Upgraded to MAJOR Malfunction..

Fixed? September 10, 2012
See post further down.

Hey everyone,

So I just broke 3,000 miles on my C3 and today I was leaving school and started the car up. Sat for a couple of minutes while I sent a few texts then hit the road. A minute or two into my drive home I noticed I had a couple blinking lights on..

All at once I had:

• Blinking Seat Belt light, checked to make sure it was buckled in.. no problem there. Nothing in my passenger seat either.
• SRS Light (red one with person, airbag, and seat belts) was solid. I know this indicates either the air bag system, or the seat belts so it probably has to do with the seat belt light...
• Blinking Tire Pressure indicator, which a short distance later turned to a solid light.

I could feel that the tires weren't flat so I continued the drive home (3 or 4 miles) and as soon as I put the car in Park the Tire Pressure indicator lamp shut off. After shutting off the car and turning it back on, the other lights disappeared too. I drove around my block for literally like a minute and nothing came back on right away, but it may not have been enough... I don't know if they came on originally when I started the car or if it was along my drive home.
Another thing, maybe related or not, was that last night I was driving and I could feel like a slight knocking in the wheels. At first I thought I had a flat so I pulled over but all was good, no visible objects in tires either. I felt it braking and in the wheel when not braking... felt similar to when I had a hot spot on rotor in my old car. But today I didn't really notice anything, but maybe wasn't paying attention enough?
I didn't see any previous posts relating to these issues, so I'm gonna guess its not a common issue anyone else is having... any ideas? I'm about 30 minutes away from nearest dealer and would have some major issues if I didn't have the car for school...
Should I just wait and see if something else happens or should I bring it right in to the dealership? And what are my rights in terms of repairs (I know they're covered under warranty, but if they are gonna have the car for hours or over night do they give me a car to use?)
Any input is appreciated, thanks!
*Btw, I'm grabbing my tire pressure gauge now to check the numbers.. they were all spot on last week so I guess that'll be a good indicator on one of the lights.. Will update with results.



Update: Just went outside and checked tire pressure, all were about 8-10psi lower... im thinking i checked it a little longer ago than I originally stated.. maybe a couple weeks?

HOWEVER, i went to get into the car and the touch panels weren't responsive.. nor the remote.. I had to use the back up key.. dome lights and headlight came on but the car is DEAD. Start button does nothing, but when i hit the brakes I can hear an electronic doing something under the hood... The hazard lights don't work either.. I touched the pad to the start button and still nothing....

Got the car in July with 300 miles (from transporting from dealer up in new hampshire to CT) and it appears to be dead now and I have 5 classes at 8am until 2pm tomorrow... great! Gonna try ToyotaCare but its after 7 so i doubt any dealers are even open!

Help me please. =[

Note: Installed the over-the-air update for entune like 3 or 4 days ago

 

Negative. I had the car in full Ready Mode when I was sitting in the parking lot at school.. drove off and then the light issues, then got home and turned on and off a couple time no problem. After arrive home, the car sat for literally 2 minutes before I went out and found it to be dead. If I left it on, the car would have beeped at me telling me it was on when I try to lock the doors, and the 2 minutes it took me to get the pressure gauge would probably not kill even a weakened battery. I had the Toyota Road Side assistance send someone who just hooked up the jumper for 10 minutes and still couldn't get any action (no remote locking, start, etc). He says the malfunction lights tend to come on when an alternator is going bad, and I know even if an alternator went bad the car would still run until you shut down... but I shutdown and started it back up twice without issue before I locked it and went inside for 2 minutes. Hybrid battery was nearly full charge when I parked it aswell... although I know when that depletes 100% due to no gasoline, it can go into a disabled mode requiring the dealerships special machine...

So jumping it with their road side assistance didn't work. I'm gonna call back and have it towed to a dealership tonight so they have their full 8 hours to look at it tomorrow... so I will definitely get a car in the afternoon after classes whether it be mine or theirs.

Does anyone know of a lockout or disabled mode for these cars, for any reason at all? I just find it wierd that the lights work, and the powerlock button, and the dealer installed security system is still engaging when I lock the door with the key...

^IDEA: The security system has an immobilizer.. can that affect remote key, starting, hazard lights, etc?? Its the VIP RS3200... I'm gonna try to read up on that now, if anyone has any input on any of the above feel free to chime in!

Thanks for the support!

 

Unfortunately, Toyota Customer Support told me that the dealer is closed for the night and that a loaner won't be until after the dealer looks at the car. And that they won't reimburse me for any rental I try to get... In otherwords, even though I just shelled out $24000 for a brand new car to use for transportation, I have no transportation...

Sorry if that just comes out as bitching, but I'm tired and cranky now. lol

Anyone know if this car even has an alternator, or what kind of alternator it has since it's a belt-less engine...?

 

Will do, I just wish I wasn't the first to experience this!! lol I have been reading though, and it seems that 12volt failures in Prii do tend to cause random MFD illuminations. So its definitely a possibility. I would think that a jumper would have atleast given the system enough juice to make something happen though, and I didn't find any special instructions on jumping for these cars so I'm guessing the roadside assistance's standard jump was enough...

Tow truck is enroute, will update tomorrow night. =\

 

I know, I understand that because if the tires is warm from the brakes or what not... but it seems it was accurate compared to reading on it today which was from the computer and was about the same... I don't really use friction braking at all on my ride home from school.. some what down hill and no lights for like 4 miles lol.



And so here's my update to the situation:
Called dealer at 730am to give them all the information since car was towed over night. At 330pm I called and told them I need a loaner car and they said they dont have one, maybe tomorrow... Umm no, I need a car and you have had mine over 8 hours... He says again he doesn't have any, and I ask what about a car rental place and he says "Oh well I can call and set one up, but I don't know if they have one".... okay.... can you just call? Gets me into a rental car but its by the dealer, 40 minute drive... I get there and they tell me that they cant give me the car because I'm under 21 years old... only through insurance claims can they do it... Great, so I go to the dealer now and they tell me they can't give me a loaner either because of my age!! I argued until I was blue in the face, told them look you have my car for more than 8 hours and want to keep it over night... I need a car, the Warranty says I get a car if you have my car for more than 8 hrs or over night! Finally I call Toyota Customer Service line, and explained and she said "So what do you want us to do?" and I said, well I need your help getting a car... its your warranty that covers this car and any issues with it... its inoperable and a month old, I need a car. She said the best she can do is refer the matter to the dealer's customer service manager who may not be around because it was now 5pm.... I finally gave up and said okay atleast do that... went into the sales office and asked for a customer service manager and was passed to the GM of the dealer. Who gave me a car right away before I even explained the whole situation.

Now the details from service on the actual issue:
Current Diagnostic from their mechanics: "A hiccup"
Car started no problem for them, but there was a number of codes present:
Hybrid Control (code was CURRENT)
The rest were not current, but present:
Occupant Detection
air conditioner
main body
smart key
srs airbag
navigation
power source control
engine and ECT
cruise control
abs/vsc/trac
emps
tire pressure monitor
combination meter
d-door motor

The service guy i was dealing with me told me, don't worry these codes tend to come in groups... like if you leave the gas tank open you might get a code for your CEL, and your seat belts or random lights for some reason.... (I call bullshit on that, it would kinda defeat the purpose of these codes wouldn't it??)

They drove it and nothing popped up, then said they wanna keep it over night and drive it tomorrow with the computer hooked up and see if anything happens... if not then they will give back car and just call it a "hiccup"...

Oh and the same guy said that they want to keep over night but since i couldn't get a rental car the best he can do is give it back to me tonight and hopefully nothing happens while im driving.... Real nice... oh and also "why don't just borrow [my] parents' car"... hmm idk, maybe because im an independent, live a couple hrs away, oh and because the car has 33,000 miles left of warranty!

Seems like someone else had a somewhat similar issue: Locks won't work, ABS, traction control and Tire Pressure dash lights on | PriusChat

So should I take the car back if they don't get any codes on their test drive tomorrow... do I have a choice? I don't want to drive a computer driven car if the computer like to randomly go crazy, not until its fixed. What should I tell the dealer? I feel this is a pretty big issue especially since it just comes out of nowhere, and I don't feel like it should be just called a "hiccup" when my car was completely disabled without reason for atleast 6 hours.

Thanks again for the help/support!

 

Here is the slip of the codes I had them give me a copy so I can report back to the forums lol

 

Well Dick, you seem to have much more knowledge than any employee of Toyota I have met so far. Do you work for Toyota? why exactly would the issue be caused by a short or loose connection but allow lights and stuff to work? And also last time it fixed itself, first the car didn't work at dealer, they came back to it couple hrs later and it worked. Would this loose connection lock it down temporarily?


Anyways, you were right and the problem came back again. This time I was 60 miles from home, in my old hometown at olive garden. Luckily I was once again parked, and came back to the car to find the locks not working. TOYOTAdoesntCARE said I have to Pay the extra 22 miles to tow to my dealer... I talked to a supervisor and still nothing. I said in much nicer words that they can kiss my nice person. Triple Aaa to the rescue. Their service truck man was on way home and figured he would see if he can help before the the truck was able to come out.. He checked the battery, fuse block, connections in the fuse block... No solution. He was nice enough to take my keys to the truck guy who had two calls before me, so I could leave with my girlfriend.

At this point I feel like not even recommending anything to them even about the loose connection, because if they don't fix and I happens again I am covered by my states lemon law and would be more than happy to take my business and money to another company.

I'm just fed up and can't believe how many excuses I hear from a company that I gave 25 grand to...

 

Fixed?

So I just got the call from the dealer ship that they discovered the issue with the car and it will be all fixed up in about a half hour. According to the technician, the other dealership which I bought from and had the VIP alarm system installed at messed up the wiring? The guy told me it looked like they installed then uninstalled an alarm... but the alarm was still in the car and was still active I know this for a fact because I tried the key-tap on the window and it sets the alarm off...as it should. Somehow the other dealer cut the wiring harness, maybe unnecessarily, and it was shorting out causing the car not to recognize the key fob.

Looking for a way to get to the dealership now (because their shuttle is "on a long trip and then the guy goes home") then we'll see if its fixed for good.

 

Thanks man, appreciate it. And yeah I don't know what they were doing... but the servicing dealership said it looked like they installed and uninstalled... so I'm guessing they cut the wires then realized they didn't need to? It's an option for the car so I would believe that toyota would have plug-and-play integration with it. What ever. I know to stay away from things like dealer installed moon roofs, now i guess i should stay away with dealer installed electronics too!