Last night I pulled up to the gas pump to fill-up ($4.19 per gallon is less painful in a Prius, BTW). I turned the car off, then pressed the power button once, so that the radio was on for my wife and daughter. I stepped out of the car with the key in my pocket. I heard the warning beeping, which is the Prius telling me that the car is on (Aux mode, I think it's called, just the radio) and the key is not in the car. I ignored it and proceeded to fill up. When I was almost done filling up a few minutes later, the Prius "fully" started all by itself! My first indication was that the engine turned on, then I looked into the car and saw the display had changed such that it was showing 0 MPH. My wife and daughter didn't touch the power button, and in fact wondered if I somehow turned it on remotely. Has this ever happened to anyone else? It was a bit worrisome pumping gas into a running car.
i hate when that happens! (you probably had your foot on the brake when you pressed the start button.)
Either you didn't shut it off or someone reached over and pressed the button. It did not turn on by itself.
I've seen sort of thing happen before. I've had my Prius spontaneously drive forward when I forgot to put it in Park. I've also nearly shot myself in the foot when I forgot to clear the chamber in a rifle. Almost certainly you left your Prius in Ready. Tom
Just hit the EV Button! That's what I do, have never had a problem....although I only have 3K on the odometer.
I actually had the same thing happen yesterday. I pulled in to the parking spot at work while I was listening to something on the radio. I didn't want to leave the HSD on to drain the HV battery or run the ICE, so I hit the power button to turn the car off, then immediately hit it again so I wouldn't miss much on the radio. I'm reasonably certain that I didn't have my foot on the brake, but I was quite surprised when the ready light came back on when the car booted up. I tried it again, but this time I paused for a second or two before I turned the car back on after I turned it off, and this time it came back up in accessory mode as expected. I haven't tried to duplicate this, but given that you experienced it as well I suspect that all Gen III's will do it.
LOL - my daughter suggested (in some seriousness - she's young) that it might be the ghost of bin Laden. I told her I'm reasonably certain it wasn't his ghost, and even more certain that if his ghost existed, it wouldn't be in central Ohio.
Don't be too certain about that. There is rumor that B. L. was seen having lunch with Elvis at the local Burger King here in Pinehurst, NC.
When I was washing my car the other day in the driveway, I somehow locked the doors(heard it beep) when I was spraying the door handle with the hose. The fob was in my pocket, I was about 6' from the car, and it was a sunny day. I have NO idea how it could've done that, unless the water acted as an extension of me.
Happens to me all the time while washing my car. Enough water pressure at the handle will activate the sensor.
There's actually a note in the manual that water on the handle can activate the touch sensors to lock and unlock the door if the key is in range (and 6' is probably on the very edge of the range). As I recall it even mentions car washing and heavy rain as possible triggers.
My youngest reached over from the back seat the other day while I was loading a few things through the hatchback and pressed the START button on my 2011. On doing this the car started up and while the key device was obvioulsy in range he was nowhere near the brake pedal. Other family members were in the vicinity of the vehicle at the time but I couldn't see that anyone else was anywhere where they could have touched the brake pedal. I haven't been able to reproduce the incident but I was surprised to find that someone else had had a similar experience.
This is stated in the manual and probably what happened to the OP. Page 165 in manual: "Even if the “POWER†switch is turned to off and then quickly re-pressed, the “POWER†switch mode may not change. After turning the “POWER†switch to off, wait for a short time before operating again."
When you say the vehicle started up, do you mean it actually came up to Ready mode? If so, that is definitely not good and you might want to have it checked out. However, if the key is in range and you press the power button without pressing the brake the radio and some of the other 12V accessories will come on, but you can't actually put the car in gear or drive it anywhere. This is equivilant to turning the key in a regular car to the ACC (accessory) position and not starting the engine. You can tell it's in this mode because the Ready light will not be on. This is perfectly normal and likely what happened here.
