Prius Is Dead

so how did they fix it? new battery? or just a jump start?

do you have any aftermarket accessories?

 

Don't panic. More likely it was *one* electrical problem, and three attempts at diagnosis before the dealer guessed correctly. Drive it for a while and see how it goes.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(richard schumacher @ Nov 7 2007, 11:08 PM) [snapback]536511[/snapback]</div>

My thought too. This sort of diagnostic technique is common when technicians are in over their heads, or if they are working without the proper tools. This could be a red flag about the service at that particular dealer.

Tom

 

My new '08 Prius is dead after 2 days of sitting. Hopefully a door wasn't all the way closed or something but it didn't seem that way when I entered the car. It's definitely a bummer. The headlights were in the off position and I distinctly remember switching off the main power and wondering if I had pressed the Park button or not, but figured it probably puts itself in park or should complain if the power button is pressed while in D.

We'll see what happens when AAA gets here (I just checked and the car is definitely in park) but this has never happened to me, so I'm worried about the car now

 

If that happened to me, I'd cause a failure like that and just lemon law it. Too risky.

 

Did you leave the key nearby? It can keep the computer and lights running.

 

Car was (still is!) in the garage and the key was in the house, about 40-60 feet away. When the car gets jumped i'll make sure to see if any lights are still on.

 

I'm not sure if anyone's said this yet, but you may want to check into lemon laws. If you have a repeated problem that the dealer has trouble fixing, they may have to give you a new car.

 

Depends on the state, but here in CA it's more than 3 times for the same problem.

 

Even if you do not place your '08 Prius in the 'P' position and you press the 'Power' button...it usually will put itself on 'Park'.

 

I couldn't push the car and it didn't complain when I turned it off, so it seems like at least at the transmission level, it was in park. AAA came and after a "jump" everything powered up and the traction battery meter showed about 60%. Still no idea what happened I took her for a 10 minute drive around the hood and so far, all is well.

Heh... what do you mean it will "usually" put itself in park? ;-)

Cheers.

 

IMHO you should ask the dealership to check your little battery in back. It could be faulty with a bad cell.

 

With my '06 Prius, I can come to a full stop, like after pulling into my driveway, and with my foot on the brake, I next press the power button. Watching the transmission indicator, the car will go from "D" to "P" then all those lights with the exception of the transmission shift indicator light, will go out, then after a good second, the transmission shift indicator light will also go out. The car has "parked itself".

 

Almost certainly, it was a single problem. They mis-diagnosed it the first two times.

Sounds to me like the little 12-volt battery. Either it got drained because a light was left on, or it's defective. Always a bummer when the car won't start, but this is a very minor problem and does not mean anything is really wrong with the car. Good luck.

When you shut the car off by pressing the Power button, it automatically puts itself in Park. Some people like to press Park first, just to be in the habit, so that if they ever get out of the car without shutting it off, they've put it in Park first. But it's not necessary to press Park before Power Off.

 

Simplst explanaition is that you left something not-quite-closed. Always lock the car, no matter where you park it. It will then complain with a long beep if the doors or hatch are left ajar.

"Usually" usually means that the poster is not completely confident of the answer :_> The car always puts itself into Park when you shut it off.

 

It's hard to fault the dealer when the high-voltage cable has an intermittent open. More than likely, it's a loose joint inside the cable jacket where the terminal on either end of the cable connects to the cable. It sounds like the dealer did the right thing here. The dealer looked for obvious remedies first, then called Toyota when those failed and apparently (so far) corrected an uncommon problem. How did the dealer treat you during this ordeal? Hopefully well. If so and your car works fine now, the dealer did its job. The bottom line is that problems can occur on any complicated piece of electronically-controlled machinery. The Prius is not exempt. The inconvenience to the vehicle owner is unavoidable. What really matters is how your dealer's service department handles these problems when they occur.