3 weeks and it won't go!

So I head outside this afternoon to run errands in my new toy, get the dog loaded in the back seat, and the car won't go! Initially I got the regular display (except for the "READY" light,) then I got an icon that I later learned was an engine. I powered off, and powered on again. The windows were very sluggish and this time no blue things came on, only all the red/orange warning letters/icons. I powered off again. The owner's manual told me that icon means take it to the dealer! Since I couldn't make it go, that was not possible. So I went inside, called the nearest dealer's service department and was talked through the loose gas cap issue (which I don't think this was because I had been driving on that tank of gas for 2 days with no problem and thanks to this site knew about making sure the cap was tight.) I reseated the cap just to make sure and tried to start the car again and this time everything flashed on the dash, including all the P/N/D/R/B letters with boxes around all of them! Then - nothing! When the tow truck driver arrived, we spent about 30 minutes trying to find and use the battery terminals first under the hood, then in the hatch so he could get it into neutral. Again, thanks to this site I knew where to look and how to get the fuse box cover off. The terminal under the hood was so small that the driver couldn't get the jumper cable connected so we decided to try the battery in the back. However the hatch door was locked. I thought this was odd since I had unlocked everything right at the start with the fob and all the other doors were unlocked. Finding the inside hatch release was not easy, even with the hints on here, but I did get it open eventually and we found the battery, however we couldn't get to the positive terminal because of the red cover over it. (How does that come off??) The driver tried the terminal under the hood again and was successful this time. He powered up and the dash display looked normal, with a few extra things illuminated like the triangle. He was able to get the car on the flatbed under its own power, and I noticed the ready light was now on and no warning icons.

Does anyone have any idea what could have happened? I drove it yesterday and it was fine. I had been using the auto headlight setting with no problem since I got the car. And when I got in today that was the position it was in. However, there were no headlights on after I shut the door last night and locked the car and nothing beeped to warn me of a problem then. Did I do something I shouldn't have? I really miss my car!

Also, is there anything I should make sure the dealership does/checks/resets that might not happen automatically? (It is still under the original 3 yr/36,000 mile warranty - it has just over 17,000 miles on it now, with less than 1000 logged by me.)





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Whew! Just heard from the dealer - not my fault! Failed auxiliary battery, replaced (I expect under warranty.) Is this a common occurrence or a fluke?

 

Dealer said this was nothing I caused - just a failed auxiliary battery. I asked if this was something that was common that I could expect to happen again and he said no. He had never had this happen before. Sounds like a fluke after all. I do know the hybrid system was off and nothing beeped or binged to warn me anything was amiss when I put "Tink" to bed Tuesday night. I am absolved!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(FireEngineer @ Jun 29 2007, 09:00 AM) [snapback]469987[/snapback]</div>

Good to know. I will not use the auto-off any more just to be safe. Is 12 volt battery failure common?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(FireEngineer @ Jun 29 2007, 01:38 PM) [snapback]470165[/snapback]</div>

Verrrrry interesting! For future reference could I have driven the car safely after jumping the 12 volt when the display said "READY" in order to get it to a dealer? Actually the display looked normal after the tow truck guy jumped it - if it looks normal, is it?