We have a 2001 Prius with 28,000 miles...yes, that's right, 28,000. For some reason out of the blue, the brake light started coming on. I thought maybe my daughter was driving with the emergency break on (accidently), but this is not the case. It just comes on and goes off. Although last night it was on for about 20 minutes. Can someone please shed some insight on this. The car runs great. I bought it from a friend who had to sell everything from his father's estate. It looks like a brand new car and the only thing we had done was get new tires for it. Thank you for any help you may be able to provide.
I don't know the service charge fee to take it to a Toyota dealer, I'm afraid to ask. I'd take the car to a brake shop and have them just check the brakes for wear, despite 28K miles. Personally, I'd also check operation of all exterior lights, blinkers, etc (not that this is directly attributable to your problem). I would also remove the 12V battery leads, starting with the negative, so as to remove all power from the car's computers, similar to a power-on/power-off on a computer. Unless there is some electrical problem, by doing the above, you've ruled out brake wear, lightbulb induced problems and you've reset the computers. If that doesn't fix it, looks like a dealer visit.
Thank you for the reply. I really don't want to take it to a break shop until I rule out all other avenues. I do like the idea of "turning off" the car and will definitely try that first thing in the morning. Thank you again. I'll come back to let you know if this was a fix or not.
I think you have to take it to a Toyota shop or hybrid-qualified independent. It may very well be something as simple as the position switch set wrong on the parking brake pedal bracket. But the braking system even in 2001 Prius has substantial differences to conventional car. Brakes = safety. You need to get to the bottom of this. A plain ol' brake shop should certainly be able to test for the water content in your brake fluid. Takes about a minute. You do not want that to be higher than 1%.
Speaking of 2004 Prius, the brake warning on the dash means applying the parking brake or low level of the brake fluid. I believe the 2001 Prius does same thing. Ken@Japan
Early 2004s were also recalled to replace a beake light switch that would do this. Not sure about earlier models, though. Check the adjustment of the switch.
