I've searched the forums without too much success, so I'm creating a new post. 2005 Prius 88.5K miles Last winter my ABS VSC (!) and BRAKE warning lights came on one evening while braking, but upon start up the next day, the lights were off and remained off. They came on perhaps 3 more times with similar results until my current problem started. When the weather started to get colder this past November, I would get these warning lights when braking while moving at any speed, while stopped and in drive, or while stopped and in park. The lights will stay on until the car is powered down. When the car is restarted, the lights do not come on again until I press the brake firmly and for more than 5 seconds. I had thought it may be due to a 12V battery issue, so I replaced the battery with a new stock battery in December. This seemed to remedy the problem for a day or two, but it returned. When braking while moving and the lights come on, I can feel a slight jerk as if there is a change in braking pressure, and the brakes only feel the slightest bit mushier when the lights are on. However, if I do not brake for more than 5 seconds at one time during a trip, the lights will not come on at all. The brake fluid reservoir is full and the level has not changed. According to the MFD, the signals for the battery are: 12.3V unloaded 11.9V loaded 14.2V when car is started. There are no other codes present in diagnostic mode. I've read horror stories about the dealer trying to diagnose braking issues to no avail and people spending thousands. To my knowledge, there are no other garages in my area that might be able to help me with this problem. I'd like to see if anyone has any ideas.
You may want to look at this post, and the entire thread it is in: Prius Brake Issues | PriusChat I'm no car guy, but sure sounds like ABS is failing. Can be a $3,000 repair at the dealer. However, when I googled this issue, I found references to people paying less.
2005 Prius; 90,000 mi We just experienced last night what you described from last winter. We limped home, then I thought I'd try a "reboot" and 24 hrs later no recurrence, but I am concerned. Car problems don't seem to fix themselves. Can you tell me if you've had further occurrences or had anything done to fix the problem? thanks
If the ABS light is on, you can get the blink codes from the Brake ECU. Short pin 4 and 13 on the DLC connector below the steering wheel. Put the car in ready, and watch the blinking lights on the dash. Search for "blink codes" in the search function for more info. This will reduce the guess work.
Just had the ABS/VSC light come on in my 2005 Prius with 330K miles. Runs and handles normally. No braking issues. Brake fluid is full. New 12Vt battery last year. Running voltage is 14.2V Tried the paper clip jumper trick. Didn't work. My code reader shows no trouble codes. I recently had front end work done. Had both front hub and wheel bearing assemblies replaced (October). Three days ago I had the front struts replaced. I am thinking this work might have something to do with the lights appearing. Any thoughts?
If it doesn't work when you try it again, let us know exactly what you did, and exactly what happened instead of the codes blinking out. Otherwise, let us know what codes blink out. Sometimes people follow instructions from weird places, and might have better luck following these: Blink (a/k/a Flash) Codes – How to. | PriusChat There are definitely code readers that can't show your brake trouble codes. You can choose one that can from this review thread (Gen2 OBD2 app review | PriusChat), or just get the blink codes with the method above. It certainly might, but also coincidences do happen. As the possible trouble codes are around a couple hundred, it really can be helpful to know which ones you have.
I have a video of the blinking display. How do I upload it? Tried a zip file but too large. I am confused by the intervals even after reading the link you shared.
You might get the hang of it from this video, where a guy has added numbers next to the blinking lights as they blink, to show you how the counting is done. Notice the ((!)) light blinks out two different codes in that video, 57 and 69. (The guy making the video sees the 69 first and adds those numbers above the light, and the 57 next and adds those below it. The car blinks them out in ascending order, so he just started counting too late to see the 57 the first time. It works out, because the car just keeps repeating the sequences so you can fill in what you missed.) Don't go all wacky trying to watch all the lights at once. Focus on just one light at a time till you've got all the codes on that one, then move to another. Warning warning warning: do not expect to see actual numerals appearing on the dash like they do in this video. Those were added for the video. You really do have to count the blinks. Builds character. You might think I'm kidding about that, but we had a whole long thread here a while back where someone insisted the car wasn't giving any blink codes, and it turned out the person had been watching that video, but no numerals appeared in the car like that, so the person kept saying no blink codes. That was the first I learned that video was out there.
I'll try. old guys don't catch on too fast. That said, watching the video displaying the blinking icons, I think I have the same progression.
I guess that's possible, unlikely as it might be just because of the large number of possibilities. Can you just count your own blinks and be sure? The sample video is showing ABS 42, VSC 45, and ECB 57 69. When you look on (Blink (a/k/a Flash) Codes – How to. | PriusChat), you see ABS 42 and VSC 45 both mean "never mind us, look at the ECB codes". ECB 57 is the diagnostic code C1257, and ECB 69 is C1391. So the sample video came from a car where the electrical power relay controlling the pump wasn't working (C1257) and therefore the boost pressure wasn't rising when it should (C1391) because the pump wasn't running. That C1257 does not seem to be a very common code; I don't remember many (any?) other PriusChat posts involving it. The relay is internal to the assembly and nothing simple to replace. I would guess it not very likely that you really have the exact same situation as the sample video. But anyway, as soon as you're sure you've counted your own blinks yourself, then let us know what you got.
