You cannot park a Prius in neutral. Pushing the POWER button to turn off the car automatically engages the parking pawl (i.e. it'll engage Park).

 

My wife's protege5 won'tlet you take the key out without putting the car in park. Having been an alignment tech for several years, MANY cars are like that.

"So other cars can push them"? What the h*** kind of logic is that? what do you do to keep it from rolling around, down hills and over other people, chock the wheels and hope nobody decides to roll it off?

 

Remember that traffic laws are different around the world. Driving etiquette is also different. It might be ok to weave in and out of traffic in some parts of the world (otherwise you wouldn't get to where you want to go) but in North America, that will get you pulled over by the police on suspicion of drunk driving or driving without due care (both of which can get you demerit points). The same goes for parking. You would never double park unless you know the person or it's a really crowded downtown (like NYC) where parking is limited. Apparently in some parts of SE Asia, it's normal and leaving it in neutral allows the person you're blocking to move your vehicle out of the way if they return before you do.

 

I think most of today's Toyota won't let you take the key out if you're not in Parking position (Prius has no key); however, after you've taken the key out, there is a button near the transmission lever that allow you to pull it back to Neutral. In narrow city like Phnom Penh, double parking is common. So we need to leave the car in N position so that people can push it and allow the car inside to get out. Or it would result like this: (roll to 1:30)
https://youtu.be/lUdPSQJE_pw

 

It's worth to mention that in Phnom Penh parking lots that are subject to double parking usually has someone taking care of. For example, parking lots in front of a restaurant. Unless the ground is completely flat, these guys will use something like a piece of stone to block the car from rolling. I understand that parking in N is not a good practice but in narrow city where parking space is limited, you have no choice. Prius owners here usually have to leave phone number on their windshields and being called out to move their cars away. This is quite annoying. Huh?