To be fair, the Prius does have a bizarre way of shifting from park into drive, etc. It's all electronic, and counterintuitive at best. If I recall correctly, you have to push it down and to the left or some such nonsense, and "park" is engaged with a separate button. PIA.

Also, the "American drivers suck" attitude is lame. We drive much more here than is necessary in Europe, so if you believe that experience brings skill, we should be better. There are a lot of people on the road in the U.S., and people drive much longer distances.

I see people blow this off repeatedly with a wave of their hand as if only they know how to drive. Just keep in mind that for every person you roll your eyes at on the road, there's probably someone else behind you doing the same.

 

If the prius shifter is to complicated then maybe you shouldn't be on the road at all. my grandparents (that couldn't figure out how to turn a computer on) had no problem figuring it out, they even thought it was "neat".

edit: American drivers DO suck

 

As previously stated, moving the lever to neutral while in motion at speed does not put the car into neutral (as a "safety" measure)

 

It certainly does. Stop reading the BS reports and go drive one. The 07 prius in my driveway will go into neutral the second you slide the lever there and thats at ANY speed.

 

The 09 rental I had didn't. You had to hold it in N for a second or two.

Think about the logic. Would you want it shifting to neutral every time you switch between D and B? I didn't think so.

Why do you think a regular AT trans doesn't have N between D and "2"

 

What is this "B" you keep referring to with D & N? B is for engine braking and has NOTHING to do with D & R, its not even on the same gate.

Think about this logic, why does every autotragic driver go into reverse before going into neutral before going into drive? doesn't that seem a little counter intuitive?

 

Because you typically "back out of your parking spot" or "back into your parking spot".

It is always used right before you park, or right after you park.

If you want a more technical reason, look up how automatic transmissions are designed, and how the internal gear reductions work.

You, sir, have some faulty logic in your mind. Just because a prius is gated like a M or X5, doesn't mean it drives like one, or does it?

 

Knew the guy was shady

Questions arise over story of runaway Prius - Autos- msnbc.com

 

No reason to be a jackass...I was just pointing out that the shifter on a Prius was nonstandard when compared to 99.9% of cars on the road. It's nonstandard when compared to, say, a G37 sedan. If you're new to this, it could be a little jolting to deal with in a runaway vehicle.

Ah, experts on the Internet...they're alive and well.

 

I was searching the net to see if anyone also had this issue and found this forum. My 2010 G37X Automatic sedan experience idle rpm surge while stopped at traffic light. I had to throw it into neutral as it reved out for about 4 seconds. Scary stuff! Bringing to dealer this afternoon.

 

I've experienced this a couple of times on my 10 G37x. I've also had it happen when I accelerated rapidly to pass and then had to quickly brake, the car keeps revving for about 4 seconds.
It's pretty scary!

 

Er that's gear shift down to use engine to help you slow down faster

 

Otherwise known as engine breaking.

 

Sounds like the OP is just trying to blame the car for not paying attention at a light....

 

its called rev matching, It's normal.

you can feel rev matching much better in DS mode.