Master Warning Light

My Prius had been parked for 2 nights & a full day when I backed it out of my carport this morning. As soon as I shifted to “Dâ€, the Master Warning Light (bright triangle with !) came on and “Please press “P†to engage Park†“The batteries will not be charged if the transaxle is in Neutral N†appeared in the MFD. The warning buzzer sounded continuously. I tried everything I could think of, including turning the power off & restarting, but it wouldn’t go away. Then it went away as quickly as it had appeared. I don’t know if the “situation†had corrected itself, if I unknowingly shut it off or if it was a “timed†warning. The battery was “almost†fully charged. Nothing appeared wrong so I took my planned 120 mile RT w/o any problems whatsoever.

Later, after considerable searching thru the manual, I finally found a reference to the message that I had seen, but the explanation only told how to check for proper functioning dash indicators. Nothing was said about what caused the warning or how to turn it off; nothing about gears or charging the battery. Based on the message in the MFD, logically the warning should have occurred when I last parked the car.

When I bought the car my salesman made a point of telling me that the car would automatically shift into Park when the power was turned off. This is what I’ve been doing. The Park button always lights up. I never shift to Neutral.

1. Is “Park†automatic after the power is turned off?
2. What could have caused the warning? Could I have accidentally moved the shift to Neutral after switching off, causing the battery to “drain�
3. Does the warning turn off automatically?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Bill Merchant @ Apr 22 2007, 01:03 AM) [snapback]427663[/snapback]</div>

I'll have to try this test. I seem to remember "maybe" opening the door before turning off the power when I exited the last time I drove it (but that might just be the power of suggestion). I don't "think" a door was ajar when I got the warning, but it was such a surprise . . . who knows?

It's really a strange & startling warning. Why wouldn't they just beep and show the "door open" icon on the dash, like every other car I've ever owned? I've seen the icon when the power was off & a door was ajar.

I assume none of this applies to the rear hatch, because I drove a block or so (after showing my new car to my friend on the day I bought it) with the icon showing & the hatch wasn't closed properly. That's when I learned that I have to slam the hatch really hard.