Prius Starts but won't move

Hi Lee,


Sorry to hear that your granddad is having trouble with his Prius. First, let's review the color of the LED in the POWER switch, given the four possible modes that the car can be in:

• IG-OFF (the car is off): LED is off
• ACC-ON (the MFD is on, warning lights in the instrument panel are off): LED is green
• IG-ON (MFD on, warning lights in instrument panel are on): LED is orange
• READY (MFD on, car is READY): LED is off

You can cycle between IG-OFF, ACC-ON, and IG-ON by repeatedly pressing the POWER button while leaving the brake pedal alone. You can cycle between IG-OFF and READY by depressing the brake pedal while pressing the POWER button.

You can shift out of P only if the car is IG-ON or READY. READY should not appear when the POWER button LED is green. Please confirm whether this was your observation.

If the car was READY, you fully depressed the brake pedal and could not shift out of P, and no DTC (diagnostic trouble codes) were logged, then my guess is that the brake pedal switch needs to be replaced. I suggest that you have the dealer replace the switch if you have ruled out user error, and if they can't find any other problem.

Regarding the botched tow and GBP1,500 worth of damage, that is truly unfortunate and your granddad should pursue a claim with the towing company. Have they not heard of flatbed tow trucks?
Good luck.

 

To add to the comments, keep in mind that the Prius does not have a CVT transmission, so it can't be that. In fact the Prius has no transmission in the conventional sense; it only has a fixed planetary gear system that is alway engaged and never shifts.

Another possible problem can be the shifter switch, which is nothing more than a set of momentary contact switches. If this assembly goes out, it can be hard to shift. That said, my money is on the brake pedal switch.

Tom

 

Qbee42: Your statement "... Prius does not have a CVT transmission,..." may be technically correct, but could be misleading. The fiixed planetary gear system functions similar to a CVT, and provides an infinite range of gear ratios. And, in fact, Totota Prius uses the following terminology in it's specifications.
Transmission Electronically controlled continuously variable transmission (ECVT)

Please! I'm not trying to be a SA. Just trying to ward off any confusion. I had to read it a couple it times before I realized what you meant.

 

I had a similar experience in my '05. I could not select a gear. It's the first time I've experienced this in more than three years.

It's one of those things that make you go "Huh?" :huh:

I'd put the car in ACC mode for a few minutes while I programmed an address into my Garmin nuvi. When I started the car (entered READY mode) everything appeared normal except that it would not get out of P.

I powered the car off/on and it behaved normally again. Didn't think too much of it at the time (I had to be somewhere), but now I see a second report of the same behavior.

 

Lee, if you mean that you Grandad's car rolled to a stop because it lost drive then the problem is not the brake switch.
You say the green power light was on and as Patrick points out the Prius would have been in ACC-ON mode. Was the light green when the car stopped or did it go green while trying to restart it?
For the car to lose drive while actually driving along, if this is what happened, then either the gear shift switch is faulty and it jumped into neutral or park or the computer contolling the gear selection function is faulty.
Perhaps you would like to comment, Patrick?

 

Actually, there is a 3rd way - if you press the "Power" button and hold it while the car is moving, the hybrid system will shut down and the car will shift to N and the status will be "ACC" (green led on Power button). I had to try this once because I wanted to know how to get "N" when in "ACC" which the service manual says is a valid state.

So, maybe a possible issue with the "Power" button?

 

Something similar has happened to me although I wasn't driving along.
I had the ignition on selected, that is all but in ready mode, listening to the radio one day and another time I was showing the car to a friend. I must have selected neutral while in ignition on mode then when I went to move off I pressed the brake pedal and power button to go into ready mode but it wouldn't.
The reason is I was in neutral. I think you need to select park first then press power with your foot on the brake to go into ready mode, then you can select either D or R to drive off.

I'm not saying this is your problem, like I said I was not moving.
Is it possible Grand dad is putting the selector into neutral by accident, maybe by knocking the selector with his knee?

When this has happened to me I held the power button in for several seconds to shut it down then reboot the system and it is back to normal but I think my problem is I have put the "transmission" into "neutral" while in ignition on.

Doubt this will help but who knows.

Always when having a Prius towed, refuse the tow unless the vehicle is pulled onto a truck using the towing eye in the boot and the car will be secured with straps over the tyres on at least 2 wheels.

 

When you say the ready light appeared do you mean the green or red light on the power button or word "Ready" on the dash?
If you mean the red or green light on the power button then the car was not in ready mode and hence the selector could not select any of the drive modes.

 

With the word "Ready" lit would eliminate the brake switch.
The drive selector would be the front runner as the cause of the problem.

 

Not necessarily, if the brake switch is intermittent.

 

You could be right in the second incident his Grandad had, Patrick, but I wouldn't have thought an intermittent brake switch would have cause the Prius to lose power in the first incident while travelling the motorway.

 

True. This might be due to driver error (i.e., shifting into N or pressing the POWER button while the car is in motion) or the shift lever might be acting weird, as you had previously suggested in post #6.

 

So glad your Gandad has another car. He will not have to worry about being able to drive where he wants to go and not make it.
If you do hear what the fault was please post the answer here for us to more easily help someone else.

 

Hi guy I've had the same problem and took it to mechanic and had the throttle body changed and now its perfect back to normal