Just bought a 2011 Prius and I love it. When I push the power button to turn it on, the ESC light comes on along with the caution triangle light for about 3 seconds then both go off and the "ready" light comes on. is this a normal occurance?
That might be part of the boot up process. Since the car is highly computerized, I would think that is part of the self-check process to determine if everything is ok to proceed. On my car, everything lights up for a few seconds then it says ready.
If I press my power button with my foot on the brake to start the car all of my lamps register and the will go off and the ready light and any other accessory indicator lights will be illuminated also. It is like a self test cycle I believe. If I just press the power button twice without depressing the brake pedal to turn on accessory mode most of the caution/malfunction indicator lamps will remain on. Hope that helps.
I just checked in mine, and it does that too - completely normal. A number of the warning lights will illuminate when starting the car as they perform their system checks. The PDF manual marks the expected lights on page 186-7 with an asterisk. The master warning light isn't marked, but I think that's just an error. It appears that any time that light is on (besides when starting) there should also be a message on the MFD to tell you why. The ESC light (slip indicator) is one of those that is expected to come on. They probably do this so that if any computer gets hung while trying to boot, its warning light remains on. Only when it's finished booting and testing the system will it turn off the light. It's also a way to check that the lamps are working (though I doubt many people do that).
Thanks for your responses, wasn't sure if this was normal or not. When I first got the car the ESC light would come on then go off after I pressed the power button but never had the caution light go on at all.
The main reason that ALL the dashboard lights go on during a startup (as they normally in regular cars as well), is so that someone can confirm if a bulb (behind the dash) is burned out. If it does not come on during start-up, it would likely be burned out. Years ago, I know someone who bought a used car, where the previous driver removed the 'Check Engine and Oil bulbs' My buddy bought it, and it died within weeks, with tons of issues. They removed the bulbs so a buyer of the car would not know of the issue. This is standard in any vehicle that I've ever driven.
Just make sure that your foot is on the brake when you hit the button. You ought to try not doing this once so you see what happens. Lots of newbies make this mistake. Yellow caution warning comes on and the car won't go anywhere
If your foot is off the brake you are correct the car won't start when you press the power button. You can change the power mode with out depressing the brake. 1 press is OFF, 2 presses is ACCESSORY mode, 3 presses will give you ON mode. pg. 166 in owners manual. Also for the OP in my manual on page 188-189 it covers the indicator lamps goes over what turns on and when.
