Quote:
Originally Posted by MN Driver
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).
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Actually, this is not true. I know the Prius powersplit device very well. In fact, the whole concept is based around planetary gears. And there is no engaging or disengaging involved. Everything in the prius is controlled by how fast and in which direction the two electric motors are spinning. In fact, there really is no "neutral" either. It is just a computer thing.
Several guys over at priuschat.com have tested this and the car will not go into neutral when the accellerator floored unless you hold it there (much like the power button) BUT - if you try to put it into park, it will drop to neutral immediately (but will not attempt to engage the parking pall unless the car is stopped. )
I saw some more news of this issue this morning and apparently the 911 operator told the guy to put the car into neutral and he refused to do it because he said he was uncomfortable with that. They also said the pedal appeared to be stuck, so this does rule out a software glitch.
