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New 2012 Prius four - engine shut off twice on road

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by biba8163, Nov 19, 2012.

  1. biba8163

    biba8163 New Member

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    I just got a new 2012 Prius four a week ago. But I am a little concerned because I had it shut off on my twice on the road.

    #1. I was stopped at a light. Light turned green. I pressed the pedal but the yellow engine light came on. No power. I am holding traffic for a couple of seconds. Then the ICE comes on and I can move. I can't quite recall if it came on by itself or I pressed the start button.

    #2. I am turning right downhill and merging into speeding traffic behind me. Again the engine light comes on again, no power. I see traffic moving up behind me fast. Now, I've driven for a few days and immediately hit Power Mode. ICE kicks in. Hit the pedal.

    These two issues happened about two weeks ago when I just got the car and wasn't that aware of the battery gauge, etc so I wasn't paying much attention to it then. I am thinking that it was because I was in EV mode and batteries were low and it was trying to transition into ICE. But I've been stuck in traffic a few times now in EV mode, batteries get low, and the ICE automatically kicks in. Or is it because I was trying to accelerate quickly from EV mode when batteries were low?

    But I am concerned because my running car should not be shutting itself off when on the road in any case. It's not happened in the weeks since but I got to reading about all these issues with the Prius back in 2009-10 with the acceleration, etc so it's got me a little worried.
     
    #1 biba8163, Nov 19, 2012
  2. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    What "yellow engine light" are you referring to?

    Why are you pressing the "start button"?

    Yes, ICE will turn on when HV battery runs low. It doesn't matter if you're trying to accelerate w/a low HV battery. Acceleration will be sluggish and engine may rev higher/sound louder but there should be no delay.

    What are "all these issues with the Prius back in 2009-10 with the acceleration"?
     
    #2 cwerdna, Nov 20, 2012
  3. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    Was it wet or icy when this happened?
     
    #3 F8L, Nov 20, 2012
  4. biba8163

    biba8163 New Member

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    -The yellow exclamation that comes on and beeps when you start your car

    -Because the engine was not on. The car wouldn't move when I pressed the "gas" pedal.


    I started trying to google if ppl had similar issues and found stuff on consumeraffairs.com and other sites about Prius issues.


    BTW, thanks for you reply and any others who follow.
     
    #4 biba8163, Nov 20, 2012
  5. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    Hmm, there are possibly a couple (your Gen 3's lights are a little different than mine). Can you identify which one(s) it was from the URLs below?
    http://www.toyota.com/t3Portal/document/om/OM47704U/pdf/sec_02-02.pdf - start on page 219
    http://www.toyota.com/t3Portal/document/om/OM47704U/pdf/sec_05-02.pdf

    Consumeraffairs is not a very reputable site to go for any car information, BTW.

    F8L's question is to see if somehow the traction control kicked in and cut power... You'd see the skid light ("slip indicator light") when traction control kicks in or you've activated hill start assist (which I don't have since it's new to Gen 3). Stomping on the accelerator pedal when it's slick out would likely cause traction control to activate...
     
    #5 cwerdna, Nov 20, 2012
  6. JMD

    JMD 2012 Prius 4 Solar Roof

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    The car should switch between battery and Ice without hesitation.
     
    #6 JMD, Nov 20, 2012
  7. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    If this wasn't a traction control issue I wonder if the "gear" selector is having an issue. For the first time in my GenIII I selected Neutral and tried to floor the gas pedal. A yellow exclamation point appeared on the left side of the dash and the MFD displayed "car is in neutral" or something to that effect. When I released pressure on the gas pedal the symbol and message went away.

    My GenII never gave me any such warnings. The car would simply act like the engine was off.

    Could you be seeing the neutral warning symbols? Maybe the car is slipping into neutral for a moment because of a malfunctioning sensor?
     
    #7 F8L, Nov 20, 2012
  8. dhancock

    dhancock 2 Prius Family

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    The OP mentioned being in the EV mode. I wonder if that is part of his issue.
     
    #8 dhancock, Nov 20, 2012
  9. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    don't drive in ev mode. then your battery won't run down and you will have power while the ice is firing up.
     
    #9 bisco, Nov 20, 2012
  10. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    Are you trying to use EV as a regular driving mode? If so, stop, as this isn't a real EV car. Until you have a good baseline of experience, don't try to outsmart the hybrid system, but let it decide for itself when to use its electric modes. It is very easy to get it wrong and do worse than the car will do by itself.

    The particular problems you mention are not familiar to me. But I've never been in the situation of being in EV mode with a depleted traction battery and asking it for a surge of power for a takeoff from a stoplight or a highway merge.

    EV is best reserved for brief parking lot maneuvers, and some special low power circumstances that newbies shouldn't be concerned about just yet. For regular driving, leave it off.
    Your description does not come anywhere close the 'sudden unintended acceleration' or 'runaway car' syndrome that hit many Toyotas (all models with automatic transmissions, but more Camrys than anything else) in 2009-10, and certain Audis a quarter century earlier.
     
    #10 fuzzy1, Nov 20, 2012
  11. JE Sukara

    JE Sukara Junior Member

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    I bet it's the traction thing. That happened to me in the second time I drove my Prius (2012) and went over some street car rails unevenly. The car felt like it had no power, though I didn't think it had shut down. The yellow light flashed on so quickly, I had no idea what had happened!
     
    #11 JE Sukara, Nov 20, 2012
    The Critic likes this.
  12. The Critic

    The Critic Resident Critic

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    When you are depressing the brake pedal at a stoplight, are you pushing it all the way to the ground? If so, then this would activate hill-assist and the yellow light will illuminate. However, once you depress the accelerator, the light should go off right away and there should not be seconds of delay in acceleration.
     
    #12 The Critic, Nov 22, 2012
  13. WE0H

    WE0H Senior Member

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    Where did biba go??? 2 posts then poof disappeared? :(

    Mike
     
    #13 WE0H, Nov 22, 2012
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