We've never before had a car with an On/Off button, so I'm shocked to hear that other makers don't also shift their cars into Park (or at least force you to select Park) when the car is turned Off! We will never own a non-Honda car, so it's safe for my wife and I to take for granted Honda's more safety-conscious engineering.
It doesn't seem like anybody has really responded to your original comment. I can back up in my Clarity with the door open. If the car switches to Park, just press the reverse button again and it should go into reverse.
If you double click and hold reverse while the door is open, it will stay in reverse. ..Sound of forum running to their Clarity.
I'm glad you cleared that up. I feel bad for momentarily believing that you were the sort of person who'd own a car like the Clarity. Oddly, I think of the Clarity as an expensive car (and worth it so far).
There is a reason that all automatics have "creep" in gear. Remember Audi in the 80's with the customer claims of "possessed cars"? Audi wanted to get rid of the lurch when shifting into drive and an unintended side effect was loss of creep. Creep keeps your foot on the brake when stopped (and not the gas). Analogous reason for default regen level (no setting for pure coasting). People lose track of their speed on the downhills. Two things on my wish-list for max efficiency.
I like the forward creep. It helps when pulling into the garage up to the hanging tennis ball. I keep my foot on the brake and can just ease it up to move forward slowly until in place. Without the creep I'd have to move my foot from accelerator to brake.
I doubt it's to protect EV drivers from inadvertently speeding on downhills. I've read that electrified car manufacturers set a default level of regen braking to increase their official (EPA, etc.) EV-range ratings. I agree it would be nice to be able to use the Clarity's paddles to achieve pure coasting.
I want the right paddle configurable for full coast while holding, left paddle configurable for full regen while holding. Although I’ve been driving our newly acquired Soul EV in B and am amazed by the Clarity’s limited regen lol. I really like brake hold as it emulates turning off creep mode but you still have the ability to creep when parking. Kia hybrids are a bit hard to drive in this aspect because they don’t apply constant torque while going VERY SLOW and riding the brake. This makes it hard to get really close to the back of a parking spot. This was on both the ‘13 Optima hybrid and ‘17 Niro. The Soul EV and Clarity do not seem to have this problem and acts closer to a gas idling. I have had the Clarity activate brake hold though once or twice before I was ready for it though but this has been really rare. Back on topic though if the seat belt is buckled you can open the door and the car will not shift to park. Honda really pushes for seat belt usage in the Clarity and takes quite a few features away if you do not have the seatbelt buckled.
No P button usage here either. Three EVs have spoiled me. Now when I forget to put my F—150 in park on the rare occasion I drive it, I consider it a flaw in the vehicle design and not operator error.
As someone with a rather tight parking space, I've had this issue too when seeing I need to back up an inch or so after I've gotten out. Having to get all the way back in (in tight confines while carrying all my stuff: lunch bag, coffee cup, jacket, etc) and having to shut the door was irritating juggling act. Glad to know I can "double-click" the shifter to get the car to move. As they say, first world problems.....
To my knowledge it has always been illegal to coast in neutral in a non-EV car, so I just assume they are applying that same principle as one of the reasons for default regen. On mild downhills and long coasts to stoplights (with no one behind me) I simply press lightly on the accelerator pedal to eliminate the regen and essentially coast in neutral. If I need to slow down a little I can release pressure on the accelerator pedal. Sort of a poor man's version of one-pedal driving.
I do that all the time. The power meter helps with that. It would be great if you could select coast with the paddles.