Prius won't go into ready mode!

Here's my situation:

I recently picked up my fairly new (8000 miles) Prius from the dealership two days ago where they had to replace the 12v battery. The battery died for no apparent reason and was so dead that they couldn't charge it back up. So... as I was leaving the dealership my car would NOT go into ready mode. I placed my foot on the break, hit the power button, but no ready mode (power button was red). I did this three times. I then walked back in and brought the Prius mechanic out and let HIM try to start the car. It did the same thing to him twice... but on the third time, it finally went into ready mode and after several tries, we couldn't get the car to FAIL to get into ready mode, so I went ahead and brought it home thinking it was a fluke.

I drove the car to work this morning fine... drove it home fine. My wife and I try to leave to go out for dinner and... the car refuses to go into ready mode. I attempted for about 7 minutes before finally giving up and taking her car. After getting BACK from dinner, I try again... the car fails once, but then finally DOES go into ready mode.

I guess my question is does anyone have any ideas as to what might be causing this. I know the Prius mechanic thought it was VERY strange when he saw it. I haven't seen anything like it in my forum searches, but I was hoping some of you might have some suggestions or other insight. Thanks for your help!

 

Although I've never had anyone behind looking for brake lights, I know I've been pressing pretty hard on the brake. That was one of my first thoughts when it didn't work the first time.

I will add this-- the first time I tried to start the car, it briefly went to the ready mode, but quickly "slipped" out of ready mode with the power button light turning orange. (Not sure if that means anything or not).

So, Frank-- do you think that if there is some kind of bad connection with the brake light sensor this will keep the car from going into ready?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(rfred @ Aug 18 2006, 10:48 PM) [snapback]305717[/snapback]</div>

I had the same results with the fob in the key slot.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Frank Hudon @ Aug 18 2006, 11:58 PM) [snapback]305740[/snapback]</div>

I only saw it "slip" the one time. All of the other times it just refused to go

My plan is to take it to the Dealer on Monday when the Prius tech will be there.

Thanks for all of the input!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(yups @ Aug 19 2006, 11:52 PM) [snapback]306088[/snapback]</div>

It can't. My car eventually DID go into ready mode, but seems to have this intermittent problem where it won't go into ready mode. Since the tech actually witnessed this, I think he's more likely to believe me about the problem and try to help me when I bring it in.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Rick Austin @ Aug 27 2006, 07:20 PM) [snapback]310311[/snapback]</div>

I'm going to get my car tomorrow. From my initial conversations, the tech seems to think it had something to do with the recent replacement of the 12v battery and the car somehow being "confused" and having to be "told" about the replacement. (I think he said something had to be reset). None of this makes much sense to me, so I'm going to make certain I get a very CLEAR explanation of what he did and what he thought the problem was. I'll post the results tomorrow.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Presto @ Aug 27 2006, 09:37 PM) [snapback]310356[/snapback]</div>

Well, I'm kind suspicious myself... but in the interest of full disclosure my situation WAS one where the old 12v battery had been drained completely-- to the point where they were unable to charge it up. Could THAT make a difference? I'm not really sure what to expect, but the guy knows that I post to two different forums, and that I'll definitely be posting the results of this one-- so I'd think he wouldn't want to look like a complete idiot, but I guess we'll see.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hdrygas @ Aug 27 2006, 10:20 PM) [snapback]310367[/snapback]</div>

I'm not sure there will actually BE any DTC's. The problem has been intermittent and I'm sure the only reason he's spending as much time with it as he is is because he actually SAW the problem with his own eyes. The car did it to me 4 times before I brought it back, but I'm not sure he was able to actually witness the problem again. I'll ask about the DTC's, however, just to be certain.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(galaxee @ Aug 27 2006, 11:25 PM) [snapback]310389[/snapback]</div>

In fairness to the tech, I should mention that when I got this "explanation" for the problem, it wasn't from the tech himself, but from the service manager. Rather than insist that he make more sense, I thought I would wait and just talk to the tech myself. I just figured it was very possible that the service manager was confused or didn't communicate the actual solution very well.