Had an intersting experience yesterday. I was in a hurry to get out of the car, and was pusing the start/stop button at the same time as opening the driver's door. In one continued motion, I closed the door, and then realized that I had heard beeping prior to closing the door. Couldn't have left the key in the ignition, as ...well... we all know why, anyway...what was the beeping?

I opened the door again, and realized the car was again beeping (still beeping?) I couldn't hear it from outsde with the door closed. Hmmm..The "ready" light was NOT lit, so I assume the car was OFF. No windows or moonroof open. Closed the door, beeping stops. I'm guessing it was the the old "key in the ignition with door open" warning from the "old" days, but in those days, when you took the key out, the beeping would stop.

I powered on the car and then off again, and opened the door, no more beeping. I guess because I opened the door before the car registered it was actually OFF, the beeping started, and could not be rectified without re-starting the car. Hmm

This is a wonderful car, but it certainly has it's share of beeps, bongs and buzzes.

One more observation...Opening the door each morning in my garage, car has been unlocked all night. I get a few seconds of buzzing under the hood...have no idea what it is, and am not concerned, but the act of opening the door seems to set something in motion...could it be the (unconfirmed to me) thermous bottle coolant system pumping warm stored coolant???

Current tank mpg 39.7 and on 322 miles, with 225 cruising range! YES!

 

If you open the driver's door BEFORE the "shutoff" process is complete, the car beeps a warning beep. Not sure why.

As far as the "buzzing in the morning" that is normal also. See the page in the manual that has all the "you may hear this noise but it is not a malfunction" page for a good explanation of some of those noises.

I have resigned myself to the fact that all the mysterious noises the car will make are just a part of the 4th Generation HSD system, and if something is wrong, then the car will not drive. Other than that, I'm getting used to ignoring the noises.

 

lars-ss...I agree 100% with you, I ignore most of these "noises" also, but then I think, that could be dangerous. The warning sounds are there to tell us something is out of ordinary, and needs attention "warning Will Robinson"...so I hesitate to tune them out totally. Granted the buzzes, I have eliminated from my concern...just curious mostly, as I love to know how everything works.

 

well, there are some things new TCH drivers should be aware off. For one thing, openning door will lock your steering wheel if the car is shutdown, so don't try to roll it down with door open, you can't steer. Another thing is that there is no feedback from the car the engine is running, like in all other cars. So the buzzer tells you you want to leave the car running and ready to go and BTW until you shut down the car , you can drive the car even without FOB inside. So the door open buzzer makes much more sense than you think, it's to remind you the car is running, don't go anywhere just yet. It will also beep if you leave the FOB inside and try to lock the door from outside. Disregarding and not paying attention to all those beeps could cost you later.

 

Well, by "roll it down" do you mean shut the car off and coast it into a parking spot? That won't work either anyway because you cannot shut the power off unless the car is in park. So the locking steering wheel should never be an issue, because it will not lock unless the car is shutdown, and the shutdown cannot happen in any gear except park. That seems to make it unlikely that anyone can ever be in a moving TCH with the steering wheel locked.

True about driving without the FOB inside and locking with the FOB inside.

Most of the noises I was talking about "ignoring" are after the car is driven or before it's driven - all those types of buzzes can generally be ignored. Not so much the warning beeps that you get while the car is in use.

 

Manual has specific warning on page 308 that in case Hybrid system stalls, opening door will lock the steering wheel, even if the car is rolling. I also think there is a tiny bug in the software, unless it is a feature for some special situations. I can take the car out of parking before ready mode is on and that will stop the car from starting . One time I left the car with my father, he pressed the start button and without waiting put it in gear. The car rolled down the driveway and stoped in the middle of street. I got the frantic call that the car is stuck in the middle of street and doesn't want to go no more. Lucky for me nobody run into it before it could be started and driven away.

 

So question.. just today, I picked up my wife for lunch. She had her key FOB in her jacket and I had mine in my pocket - I was driving.

When we got to the restaurant, she left her jacket in the car and we exited the vehicle (no beeping/buzzing/noises yet). After closing all the doors, I pressed on the black button to lock the doors. The TCH then started beeping continously (for a few seconds). It took me a moment to realize that it's probably warning me that there is a key FOB inside the vehicle. I then pressed on the "lock" button on my FOB and the beeping stopped and the doors locked. I figured the car would/should be smart enough to know that I have a FOB with me if I locked it from the FOB button. We then proceeded to have lunch.

What I'm wondering now is that since the FOB was inside the vehicle, could someone have walked up to the car and touch the door handle to unlock it?

 

It is my understanding that the FOB has to be outside the car to open the door.