]

I do not understand the dealer saying never use the foot operated parking brake???? Toyota fitted it to be used. Use it as you would in any other cars hand brake. Opifex you will soon get used to your Prius and how easy it is o drive.

What he said was that the sales guy said he never used it, not don't use it.

I personally hardly ever use it, the same as on my previous car an auto Mondeo, I only used the handbrake if I am/was parked on a slope. I find using P in stop start traffic too fiddly, you stop with the footbrake select P, fine, but then you have to re-apply the footbrake to select D to move off. A bit confusing for the guy behind when you apply the brake (lights) then stop, then apply the brake and accellerate away. It's different if the traffic is stationary for a while e.g. at lights, but generally in stop start traffic I just leave it in D and use the footbrake.

[Jan&tone]

Lots of discussions about the 'P' button last year and how/when to use it... I seem to remember there were as many opinions as there were replies!

Basically the P button is the equivalent of the P in a normal automatic. When and how you use it is best left to your own intuition and common sense....

Just enjoy the car

[Jolly English Gentleman]

I do not understand the dealer saying never use the foot operated parking brake???? Toyota fitted it to be used. Use it as you would in any other cars hand brake. Opifex you will soon get used to your Prius and how easy it is o drive.

I remember reading on Priuschat last year about a US owner who left has car on a hill in P overnight and got up next morning to find it had rolled down the hill a bit. Needless to say there were those who did advise him what a parking brake was for!

[johalareewi]

I find using P in stop start traffic too fiddly, you stop with the footbrake select P, fine, but then you have to re-apply the footbrake to select D to move off. A bit confusing for the guy behind when you apply the brake (lights) then stop, then apply the brake and accellerate away.

Not really any different to a normal automatic where you have to apply the main foot brake to get out of P into D.