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[MN Driver]

The second generation doesn't have a key. It has a power button. I watched a video on this the other day. When you have it in park, pressing the power button will turn it off right away. ...but if you are driving with a Toyota or a Mazda(might have been Nissan instead of a Mazda, I didn't get a good look at the logo right in the middle of the steering wheel when it was in the picture) and you press the Power button, it WILL NOT shut off to prevent someone from -accidentally- turning it off while driving. What they showed in the video is that it's just like a computer, you must hold it down. They showed this, it took 3 seconds of holding it to shut off the engine. They also explained that a toyota put in neutral under full throttle wouldn't drop to neutral due to some deal with the power split device being unable to disengage at high RPM or something(they don't use a torque convertor or planetary gears). They didn't demonstrate the neutral thing, but they did show with the Nissan or the Mazda, whichever it was that you could power that particular vehicle off by stabbing at the power button three times and it would shut off. The video also described that with most of these issues, the floor mats were secure and not interfering with the throttle.

I've always been boggled as to how these happened because with most cars the brakes are designed to outpower the engine, and typically you can cut the ignition with a key, put it in neutral, or lift the accelerator but apparently they've made a dangerous combination by eliminating all of the failsafes that would normally allow you to stop the car. If I owned a Toyota at this point, I'd wire up a simple old fashioned kill switch to cut the ignition, or just a switch to cut the main ignition wire(s) or other wire that is required to produce spark or provide fuel when switched off. The acceleration is controlled by an electronic throttle sensor called a hall-effect sensor that senses the distance of a magnet from a collector by measuring the voltage created by its proximity(among other definitions). Something must be wacking out these sensors or interfering with the low voltage(under 2 volts) that they operate with.

I think the power button and neutral concept needs to be tested, on every vehicle I've owned I've dropped it into neutral under load, whether manual or auto, and also powered off the key. Things have always shut down. I've also tested my brakes, with every car I've owned, I've floored it at highway speeds and slammed the brakes, the cars brakes have always caused the car to slow down far faster than it would normally accelerate, even at full throttle. Makes me think the Prius has a very underpowered braking system. I wish I had a 2nd or 3rd Gen Prius to play with and validate to see if these are really problems or not. I know the 1st Gen uses an actual key. I usually buy cars when they hit the 10 year mark, I've already ruled out the 1st Gen Prius and landed on the 1st Gen Insight due to how expensive and suddent the failures are to the 1st Gen such as steering racks that suddenly go, transmissions that will work great one day and the next day are finished, the battery that if it has a problem can't even move a foot. At least with the Gen 2 Insight and Civic Hybrids, you can drive it until the 12 volt battery is dead, which means if the battery is in decent shape it will likely get you 30 minutes home with the lights and all accesories off or to a dealer if it is brought right away. Gen 1 can be driven indefinitely without the battery in place.

I'm considering the Chevy Volt when one comes into my standard vehicle buying price range, which is probably somewhere between 8-10 years after it's launch, it uses the power button but a full electric car has enough torque to overpower a vehicles brakes no matter how strong they are, so if I ever get to test driving one, which I might do sometime next year just to try it if they aren't disappearing like hot cakes when they arrive to my state, I'll make sure that the power button shuts it down, and that neutral disengages the transmission at highway speeds with full throttle.