Has anybody experienced this problem before?

Are you sure this isn't related to the "braking in reverse" issue with the 2010?

Tom

 

Your brake pads were stuck on the discs by minor rust formation after the car wash. Very common on all cars. If you want to minimize it try a trip around the block after the next wash.

 

Evidence:

1. The Baby's bath.
2. Sitting for three days afterwards.
3. Loud noise from rear wheels when initially moving.

Verdict:

Rust on the rear brake discs.

Typical/normal in most cars. The brake discs in many cars easily glaze with surface rust after being wet - rain or wash. The longer the vehicle sits without moving the discs to remove that slight surface rust...it continues to build. And could surround the brake pads just enough to inhibit rotation of the brake disc, wheel, and car. The additional inertia of "more gas" breaks the rust connection of the disc and pads. The rust would be removed by normal driving the first few hundred yards.

Completely normal.

 

Wife had the same thing happen and it was not the brakes. She got in, started and the car would not move. She told me the car wouldn't move and it was stuck in Park. I got in the passenger side, had her turn it off and start over. She started, put the car in gear and it would not move. I had her start again, put foot on brake but this time I put the car in gear, same thing. Then, I noticed the car was really not shifting out of Park. We (both) were shifting to fast. We did not make sure we made a good shift. We were just "slapping" the shifter. I have done this several times now without thinking. You have to make sure you actually engage the shifter fully.

This is not to say this is what was happening with you. It could have been the brakes.

 

Sounds like just the brakes. Mine did the exact same thing this morning after I washed it over the weekend and left the parking brake on after. No big deal.

 

So . . . you think you're embarassed? You've only done one of the two. Someone I know (who lives in my house but isn't my wife or children) has done both . . . and been worried . . . and been embarassed!

I'd point the guy out, but why embarass him any further?

 

I vote for this cause too. Used to happen on my 73 beetle all the time. Had to rock the car forward and backwards to pop the brakes free and heard the loud pop. It was really hard to pop free with drum brakes, though!

 

The same thing happened to us this morning. After filling the gas tank (a rare event), I could not get the car out of Park. I tried a few times, engaging the shifter fully, as far as I could tell. I then turned off the car, restarted it, and all was well. I assume I started the car properly the first time!

We also had an interesting "problem" a few days ago. I had the car in EV mode in a parking lot, and when I was exiting the lot onto a (not busy) highway, I noticed a car coming up very fast. I therefore put my foot down on the accelerator to keep ahead of him. The car beeped, EV went off as I expected, but the message was "excessive acceleration". (The usual message is "excessive speed"). After this event, the word "ECO" would not come on on the hybrid system indicator, even though the horizontal bar was to the left of the power segment, and even when the horizontal bar was left of center. More annoyingly, I could no longer set the cruise control. So I continued home for about 15 miles with no cruise, and no "ECO", turned off the car for a day, and the next day everything was fine. Seems all the car needed was a "reboot", just like a computer.

I always drive in eco mode, but when I got into the situation above, I went back and forth between eco and normal, which made no difference.

Anyone else had this problem?

 

Uh Oh, if anything embarrasses you it should be that comment

 

You don't even need to run around the block to clean the disks, a simple trip up and down the driveway with both the brake and gas pedal applied will do the trick. Don't want to get anymore dust on the freshly washed paint than necessary.

This is a really important thing to do though with new, tight fitting pads. The rust can pit the rotors badly.

 

When you exit EV mode this way, I believe you simply have the EV go off and you are back to the most recent mode you were in, whether that be Eco, Normal or Power.

You could try to replicate what happened, though making certain you've started in Eco mode -- then see what is different.

Remember: The "Eco" light doesn't come on when you are not in Eco mode.

 

Strange we are talking about these recent events. Just this weekend I tried to show a buddy the EV feature. Pulled out of the driveway, doing less than 20mph and I could not put the car in EV. Kept getting a message that EV could not be used at that speed. At 10mph it still wouldn't go into EV. Kept pushing the button, nothing. Drove normally, went a few blocks, tried it again and it worked. Took it up to about 23 and EV went off but then it would not go into ECO. Kept pressing the ECO and nadda. Drove some more, stop and go and pushed ECO again and it came on. My friend was nice and did not get on me about my new electric car. I don't know what it was doing. I had done the same thing before with no problems.

 

This reminds me of the time I took my mom's Gen II to the carwash. I couldn't get it into neutral. There were cars lining up behind me and the workers were shooting me nasty looks. So embarrassing. I finally held the shifter in neutral for several seconds and it finally shifted. I'd just been releasing too fast. Lesson learned.

 

You do know that if the battery charge level is not high enough, the Prius will not operate in EV mode until it has a higher charge level?

 

I'm betting you selected "B" mode instead of "D" -- those are the symptoms.