Prius balks at starting

I had the same problem this morning. I've got a 2007, first time it's happened. Had all the warning lights on as others have described. Through all the stuff I was doing (and I also had the brake light on after I took off the parking brake), I ended up turning it on to accessory mode and it worked after that. So, at least now I know how to solve it.

Of course, this is the third thing that's gone wrong after I rolled past 36,000 miles a couple weeks ago, and I didn't buy the extended warranty. :-(

Still love my car, though.

 

Remember that accessory mode procedure is just a stop-gap -- if startup problems happen to you often, check your 12v battery.

I just replaced mine after 35,000 miles because I saw startup problems that grew worse with colder weather. Replacing the battery made it run like new again.

 

Maybe time to resurrect this thread.

I've experienced this phenomena at least 3 - 4 times in the last week (and my wife experienced it on Saturday, the one time she drove the car). It is a bit disconcerting to press the power button and then to put the car into reverse and you don't get the reverse beep and the car won't move.

When I put my foot on the brake, I can see the light on the starter/power up button turning green. I press the start button and I'll get all the warning lights, but the ready light won't go on. At first, I thought the problem was that I wasn't keeping the power button pressed on "long enough", but that didn't consistently "fix" the problem. My foot is firmly on the brake pedal (heck, one time I pressed hard enough to get the Hill assist light to kick on).

It is intermittent, which is both a blessing (the car starts) and a curse (the toyota dealer won't necessarily be able to replicate it).

I'll have to check my 12V battery readings (again) to see if they've changed much.

 

Could be something as simple as one of the switches that are actuated when you press on the brake pedal. Just a thought!

 

A green light on the power button means the car knows the brake pedal is applied. As long as it's green, you don't need to push any harder. The car won't turn on at all if it's not sensing the key inside the car either.

Do all the warning lights go off except ready is not lit? (Everything looks normal and ready to drive) If you turn on the car without pushing the brake (basically like putting a normal car in Ignition-ON without starting, the speedometer is blank .. and a few other things are slightly different.) Look for this....

I would bring a digital camera into the car to snap some pictures when this happens.

If everything is lit (including the speedo) but READY is off, this is a problem and a picture would show it to the dealer.

 

And maybe a video, since the digital camera's can do both.....

 

I did the onscreen diagnostic (after the car sat at work for ~10 hours), the battery voltage read 9.6 +/- 0.1 Volts. Time to call the dealer.