Some odd things occuring

welcome! who did you buy it from?

 

good. hopefully, they will stand behind it. i must say, it's very odd with low mileage like yours. i almost feel like a wiring harness has come unplugged or something. i hope it's not bad gas.

 

me too. all the best!

 

Did you check the battery vent to make sure nothing cover it? It's on the back seat behind driver's seat near the door.

 

Definitely take it in and have them look at it. Was is Certified PreOwned or is there a 30 day warranty? A visit will at least give you a record if there is a problem, and it might be something simple. What is the charge status of the hybrid battery?

I would check the 12 volt aux. battery; they last 5+ years and you are entering the end of that window. When it goes bad, all sorts of gremlin-like issues pop up. The car might be trying to charge a bad battery, hence the lack of engine shut down at lights.

I hope you get this worked out and enjoy your car!

 

dktvav's fan vent might be a good catch, or the fan itself might need to be cleaned.

 

good question. if the battery overheats, the engine has to work by itself. not sure if that's the issue though. you need the battery to start the engine, maybe that's why it doesn't shut down.

 

I live in the Las Vegas area and had a 2012 Prius-c. During the summer months when it got really hot out (over 100+ deg F outside) and my car had been sitting outside all day at work, I found that when I started the car, sometimes it did not use EV mode for a while...I've seen where the battery drained all the way down to 2 bars and stayed there for a while. The ICE did not turn off when coming to a stop, and the engine ran at a higher RPM than normal since the traction battery was not available to assist w/ propulsion. Once I jumped onto the freeway, I had to floor it all the way so that I could barely make it to 65 and merge safely. After maybe 5 or 10 min, with the A/C blasting full force, the traction battery began charging back up and the engine RPM dropped down to more normal levels. The ICE would shut off when coming to a stop and EV mode would become usable again. I'm assuming that the traction battery temp was too high, which prevented EV mode from being usable. I also made sure there wasn't anything blocking the fan intake vent and I know the fan was working (I could hear it running full force).

 

I have heard of other Prius drivers experience this behavior. Usually the same scenario of hot ambient temps combined with the vehicle sitting outside in direct sunlight for a while is the common theme I see. I'm pretty sure the behavior is normal for a hybrid car when the traction battery gets too warm. I usually try to put up the sunshade and park in the shade whenever possible, so that the temp inside the car doesn't get too high. The traction battery resides underneath the rear seat, hence why the fan intake air vent is located below the rear seat, on the left side. On really hot days, over 100+ deg F though, there just may be no way to avoid the 'issue', so in case it does happen again, I open the windows all the way and turn fan on full blast to vent the hot air out as quickly as possible. After about 5 min of driving, I put up the windows, turn on the A/C and set it to 78. This seems to get the battery cooled down the quickest. Freeway driving also seems to get the battery cooled down faster than city driving.

 

Cool deal...glad to hear there's nothing wrong with your car and is operating normally for a hybrid car. One other thing that you may run across, being that this is your first hybrid vehicle, is that when temps start cooling back down, like back into the 50's/60's when Fall comes around, the car may act 'funny' if you start the car and then turn it off before before the ICE has a chance to warm up enough, like say moving the car from inside the garage to outside and vice-versa. When you go to start it the next time, it may run very rough and shake the car a bit, like as if the engine is idling too low. Turning the car off and back on usually will fix it, but it will also cure itself as the car is driven around for a little while. Don't want to alarm you, but just an FYI in case you run into this 'quirk' It certainly surprised the heck out of me the first time I experienced it that I seriously thought something was wrong with the car, only to find out on these forums, that it is also a common thing that pops up now and then. Using EV mode to avoid firing up the ICE seems to help avoid running into that 'issue', so I try to remember that if I just need to move the car a short distance. Now, enough of all this hybrid mumbo-jumbo and just enjoy your 'new' ride!

 

All's well that ends well! Time to get a sunshade! Enjoy your Prius!