Check hybrid system

Of its at one bar, it might be below what the system allows and will need to be charged back up more than likely.

There is no power steering fluid in a Gen3 as it is electronically assisted.

You might be looking at the brake fluid if on the drivers side.

I’d look to get the codes read and begin planning a trip to the dealer unless you have access to the Prolong equipment .

 

To charge the traction battery requires specialized equipment .

The dealer can obtain it, but it’s not usually readily available. Hybrid Automotive makes a charger that you can use, but also requires a harness to be purchased.

Things to remember when this message is displayed:

• You can only start the car so many times until the battery is run down to the point te car won’t allow another restart
• Obtaining Techstream and pairing it with an old laptop yields the best diagnostic tools you can have
• Was there any recent incidents or hitting a pothole, etc that may have caused the message to display?

Good luck and keep us posted .

 

As @Raytheeagle said, that's probably the brake fluid you were looking at since the steering is electric. Chances are the steering warning is due to the traction battery being too low to provide sufficient power to the steering motor.

It's called Prolong. There are countless threads here about it. Good product, but possibly too late to save your battery.

Best option is to get a Mini VCI with Techstream. Available through Amazon or Ebay. TS is the software Toyota uses but what you get online is an older pirated version. The kosher version costs almost as much as a used car. You'd need a Windows laptop with 32-bit XP or Win7 to install the drivers without going through some pretty esoteric stuff. If you have that, it's easy and is "da bomb." They are cheap and easy to find online. Otherwise, there are several OBDII readers for smart phones. Carista is a turn key system, but not the cheapest. Available for Android & iOS. Then there is ToquePro for Android and Engine Link for iOS. There are also countless threads here about those options if you want to explore them.

Bottom line is that you will need to know the codes in order to know for sure what's going on. Auto parts stores will usually read codes for free, but many can't read the Prius hybrid codes and you'd have to get the car there anyway.

 

Did you by chance run it low on gas and carry on to a gas station. Second gen's would run the battery low in that scenario, thirds gens though I think were protected against doing that. If that is the case, there's a chance it can be recharged, but that'll take a special dealership charger.

Something has got to give in this equation. There is a chance you'll need a new battery, or at the least some dealership intervention. There's no free lunch. Maybe a dealership can send a mechanic over, hook up Techstream see what's going on. If not, budget for a tow to dealership, and about $100 for code read and diagnosis.

This is another option for battery replacement:

Prius Battery Replacement (GenII) Like you've never seen - NEW Cylindrical Cells | PriusChat

 

Autozone can read some codes with generic readers, not all, but maybe enough so you know where you stand. Trouble is, right now the car's 100 immobile? Just for giggles: disconnect 12 volt negative cable for about 5 minutes and then reconnect, see if that can get you rolling?

 

There are many reasons for the check hybrid system message.

But the 12 volt battery can cause this. But I’d be looking elsewhere unless you left the light on last night through an ajar door or some other drain on the battery.

What is the at rest voltage for the 12 volt?

 

make sure the battery cooling fan intake grille is clear

 

Okay we won't tell you that, even w/one bar. We'll let the dealership will be the bad news bear

 

Back seat back, at passenger side. Long shot though.

One bar on the hybrid battery charge display is not good.

 

You never can tell. It can last to 200k. Most do not. Some have gone over 300k. Some have been replaced within the 100k mile warranty. I would guess (I don't have statistics for this) that the average is around 150,000 miles. But the life of the traction battery depends at least as much on time and number of charge/discharge cycles as miles. So driving style and conditions such as heat or big hills are a big factor along with slight individual variables in the quality of the components.