This is a rather humorous story but with a point.



Last weekend my wife and I visited a seafood restaurant in Port Chester, NY. When we arrived I found that they only had valet parking. I left the car with one of the attendants (there were two) and explained that there is no key but just the fob and how he can start the car. Since he understood very little English I was pleased that was able to understand, or so he indicated.



Upon our leaving the restaurant I handed my claim ticket to the other attendant and he went and got my car. Now mind you, he also spoke no English. I saw him disappear and shortly saw the lights of my car come on. After waiting a few minutes I realized that he was not able to start the car so I walked over to him and also tried to explain that he must put his foot on the brake pedal and push the ON button. I finally got through to him and he started the car and he brought it out so that my wife and I could leave.



Now the funny part starts. After driving off I realized that all of the NAV functions were set to Spanish. He must have seen the disclaimer screen on the NAV and there are options for French, Spanish and English and he must have selected the Spanish, which was the language he spoke, and accepted the disclaimer hoping that he would get instructions how to start the car.



I was rather amused at all of this but it does point out that there are people who have no idea how to operate the key-less ignition and the matter is compounded when they don’t speak or understand English.

I've been thinking about this myself lately. I just picked up a Prius last week and I'll be taking it to DC in two weeks. The hotel has valet parking and I've been wondering whether or not the key-less ignition would cause a problem.

Does the TCH come with a pad of valet parking "cheat sheets" for operating the car like the Prius? Not that it will matter if the driver doesn't understand English.

Mike

(that's what my car tells me, so it must be true)

Any garage in DC should be able to drive a Prius. There are tons of them around here. The only annoying thing is, they put the key fob in the slot, in the dashboard. I'd rather they hand it to me, so I can keep better track of it.