This message is a copy of one I posted in the Summary of problems reported on Prius 2010 forum. Has anyone had a similar problem with their Prius? Last night I was in a car queue to get a ticket to board a ferry and as the cars were moving slowly I selected "Park" each time I stopped. After doing this about 6-8 times when I selected "Drive" nothing happened, the car stayed in park. I tried several times and even selected all other setting to no avail. I solved the problem by turn the power off with the power switch and powering on again. I will make further tests today to see if I can reproduce the fault.
I assume you had your foot firmly on the brake when you tried to shift back into D. Is this correct? Tom
I am beginning to wonder if that was the cause. Seeing I moved 6-8 times with no trouble I would have thought that I did have my foot on the brake. I also powered off then on and did not consciously move my foot to the brake pedal. However, perhaps my brain also went into park when I pushed the park button for the last time because I have not been able to reproduce the event.
If you try to go into D from P without pressing the brake, you get a warning beep (at least I do). Reminds me I have to to use the brake pedal as well!
No, there was definitely no beep, that, I am sure of. The reason I say that is I was expecting some warning signal and there was none. Therefore, if the Gen 3 beeps, which I will check in the morning, then it was a car fault not a brain in park.
I believe that is only a Gen III feature. I don't recall hearing the beep in my 2006. It's easy to make this mistake when you are shifting into and out of park repetitively. If that was the problem, you certainly weren't the first. Tom
I must admit that my hearing is not the best and I wasn't wearing my hearing aids, so I could have missed the beep. Since posting, I have read elsewhere that another motorist had a similar problem caused by a loose connection to the switch on top of the brake arm. Maybe I have a similar problem.
The OP has a Gen III. In Australia we can't buy next years car in May. A Gen III which was manufactured in 2009 is referred to as a 2009 car here. My money is on either the OP didn't have a foot on the brake or inadvertently switched to accessory mode rather than select park because they pulled up to a ticket booth or machine. I know it's a long shot but it is the sort of thing I would do. Well actually I'd just hold my foot on the brake and leave my car in drive. (because I have a smiley face you can't get upset at me)
Perhaps the Aussie Prius doesn't scream out in protest if you try to shift to D without the brake applied? ;-) Could you have been attempting to shift into B accidentally? I did that a couple of times when I first got my car and when stopped, nothing happens at all.... No beep, no nothing. You have to shift into D first then B. I don't think it's a sensor on the brake pedal -- you would get a DTC (error code) and braking would be severely affected since the stroke sensor on the car is what actually tells the computer to apply the brakes. If a fault is detected, the system goes into fail-safe mode then the brake pedal acts directly on the wheels. (With reduced performance and a Christmas tree of warning lights.) Perhaps the shifter interlock is solely based on the brake light switch -- and in that case, it could quite possibly be faulty. (Though you would also get an error code if the car detected braking on the stroke sensor but no brake light switch.) Of course, you said you turned the car off and on again, which requires you to be pushing the brake (and the car sensing that) .....
That is what I did for a while until I got tired of keeping my foot on the brake. So I tried putting it in park and all went well until one car from the ticket booth. By the way, I have a friend who lives in London and he is sending a truck load of snow to Adelaide. That should cool you down.:focus:
I had a similar problem on two seperate occasions whilst waiting in a departure lane to board a ferry. I put it down to the quick movement of the gear selector, when cars in front suddenly moved off, rather than a firm, positive selection.
No, that did not happen in my case. After I discovered that the Prius stayed in park I deliberately selected drive again, then reverse and finally neutral (2-3 secs). None of these selections worked. I powered down the car and after powering up the selection worked correctly.
