My car died while driving. All dash lights are off but I still have interior lights and headlights. Car won’t start at all so I need to release the parking to tow. The small battery is fine
You cant unless you unbolt the parking pawl. Just have it towed with the front in the air. You can drag it onto a flat bed but don't know what your going to do with it when you get there.
Isn't the parking brake mechanical and not reliant on electricity? Or are you talking about the "Park" button, and you're stuck in park now? If so, hopefully you backed in, or are in a spot where a tow truck can tow with the front wheels off the ground. When you get to a repair shop, maybe they can put a floor jack underneath and carefully move the car on that with the front end lifted off the ground, or find a way to either release it from Park or get some power to it so they can put it in neutral.
Yeah, maybe they have a special trick to bypass and get it into ready mode to be able to put it into neutral. Otherwise they may have to work on the car outside where the tow truck drops it off, or maybe the tow truck driver could back it into their shop for the mechanic to work on it and find the real issue
Actually, if the car is made IG-ON (not READY) and the brake pedal is depressed, it is possible to shift from P into N. However the OP may have lost his combination meter as part of his car's issues, and in that case he may not be able to shift into N [not to mention if the combination meter is not working then he has no idea what gear position (whether P or N) the car is in, other than by trying to push the car to see what happens.] In that case, one solution is to just have the flatbed tow truck drag the Prius onto the flatbed, even though P is engaged.
Yeah I was thinking the same thing: at least for 3rd gen, the chicken-dance to put the car in "invalid" mode (for brake fluid change) requires the car to be "On", not "Ready". When "On" you switch from Park to Neutral and back, and do multiple brake pedal tromps in each gear. To put the car in "Ready": a single push of start button with foot on brake. (engine will start, in a few seconds) To put the car in "On": two pushes of the start button, without foot on brake. (engine will not start, dash is awake, heat/vent too I believe>) One trip-up, for anyone trying to ship to Neutral in that chicken dance, or whenever you're trying to shift to Neutral: you need to depress the brake pedal when shifting to Neutral, or it won't happen.
