Please HELP. I've got a UHaul dolly, on which the platform where the front tires are can slightly rotate when the towing vehicle turns. I've been towing my 2012 Prius C for about 1,000 miles, got another 1,500 to go. Everything was going well until tonight. To tow, after getting much advice, I put my Prius C on "Park", parking brake disengaged and engine turned off. I checked on it a few times. At first, nothing to declare. But now, a few lights are on when I turn the car on!!!! ABS/regenerative brake/parking brake/anti-slip. Did I damage anything? We did not turn much, just a few times on parking lots. I am thinking maybe the steering was locked in front but because the dolly makes the wheels turn slightly with turning, it messed things up??? What should I do? I am thinking I could continue on with keeping the car turned on ACCESSORY mode and keep it on neutral, but that will likely kill the 12V after a while? Or I could turn the car ON, keep it on READY and NEUTRAL, hoping that the car engine will turn on when the battery needs to be recharged... What should I do? Kinda freaking out. Thanks in advance for the insight. F.
i think you need to find the proper towing methods. in the meantime, try disconnecting the 12v for a few minutes, to see if it clears the lights. hopefully, no damage, but i don't think the front wheels should touch the ground.
I don't think you did anything wrong. Here is the advised ways the Prius can be towed: Toyota Prius >> If your vehicle needs to be towed - In case of an emergency It is implied the ignition is off, transmission in Park, parking brake off. Your warning lights should clear after a few on/off cycles on its own. Unless the rear brakes were dragging or something causing overheating and failure of the rear ABS/traction control speed sensor(s).
My manual (2012 hatchback) says: ■Before emergency towing Turn the “POWER” switch to ON mode. Do not turn the “POWER” switch to ACCESSORY mode. Shift the shift position to N. Release the parking brake
Further down the manual: Caution while towing ●Use extreme caution when towing the vehicle. Avoid sudden starts or erratic driving maneuvers which place excessive stress on the emergency towing eyelets and the cables or chains. Always be cautious of the surroundings and other vehicles while towing. ●Do not turn the “POWER” switch off. This may lead to an accident as the front wheels will be locked by the parking lock. ●If the hybrid system is off, the power assist for the brakes and steering will not function, making steering and braking more difficult. ■Installing towing eyelets to the vehicle Make sure that towing eyelets are installed securely. If not securely installed, towing eyelets may come loose during towing. This may lead to accidents that cause serious injury or even death. This seems to reference using the towing eyes and chains, so possible does not apply. Also, my manual says not to tow from the front with the rear wheels on the ground. However, it has a picture in the approved section doing exactly this. They probably are concerned about running the battery down when they reference the Power switch.
All of the above sounds like emergency towing of the vehicle with 4 wheels on the ground. Not with the front wheels off the ground, or towed with the rear end off the ground and the front wheels on a dolly.
Further yet: To prevent causing serious damage to the hybrid transmission when towing using a wheel-lift type truck Never tow this vehicle from the front with the rear wheels on the ground.
I think these "emergency towing" quotes are with the front wheels on the ground. Like getting it out of a ditch.
I had this same problem today after towing my 2014 Prius plugin 1600 miles on a uhaul dolly. This page was the only Info I could find on it. What fixed the all the lights on the dash for me was I drove around the block, gunned it, then slammed on the brakes and the lights went off. Since then I’ve turned the car off and on again and it seems to be resolved. If anything changes I will update this post. Good luck my fellow uhaul dolly users.
SOLVED!! At least mine is. Same issues as mentioned, I bought an SUV in Miami Florida and towed my 2015 prius back home to New Port Richey and when I got home the parking brake light was on, traction control light, power steering light, and ABS light. Possibly more, I couldn't remember. The power steering wouldn't work either. All I did was drive up the road one time, like two hundred feet, and all the lights went off and it works fine now. It maybe had something to do with the steering wheel moving a bit with the car off? I don't know what it was freaking out about, but it appears it was just that the system freaked out and went into failsafe mode. Maybe because the rear tires were turning without the fronts? But I had the car off the entire time. The main inconvenience (besides the obvious stress) was that it as really difficult to get off of the tow dolly because it seemed like it was in limp mode. But it looks like all you have to do is to drive it for like 30 seconds or so. It may be speed based, I never hit 30mph though, so its probably slow? Just drive it.
